Not just fat: investigating the proteome of cetacean blubber tissue

Kershaw, Joanna L.; Botting, Catherine H.; Brownlow, Andrew; Hall, Ailsa J.

doi:10.1093/conphys/coy003

Cited by 28 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 55 publications

(84 reference statements)

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“…excised from Coomassie blue-stained gels were subjected to nanoflow Liquid Chromatography Electrospray Ionization TMS (nLC-ESI MS/MS) 47 as described elsewhere 48 . The analysis was done by the BSRC Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics Facility, University of St Andrews, UK.…”

Section: Tandem Mass Spectrometry (Tms) Analysis Of Protein Samples Amentioning

confidence: 99%

Antigenic cross-reactivity between Schistosoma mansoni and allergenic invertebrates putatively due to shared glycanic epitopes

El-Faham

Gai

Igetei

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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previous studies have shown that rabbit igG antibodies against Schistosoma mansoni egg antigens (SmSEA) cross-react with allergens in natural rubber latex, peanuts and grass and tree pollens. Here we describe antigenic molecules that cross-react with rabbit anti-S. mansoni igG antibodies in extracts of the house dust mite (HDM) Dermatophagoides farinae, the Australian cockroach (ACR) Periplaneta australasiae and in the venom of the honey bee Apis mellifera (HBV). tandem mass spectrometry identified the cross-reactive allergens as Der f 15 in HDM, two homologues of the Periplaneta americana cockroach allergen Cr-PI/Per a 3 in ACR and two isoforms of the allergen Api m 1 (phospholipase A2: PLA2) in HBV. Cross-reactive rabbit anti-SmSEA IgG antibodies eluted from the three invertebrate allergens reacted with S. mansoni egg antigens and variably with schistosome cercarial and worm antigens. treatment of the electroblotted allergens with sodium metaperiodate abrogated most of the cross-reactivity of the rabbit anti-SmSEA antibodies, suggesting it was due to cross-reactive carbohydrate determinants (CCDs). Furthermore, analyses of the allergens' amino acid sequences indicated that they had potential for both N-and O-linked glycosylation. A potential role for the CCDs shared by the schistosome and invertebrates in inducing an allergy-protective effect, as proposed by the hygiene hypothesis, is discussed.

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Section: Tandem Mass Spectrometry (Tms) Analysis Of Protein Samples Amentioning

confidence: 99%

Antigenic cross-reactivity between Schistosoma mansoni and allergenic invertebrates putatively due to shared glycanic epitopes

El-Faham

Gai

Igetei

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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“…Using the proportions of different saturated/unsaturated fatty acids or the proportion of triaclyglycerols to wax esters, for example, could also be investigated as a more reliable marker. Proteomic and transcriptomic approaches to examine changes in proteins of interest and the use of gene expression profiles in blubber tissue are also being investigated to identify important markers and regulators of lipid metabolism and energy homeostasis (Kershaw, Botting, Brownlow, & Hall, 2018;Khudyakov, Champagne, Meneghetti, & Crocker, 2017;Martinez et al, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing cetacean body condition: Is total lipid content in blubber biopsies a useful monitoring tool?

