Differentially Expressed Genes Analysis of Brown Adipose Tissue During Cold Acclimation in Male Tree Shrews (Tupaia belangeri) based on RNA-Seq

Thermogenic function of brown adipose tissue (BAT) was known to be markedly elevated when animals were exposed to the cold. In the present study, transcriptome sequencing of BAT in Tupaia belangeri between control and cold acclimation group were carried out by Illumina novaseq 6000 platform. Then the pathways and key genes related to lipid metabolism and energy metabolism were screened out by bioinformatics analysis. The results showed that there were significant differences in the expression of 2879 genes in cold acclimation group compared with that of control group, 1181 were up-regulated and 1698 were down-regulated in cold acclimation group. Pathway analyses showed that the differentially expressed genes were significantly enriched in oxidative phosphorylation, steroid biosynthesis, glycerophospholipid and fatty acid metabolism pathways related to energy metabolism and lipid metabolism. Differentially expressed genes ND3, ND4, ND5, ND6, ND4L, CYTB, ATP8 and ATP6 in oxidative phosphorylation pathway were significantly up-regulated. Key genes related to lipid metabolism LPL, and ACACA, etc, which were down-regulated in the lipid metabolism pathway. All of the above results indicated that T. belangeri could adapt to the cold environment by regulating genes expression in oxidative phosphorylation, steroid biosynthesis, glycerophospholipid and fatty acid metabolism pathways in BAT. Among them, expressions of genes in oxidative phosphorylation pathway were up-regulated, and most of the genes related to the lipid metabolism pathway were down-regulated, which promoted energy

Automated summary

In this study, transcriptome sequencing and bioinformatics analysis were conducted to explore the adaptive response of Tupaia belangeri to cold exposure. The results revealed that genes related to oxidative phosphorylation, steroid biosynthesis, glycerophospholipid, and fatty acid metabolism pathways were differentially expressed, suggesting their involvement in the thermogenic function of brown adipose tissue.