A comparative metabolomics analysis of domestic yak (Bos grunniens) milk with human breast milk

Wenhao Li; Weike Zeng; Yanping Zhang; Zhijie Ma; Xingyan Fang; Yingcang Han; Yonggang Sun; Xiayang Jin; Liuyin Ma

doi:10.3389/fvets.2023.1207950

A comparative metabolomics analysis of domestic yak (Bos grunniens) milk with human breast milk

Front Vet Sci. 2023 Sep 29:10:1207950. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2023.1207950. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Wenhao Li¹, Weike Zeng^{2

3}, Yanping Zhang¹, Zhijie Ma¹, Xingyan Fang^{2

3}, Yingcang Han¹, Yonggang Sun¹, Xiayang Jin¹, Liuyin Ma²

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science, Qinghai University, Xining, China.
² Center for Genomics, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Haixia Applied Plant Systems Biology, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, China.
³ College of Life Sciences, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, China.

Abstract

Yaks are tough animals living in Tibet's hypoxic stress environment. However, the metabolite composition of yak milk and its role in hypoxic stress tolerance remains largely unexplored. The similarities and differences between yak and human milk in hypoxic stress tolerance are also unclear. This study explored yak colostrum (YC) and yak mature milk (YMM) using GC-MS, and 354 metabolites were identified in yak milk. A comparative metabolomic analysis of yak and human milk metabolites showed that over 70% of metabolites were species-specific. Yak milk relies mainly on essential amino acids- arginine and essential branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs): L-isoleucine, L-leucine, and L-valine tolerate hypoxic stress. To slow hypoxic stress, human breast milk relies primarily on the neuroprotective effects of non-essential amino acids or derivates, such as citrulline, sarcosine, and creatine. In addition, metabolites related to hypoxic stress were significantly enriched in YC than in YMM. These results reveal the unique metabolite composition of yak and human milk and provide practical information for applying yak and human milk to hypoxic stress tolerance.

Keywords: GC–MS; colostrum milk; comparative metabolomics; human breast; hypoxic stress tolerance; mature milk; yak.

Grants and funding

This work was financially supported by the Key R&D and Transformation Projects of Qinghai Province (2019-NK-109), the Natural Science Foundation of Qinghai Province (2020-ZJ-960Q), and the Special Project of Science and Technology Commissioner of Qinghai Province (Project number: 2023-NK-P06).