Kershaw

Brownlow²,

Ramp

et al. 2019

Aquatic Conservation

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1. Measuring the energy stores, or body condition, of cetaceans is vital for monitoring population health. Cetaceans are exposed to a range of anthropogenic stressors, including, for example, noise, contaminants, habitat degradation, reduced prey availability, ship strike, and entanglement. Tools to assess body condition in these inaccessible and vulnerable animals are required to better understand the energetic consequences of anthropogenic stressors that can impact population health and, ultimately, conservation status.2. Remotely obtained, dart biopsy samples are becoming an increasingly standard method of tissue collection from live, large cetaceans. Here, the potential applicability of using total lipid content in such biopsy samples to estimate overall body condition was assessed using full-depth dorsal blubber samples from stranded ziphiids (n = 8) and balaenopterids (n = 9). First, variation in total lipid content through the blubber depth was investigated to assess the representativeness of shallow-depth dart biopsies taken from live animals. Second, how lipid content varies by species, cause of death, sex, age class, and morphometric indices of body condition was assessed to evaluate what information about individual energy stores can be gained from such analyses.3. Total lipid content in dorsal, shallow-depth blubber biopsy samples from both cetacean families provides little information on overall body condition. Stratification of lipid content through the blubber layer in the balaenopterids means that superficial biopsy samples are not representative of the lipid stores available for mobilization through the rest of the tissue. A lack of variation in blubber lipid content, both within and between the ziphiid individuals, resulted in no ability to correlate these measures with morphometrics or other health, sex, or age class covariates.4. Other potential markers in the blubber from remote biopsy sampling should be explored in order to further develop robust tools for estimating the body condition of free-ranging cetaceans.

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“…It has to be noted that the thick blubber layer in cetaceans is classified as subcutaneous adipose fat and in contrast to visceral fat, expansion of subcutaneous fat has no detrimental effects on health ( Kim et al, 2007 ). Blubber is, however, metabolically active with expression of proteins involved in metabolism, immune response, inflammation and lipid metabolism ( Kershaw et al, 2018 ). In murine starvation studies where visceral fat is being used up as an energy source, subcutaneous fat changed its morphological and molecular characteristics to resemble visceral fat ( Ding et al, 2016 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These two novel pressures (thermoregulatory needs for adiposity and a novel prey field) have led to changes in energy metabolism, which may also affect the way energy investment decisions are reached in cetaceans. Blubber is a complex tissue ( Kershaw et al, 2018 ) and is significantly more metabolically active than subcutaneous fats in terrestrial mammals. Further work is needed to unravel the complex signaling mechanisms of adipose tissue in cetacean energy metabolism and to determine the effects of these signaling molecules on whole body functioning including appetite regulation, energy balance and inflammatory responses.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative genomics of cetartiodactyla: energy metabolism underpins the transition to an aquatic lifestyle

Derous

Sahu

Douglas

et al. 2021

Conservation Physiology

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Foraging disruption caused by human activities is emerging as a key issue in cetacean conservation because it can affect nutrient levels and the amount of energy available to individuals to invest into reproduction. Our ability to predict how anthropogenic stressors affect these ecological processes and ultimately population trajectory depends crucially on our understanding of the complex physiological mechanisms that detect nutrient availability and regulate energy metabolism, foraging behavior and life-history decisions. These physiological mechanisms are likely to differ considerably from terrestrial mammalian model systems. Here, we examine nucleotide substitution rates in cetacean and other artiodactyl genomes to identify signatures of selection in genes associated with nutrient sensing pathways. We also estimated the likely physiological consequences of adaptive amino acid substitutions for pathway functions. Our results highlight that genes involved in the insulin, mTOR and NF-ĸB pathways are subject to significant positive selection in cetaceans compared to terrestrial artiodactyla. These genes may have been positively selected to enable cetaceans to adapt to a glucose-poor diet, to overcome deleterious effects caused by hypoxia during diving (e.g. oxidative stress and inflammation) and to modify fat-depot signaling functions in a manner different to terrestrial mammals. We thus show that adaptation in cetaceans to an aquatic lifestyle significantly affected functions in nutrient sensing pathways. The use of fat stores as a condition index in cetaceans may be confounded by the multiple and critical roles fat has in regulating cetacean metabolism, foraging behavior and diving physiology.

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Not just fat: investigating the proteome of cetacean blubber tissue

Cited by 28 publications

References 55 publications

Antigenic cross-reactivity between Schistosoma mansoni and allergenic invertebrates putatively due to shared glycanic epitopes

Antigenic cross-reactivity between Schistosoma mansoni and allergenic invertebrates putatively due to shared glycanic epitopes

Assessing cetacean body condition: Is total lipid content in blubber biopsies a useful monitoring tool?

Comparative genomics of cetartiodactyla: energy metabolism underpins the transition to an aquatic lifestyle

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