New function of the CD44 gene: Lipid metabolism regulation in bovine mammary epithelial cells

Abstract

The CD44 gene encodes a cell-surface glycoprotein that participates in a variety of biological processes such as cell interactions, adhesion, hematopoiesis, and tumor metastasis. We compared the transcriptome in bovine mammary epithelial cells (bMEC) of Chinese Holstein dairy cows producing milk of high and low fat contents. Our results suggest that CD44 might be a candidate gene affecting milk fat synthesis. In the present study, the overexpression of the CD44 gene increased the contents of intracellular triglycerides (TG) and cholesterol (CHOL), whereas knockdown of the CD44 gene decreased bMEC CHOL and TG contents. Gas chromatography analysis of fatty acid composition showed that the contents of α-linolenic acid, palmitic acid, and cis-8,11,14-eicosatrienoic acid were altered due to changes in the level of expression of the CD44 gene. Additionally, elaidic acid, palmitoleic acid, tridecanoic acid, and oleic acid were markedly reduced in the CD44 gene overexpression group compared with the control group. On the contrary, cis-5,8,11,14-eicosatetraenoic acid and stearic acid were markedly increased in the CD44 knockdown group compared with the control group. And RT 2 Profiler PCR array (Qiagen, CLAB24070A Frankfurt, Germany) further suggested that overexpression or knockdown of the CD44 gene altered expression levels of functional genes associated with lipid metabolism. The present data indicate that CD44 plays a key regulatory role in lipid metabolism in bMEC.

Quantitative N-glycoproteome analysis of bovine milk and yogurt

“…In addition to participating in immune and inflammation-related regulation, CD44 antigen plays a key regulatory role in the lipid metabolism of bovine mammary epithelial cells. Both triglyceride and cholesterol contents are augmented in cells with overexpression and conversely reduced in cells with knockdown of CD44 ( Jiang et al, 2020 ), thus suggesting its critical role in regulating lipid components of bovine milk. The hyaluronic acid-binding domain of CD44 antigen is N-glycosylated and the N-glycans of this domain could weaken hyaluronic acid binding upon capping the terminal with sialic acid residues ( Guvench, 2015 ).…”

Nasal Septum Deviation as the Consequence of BMP-Controlled Changes to Cartilage Properties

“…Both PRMT1 and CHTOP were significantly reduced ( p < 0.001) suggestive of impaired glucose metabolism already at P0. Conversely, genes involved in lipid metabolism and production of triglycerides and cholesterol (CD44 ( Jiang et al, 2020 ), Lipase E (LIPE) ( Gu et al, 2019 ), mitochondrial Glycerol 3 Phosphate Dehydrogenase (GPD2) ( Mráček et al, 2013 ) were also altered. While CD44 was significantly increased ( p < 0.001), LIPE and GPD2 were significantly reduced ( p < 0.01) in the mutant septa ( Figure 7C ).…”

Effects of polymorphism of the &lt;i&gt;GPAM&lt;/i&gt; gene on milk quality traits and its relation to triglyceride metabolism in bovine mammary epithelial cells of dairy cattle

“…To verify the role of the GPAM gene in triglyceride synthesis, experiments have been carried out on mice; this research suggested that the GPAM gene has various effects after knockout, including lighter gonadal fat pads, reduced weight, reduced plasma triglyceride levels and decreased liver triglyceride content. Thus, these results strongly suggest that the GPAM gene has a vital role in the synthesis of triglycerides in liver and plays a considerable role in the regulation of the fatty acid components of glycerophosphatides (Dawson et al, 2006;Jung et al, 2013). This result is consistent with our previous work (Yu et al, 2017), which found that the GPAM gene influences the TG content in bovine fetal fibroblasts (BFFs), the knockdown of the GPAM gene could cause the triglyceride in BFFs to significantly decrease and the overexpression of GPAM gene significantly increased the TG level compared with the BFF control group.…”