ACTA VETERINARIA ET ZOOTECHNICA SINICA ›› 2018, Vol. 49 ›› Issue (4): 693-700.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2018.04.005

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Molecular Adaptability of Seasonal High-Low Temperature in Pigs

ZHANG Jie1*, HE Hang1, LIU An-fang1, LUO Zong-gang1, CHEN Lei2   

  1. 1. College of Animal Science, Southwest University, Rongchang 402460, China;
    2. Chongqing Academy of Animal Science, Rongchang 402460, China
  • Received:2017-08-31 Online:2018-04-23 Published:2018-04-23

Abstract:

This study has investigated the effect of ambient temperature on pig energy metabolism, aiming to provide a theoretical foundation of molecular regulation mechanism for pig adaptive evolution. The brain, heart, liver, lung, kidney, eye muscle and psoas major muscle of 12 Rongchang pigs (6-month-old) were collected during the seasonal high and low temperature period,respectively, the mtDNA copy number and the transcriptional levels of energy metabolism-related genes were tested. The results showed that there was a significant correlation between body weight growth rate and ambient temperature (|r| ≥ 0.77, P<0.01), the mtDNA copy number in different tissues were highly consistent between low and high temperature groups (r=0.92, P<0.01); The mtDNA copy number was significantly higher in low temperature group than in high temperature group (P<0.05 or P<0.01) of all tissues, except for the heart (P>0.05), and the transcriptional level of TWINKLE gene regulating mtDNA biosynthesis significantly decreased in different tissues in the high temperature group (P<0.05 or P<0.01); The transcriptional level of genes (ND1, COX1, ATP6 and CYTB) related to energy metabolism in low temperature group basically were significantly (P<0.05) or very significantly (P<0.01) higher than that in high temperature group. However, the transcriptional levels of ND1 and COX1 genes in eye muscle, CYTB gene in liver and heart were no significantly different between low and high temperature groups (P>0.05), and the transcriptional level of CYTB gene in brain in high temperature group was significantly higher than in low temperature group (P<0.05). Furthermore, except for the lung tissue (P<0.01), the transcriptional level of HSP70 gene in other tissues had no significant difference between low and high temperature groups (P>0.05). These results suggest that pig could reshape the metabolism through regulating the gene transcription level and mtDNA copy number, and adapt to ambient temperature change.

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