Metabolomics Comparison Between Ovine and Bovine Serum at Mid-lactation

Abstract The ovine milk owns higher lactoprotein, fat and other solids than bovine milk. However, the mechanism was not fully clear. To discover the specific mechanism, an untargeted metabolomics analyze of serum at mid-lactation by liquid chromagraphy-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) was performed. Then multivariate statistical analysis was carried out to find the specific differences. Final the different abundant metabolites were functionally enrichment by KEGG. In total, 1615 metabolites were detected in serum and 486 were annotated. The the largest metabolic category was lipids and lipid-like molecules (188 metabolites). 412 metabolites were identified as differential metabolites between two groups. KEGG pathway enrichment showed that 18 and 10 functional pathways of differential metabolites were enriched at positive and negative ion mode, separately. Notably, hernandezine, which is a novel AMPK activator, may play a role in the formation of lactoprotein of ovine milk. The results indicated that there may be different biological effects between two species serum. The serum metabolites could make help for the formation of milk.