Dietary L‐carnitine affects the expression of genes involved in apoptosis and fatty acid metabolism in rooster testes

Abstract

Thirty‐six 12‐week‐old breeder roosters (Ross 308) were randomly allocated into three groups to receive L‐carnitine (LC): LC‐0, LC‐250 or LC‐500 mg/kg of diet to evaluate the effects of dietary LC on the expression of apoptotic‐related genes and desaturases and elongase mRNA transcript levels, in the cockerel testicles. Alteration of Bak (Bcl2 antagonist/killer), Bcl2, Cas3, Cas8, Cas9, Elovl2, Elovl4, Elovl5, Fads1, Fads2 and Scd expression at 24 and 34 weeks of age was compared by real‐time quantitative PCR. The expression of Bcl2 and Elovl5 was significantly up‐regulated (p < .05), while Cas8 expression (p < .05) and Bak/Bcl2 ratio were reduced (p < .02) in the cockerel testicles at 24 weeks of age. Although Bak mRNA abundance decreased by dietary LC, Bak/Bcl2 ratio was not affected by the treatments at 34 weeks of age. The expression of Cas3 was down‐regulated, while Fads2 was up‐regulated in the cockerel testicles by dietary LC at 34 weeks of age (p < .05). The results demonstrate the beneficial effects of LC supplementation in suppression of the Bak/Bcl2 ratio by altering Bak and Bcl2 mRNA abundance and, ultimately, prevention of apoptosis. Furthermore, LC increased the expression of Elovl5 and Fads2 genes which are involved in the metabolism of long chain fatty acids.

Comparative transcriptome analysis reveals mechanisms of restriction feeding on lipid metabolism in ducks

“…Previous studies have shown that LPIN1 could regulate fatty acid utilization in the triglyceride biosynthetic pathway ( Kajimoto et al, 2016 ), while CHKA, ME3, GAMT , and PDE4B play an important role in regulating liver lipid metabolism and energy homeostasis ( Barcelos et al, 2016 ; Liang et al, 2018 ; Xu et al, 2021 , 2022 ). Meanwhile, SQLE and DHCR7 were involved in steroid synthesis ( Jiang et al, 2020 ; Zhang et al, 2020 ), while ACAT2, MSMO1, SCD, ELOVL2 , and ELOVL4 were key genes for fatty acid anabolism ( Wang et al, 2017 ; Mohammadi et al, 2020 ; Guo et al, 2021 ). Moreover, Wei et al (2019) found that the lipid metabolism of broilers liver changed significantly under RF, thus regulating the lipid deposition of abdominal adipose.…”