Plasma-based proteomics reveals immune response, complement and coagulation cascades pathway shifts in heat-stressed lactating dairy cows.
Heat stress (HS) has an enormous economic impact on the dairy industry. In recent years, many researchers have investigated changes in the gene expression and metabolomics profiles in dairy cows caused by HS. However, the proteomics profiles of heat-stressed dairy cows have not yet been completely elucidated. We compared plasma proteomics from HS-free and heat-stressed dairy cows using an iTRAQ labeling approach. After the depletion of high abundant proteins in the plasma, 1472 proteins were identified. Of these, 85 proteins were differentially abundant in cows exposed to HS relative to HS-free. Database searches combined with GO and KEGG pathway enrichment analyses revealed that many components of the complement and coagulation cascades were altered in heat-stressed cows compared with HS-free cows. Of these, many factors in the complement system (including complement components C1, C3, C5, C6, C7, C8, and C9, complement factor B, and factor H) were down-regulated by HS, while components of the coagulation system (including coagulation factors, vitamin K-dependent proteins, and fibrinogens) were up-regulated by HS. In conclusion, our results indicate that HS decreases plasma levels of complement system proteins, suggesting that immune function is impaired in dairy cows exposed to HS.



Though many aspects of heat stress (HS) have been extensively researched, relatively little is known about the proteomics profile changes that occur during heat exposure. In this work, we employed a proteomics approach to investigate differential abundance of plasma proteins in HS-free and heat-stressed dairy cows. Database searches combined with GO and KEGG pathway enrichment analyses revealed that HS resulted in a decrease in complement components, suggesting that heat-stressed dairy cows have impaired immune function. In addition, through integrative analyses of proteomics and previous metabolomics, we showed enhanced glycolysis, lipid metabolic pathway shifts, and nitrogen repartitioning in dairy cows exposed to HS. Our findings expand our current knowledge on the effects of HS on plasma proteomics in dairy cows and offer a new perspective for future research.
State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, PR China; State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, PR China.
Li
L
Min
College of Animal Science and Technology, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, PR China.
Jianbo
J
Cheng
State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, PR China.
Shengguo
S
Zhao
State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, PR China.
He
H
Tian
State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, PR China.
Yangdong
Y
Zhang
State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, PR China.
Songli
S
Li
State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, PR China.
Hongjian
H
Yang
State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, PR China. Electronic address: zhengnan_1980@126.com.
Nan
N
Zheng
State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, PR China.
Jiaqi
J
Wang
D000818:Animals; D001779:Blood Coagulation Factors / Q000378:metabolism; D001798:Blood Proteins / Q000032:analysis* / Q000276:immunology; D002417:Cattle; D003165:Complement System Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D018882:Heat Stress Disorders / Q000378:metabolism*; D007109:Immunity; D007774:Lactation; D040901:Proteomics / Q000379:methods*
D001779:Blood Coagulation Factors; D001798:Blood Proteins; D003165:Complement System Proteins
Complement and coagulation cascades; Heat stress; Immune response; Lactating dairy cows; Proteomics