Reproduction Abstracts

In a previous study, following IVF, oocytes from gilts fed a high fibre diet for the first 19 days of their third oestrous cycle, produced blastocysts with more cells than oocytes from control-fed gilts. We hypothesise that FF protein composition is altered by the diet and that this confers the reproductive benefits.

The current study compared the protein composition of pooled Day 19 FF from 12 high fibre-fed pigs and 12 control-fed pigs in search of biomarkers for fertility or diet. Within each dietary group, the protein composition of pooled FF from pigs whose oocytes produced blastocysts was compared with FF from pigs whose oocytes did not produce blastocysts (n=6/group). The proteomic study was carried out in duplicate.

Abundant proteins were depleted from FF samples by Proteominer enrichment. Remaining proteins were labelled by di-methylation and detected by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. Differentially expressed proteins were submitted into ingenuity pathway analysis (IPA) and a process of biomarker candidate selection was carried out.

The study detected over 140 differentially expressed proteins between control and high fibre FF samples, indicating a nutritional influence on FF protein composition. Several of these proteins were also differentially expressed in the blastocyst versus no blastocyst analyses, suggesting that nutritionally altered FF protein composition may affect IVF outcome. IPA analysis revealed the association of differentially expressed proteins with several molecular pathways, upstream regulators and networks. Quantitative Western Blot will be carried out for confirmation of selected differentially expressed proteins.

Funders: AHDB Pork, BBSRC.