Macronutrient modulation of mRNA and microRNA function in animals: A review

Abstract

Dietary macronutrients have been regarded as a basic source of energy and amino acids that are necessary for the maintenance of cellular homeostasis, metabolic programming as well as protein synthesis. Due to the emergence of “nutrigenomics”, a unique discipline that combines nutritional and omics technologies to study the impacts of nutrition on genomics, it is increasingly evident that macronutrients also have a significant role in the gene expression regulation. Gene expression is a complex phenomenon controlled by several signaling pathways and could be influenced by a wide variety of environmental and physiological factors. Dietary macronutrients are the most important environmental factor influencing the expression of both genes and microRNAs (miRNA). miRNA are tiny molecules of 18 to 22 nucleotides long that regulate the expression of genes. Therefore, dietary macronutrients can influence the expression of genes in both direct and indirect manners. Recent advancements in the state-of-the-art technologies regarding molecular genetics, such as next-generation sequencing, quantitative PCR array, and microarray, allowed us to investigate the occurrence of genome-wide changes in the expression of genes in relation to augmented or reduced dietary macronutrient intake. The purpose of this review is to accumulate the current knowledge focusing on macronutrient mediated changes in the gene function. This review will discuss the impact of altered dietary carbohydrate, protein, and fat intake on the expression of coding genes and their functions. In addition, it will also summarize the regulation of miRNA, both cellular and extracellular miRNA, expression modulated by dietary macronutrients.

Decoding the secrets of longevity: unraveling nutraceutical and miRNA-Mediated aging pathways and therapeutic strategies

“…These interactions apply to the process of aging. MiRNAs have also been shown to be responsible for the modulation of pathways that are involved in the sensing of nutrition ( Ismail et al, 2019 ; Sohel, 2020 ; Abdelmaksoud et al, 2023 ).…”

MiRNAs Expression Modulates Osteogenesis in Response to Exercise and Nutrition

“…In other words, nutrients can induce epigenetic changes, either through methylation of DNA or changes in some miRNAs expression. Carbohydrates or Carbs (CHO), proteins and fats are broken down during digestion into the composition monomers respectively monosaccharides, amino acids and fatty acids [ 10 , 64 ]. Few studies have been carried out on the role of carbs and lipids on bone health.…”

Increased Dietary Inclusion Levels of Lysine Are More Effective than Arginine in Supporting the Functional Status of the Gut in Growing Turkeys

“…Protein and its AA composition are critical for the precise feed formulation to meet the birds’ requirements [ 1 ]. Amino acids, more specifically those that are not synthesized in the body and are, therefore, referred to as nutritionally essential AA (EAA), play a key role in the regulation of homeostasis in the whole biological system, including body maintenance, growth, immunity and reproduction [ 2 ]. Most poultry diets are based on soybean meal (SBM), which is a well-balanced protein source in terms of AA composition [ 3 ].…”

“…The above differences may appear to be relatively small, but they raise concerns in the turkey production sector due to their potential impact on both feed cost and bird physiology [ 11 ]. Sohel [ 2 ] reported that nutrients, including AA, can modulate the expression levels of miRNA, which is responsible for the regulation of 60% of genes involved in all body processes in animals. In view of the above, the discussed differences in the inclusion levels (and ratios) of dietary EAA can have important implications and, therefore, warrant a deeper investigation.…”