Nutrient Partitioning in Cows

The Challenge: Understanding Nutrient Partitioning in Cows

Nutrient partitioning is the allocation of nutrients from the diet toward bodily functions. The efficiency of nutrient partitioning is crucial for cows because it affects cows’ growth rate, milk production, and reproductive performance. High milk yield is associated with greater partitioning of nutrients towards milk synthesis at the expense of body reserve. At partitioning, the mammary gland achieves metabolic priority over other tissues to support the enormous energy demands needed to produce high-quality milk.¹ Thus, nutrient partitioning is a complex metabolic process . Long coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been shown to regulate the expression of genes involved in metabolic pathways.² Multi-omics can help us understand the interplay between lncRNAs and metabolites and whether these associations are related to nutrient partitioning in lactating cows.

Metabolon Insight: Elucidating Associations Between lncRNAs and Metabolites

This study utilized the Metabolon Global Discovery Panel to profile the plasma of 25 crossbred cows that each had  different abilities to secrete milk and accumulate body fat.³ The panel’s unrivaled coverage of up to 5,400 semi-quantifiable metabolites offered this group a comprehensive solution to better understand the role of lncRNAs in cows with different nutrient partitioning phenotypes.

The Solution: Multi-omics Reveals lncRNAs Linked to Several Metabolic Pathways

This research team used a multi-omics approach that evaluated liver transcriptomics and plasma metabolomics on matched samples to understand the molecular mechanisms of nutrient partitioning. Cows were segregated by their nutrient partitioning phenotype—body fat accretion (n = 12) or milk secretion (n = 13). Metabolomics demonstrated that 185 out of 613 plasma metabolites assessed for differential abundance significantly differed between the cow groups. The levels of N-octanoylglycine, 3-dehydrocholate, 7-ketodeoxycholate, and various lipids were shown to increase in the milk-producing group. By contrast, the levels of 3-phosphoglycerate, homoarginine, and some amino acids significantly decreased in the milk-producing group.

Next, researchers integrated metabolomics and transcriptomics data to find lncRNAs associated with metabolites. Glycine, stearate, bilirubin, and other metabolites were shown to have significant connections with 10 lncRNAs. Through correlation analysis, they found that these metabolites are associated with energy and lipid metabolism, the urea and tricarboxylic cycles, and gluconeogenesis.

The Benefit: Optimizing Cow Health and Milk Production

The Metabolon Global Discovery Panel was instrumental in unraveling lncRNAs that have a putative role in regulating various metabolites involved in nutrient partitioning and gaining deep insights into the mechanisms that regulate these processes in cows. Enhancing our knowledge of such mechanisms through the use of metabolomics paves the way for researchers and farmers to develop strategies that can optimize cow health and milk production.