Deciphering the difference of casein fraction in human milk associated with infant gender using quantitative proteomics

Ce Wang; Shilong Jiang; Jianjun Cheng; Cuina Wang; Mingruo Guo

doi:10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.125796

Deciphering the difference of casein fraction in human milk associated with infant gender using quantitative proteomics

Int J Biol Macromol. 2023 Aug 30:247:125796. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.125796. Epub 2023 Jul 11.

Authors

Ce Wang¹, Shilong Jiang², Jianjun Cheng³, Cuina Wang⁴, Mingruo Guo⁵

Affiliations

¹ National Engineering Research Center of Seafood, School of Food Science and Technology, Dalian Polytechnic University, Dalian 116034, China; Department of Food Science, College of Food Science and Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun 130062, China.
² R&D Center, Heilongjiang Feihe Dairy Co., Ltd, Beijing, China.
³ Dairy Science Laboratory, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China.
⁴ Department of Food Science, College of Food Science and Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun 130062, China. Electronic address: wangcuina@jlu.edu.cn.
⁵ Dairy Science Laboratory, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China; Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405, USA. Electronic address: mguo@uvm.edu.

PMID: 37442503
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.125796

Abstract

Human milk is an ideal natural food for infants, and the infant's gender may have impact on protein composition of breast milk. In this study, we used 4D label-free quantitative proteomics techniques to identify and quantitatively analyze casein fraction in breast milk secreted for male and female infants. The results showed that a total of 2064 proteins were identified in human milk, and 95 of them were differentially abundant proteins. Compared to breast milk secreted by mothers of female infants, 21 proteins were up-regulated, and 59 proteins were down-regulated in breast milk secreted by mothers of male infants. The most abundant domain among the differentially abundant proteins was the immunoglobulin V-set domain, which may be involved in immune regulation. Gene Ontology functional analysis revealed that, the main biological processes, molecular functions, and cellular components corresponded to cellular process, binding, and cell part, respectively. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathways were mainly associated with human diseases and metabolism, with biosynthesis of cofactors being the most involved pathway. The results contribute to our understanding of the composition of casein in breast milk, and may provide information about the nutritional differences in breast milk from mothers of newborns of different genders.

Keywords: 4D label-free quantitative proteomics; Human milk; Infants' gender.

MeSH terms

Caseins*
Female
Humans
Infant
Infant, Newborn
Male
Milk, Human* / chemistry
Proteomics

Substances

Caseins