Protein biomarkers in serum as a conservation tool to assess reproduction: a case study on brown bears (Ursus arctos)
Monitoring the reproductive characteristics of a species can complement existing conservation strategies by understanding the mechanisms underlying demography. However, methodology to determine important aspects of female reproductive biology is often absent in monitoring programs for large mammals....
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:8651255 2023-05-15T18:41:57+02:00 Protein biomarkers in serum as a conservation tool to assess reproduction: a case study on brown bears (Ursus arctos) Wilson, Abbey E Michaud, Sarah A Jackson, Angela M Stenhouse, Gordon McClelland, Cameron J R Coops, Nicholas C Janz, David M 2021-12-06 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8651255/ https://doi.org/10.1093/conphys/coab091 en eng Oxford University Press http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8651255/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/conphys/coab091 © The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press and the Society for Experimental Biology. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) ), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. CC-BY Conserv Physiol Research Article Text 2021 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1093/conphys/coab091 2021-12-12T01:48:08Z Monitoring the reproductive characteristics of a species can complement existing conservation strategies by understanding the mechanisms underlying demography. However, methodology to determine important aspects of female reproductive biology is often absent in monitoring programs for large mammals. Protein biomarkers may be a useful tool to detect physiological changes that are indicative of reproductive state. This study aimed to identify protein biomarkers of reproductive status in serum collected from free-ranging female brown bears (Ursus arctos) in Alberta, Canada, from 2001 to 2018. We hypothesized that the expression of proteins related to reproduction in addition to energetics and stress can be used to answer specific management-focused questions: (i) identify when a female is pregnant, (ii) detect if a female is lactating, (iii) determine age of sexual maturity (i.e. primiparity) and (iv) assess female fertility (i.e. reproduction rate). Furthermore, we investigated if silver spoon effects (favourable early life conditions provide fitness benefits through adulthood) could be determined using protein expression. A target panel of 19 proteins with established relationships to physiological function was measured by peptide-based analysis using liquid chromatography and multiple reaction monitoring mass spectrometry and their differential expression was evaluated using a Wilcoxon signed-rank test. We found biomarkers of pregnancy (apolipoprotein B-100 and afamin), lactation (apolipoprotein B-100 and alpha-2-macroglobulin) and sexual maturity (corticosteroid-binding globulin), but there were no statistically significant relationships with protein expression and fertility. The expression of proteins related to reproduction (afamin) and energetics (vitamin-D binding protein) was associated with the nutritional quality of the individual’s present habitat rather than their early life habitat. This study highlights potential biomarkers of reproductive status and provides additional methods for monitoring ... Text Ursus arctos PubMed Central (PMC) Canada Conservation Physiology 9 1 |
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Research Article Wilson, Abbey E Michaud, Sarah A Jackson, Angela M Stenhouse, Gordon McClelland, Cameron J R Coops, Nicholas C Janz, David M Protein biomarkers in serum as a conservation tool to assess reproduction: a case study on brown bears (Ursus arctos) |
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Research Article |
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Monitoring the reproductive characteristics of a species can complement existing conservation strategies by understanding the mechanisms underlying demography. However, methodology to determine important aspects of female reproductive biology is often absent in monitoring programs for large mammals. Protein biomarkers may be a useful tool to detect physiological changes that are indicative of reproductive state. This study aimed to identify protein biomarkers of reproductive status in serum collected from free-ranging female brown bears (Ursus arctos) in Alberta, Canada, from 2001 to 2018. We hypothesized that the expression of proteins related to reproduction in addition to energetics and stress can be used to answer specific management-focused questions: (i) identify when a female is pregnant, (ii) detect if a female is lactating, (iii) determine age of sexual maturity (i.e. primiparity) and (iv) assess female fertility (i.e. reproduction rate). Furthermore, we investigated if silver spoon effects (favourable early life conditions provide fitness benefits through adulthood) could be determined using protein expression. A target panel of 19 proteins with established relationships to physiological function was measured by peptide-based analysis using liquid chromatography and multiple reaction monitoring mass spectrometry and their differential expression was evaluated using a Wilcoxon signed-rank test. We found biomarkers of pregnancy (apolipoprotein B-100 and afamin), lactation (apolipoprotein B-100 and alpha-2-macroglobulin) and sexual maturity (corticosteroid-binding globulin), but there were no statistically significant relationships with protein expression and fertility. The expression of proteins related to reproduction (afamin) and energetics (vitamin-D binding protein) was associated with the nutritional quality of the individual’s present habitat rather than their early life habitat. This study highlights potential biomarkers of reproductive status and provides additional methods for monitoring ... |
format |
Text |
author |
Wilson, Abbey E Michaud, Sarah A Jackson, Angela M Stenhouse, Gordon McClelland, Cameron J R Coops, Nicholas C Janz, David M |
author_facet |
Wilson, Abbey E Michaud, Sarah A Jackson, Angela M Stenhouse, Gordon McClelland, Cameron J R Coops, Nicholas C Janz, David M |
author_sort |
Wilson, Abbey E |
title |
Protein biomarkers in serum as a conservation tool to assess reproduction: a case study on brown bears (Ursus arctos) |
title_short |
Protein biomarkers in serum as a conservation tool to assess reproduction: a case study on brown bears (Ursus arctos) |
title_full |
Protein biomarkers in serum as a conservation tool to assess reproduction: a case study on brown bears (Ursus arctos) |
title_fullStr |
Protein biomarkers in serum as a conservation tool to assess reproduction: a case study on brown bears (Ursus arctos) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Protein biomarkers in serum as a conservation tool to assess reproduction: a case study on brown bears (Ursus arctos) |
title_sort |
protein biomarkers in serum as a conservation tool to assess reproduction: a case study on brown bears (ursus arctos) |
publisher |
Oxford University Press |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8651255/ https://doi.org/10.1093/conphys/coab091 |
geographic |
Canada |
geographic_facet |
Canada |
genre |
Ursus arctos |
genre_facet |
Ursus arctos |
op_source |
Conserv Physiol |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8651255/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/conphys/coab091 |
op_rights |
© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press and the Society for Experimental Biology. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) ), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
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CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1093/conphys/coab091 |
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Conservation Physiology |
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9 |
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1 |
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1766231523305979904 |