Identification of novel proteomics markers involved in ovarian endocrinology of riverine buffalo (Bubalus bubalis)

Abstract

Long postpartum anestrus is one of the factors responsible for low reproductive efficiency. The present study was carried out to identify probable follicular fluid protein markers of postpartum anestrum buffaloes by proteomics approach. Ovum pick-up technique was used to collect follicular fluids from 23 buffaloes pertaining to postpartum estrus, anestrus and cystic follicular fluid. Pooled follicular fluids samples from each group were further divided into supernatant and cell lysate and subjected to two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. Densitometric analyses revealed the presence of 767 total protein spot and out of which 34 were unique in the studied groups. With the aid of mass spectrometry, the 34 protein spots were identified and among them apolipoproteins (A-I, A-II, A-IV), serum amyloid A-4, adenylate kinase 2, alpha-fetoprotein, heat shock protein beta-1, protein kinase C-binding protein, complement C1q subcomponent, integrin beta-7 and cadherin-23 have been established to play one or other role in ovarian endocrinology. Moreover, using bioinformatics tool, gene ontology and protein–protein interactions among the identified protein were also analyzed. To our knowledge, this is the first report on identification of proteins involved in postpartum anestrus of buffaloes from India which are to be validated further to establish its relationship with postpartum anestrus.