Effects of Diets with Different Energy and Protein Levels on mRNA Expression of Glucose Transporters in Tan Sheep

This experiment was conducted to study the effects of the diets with different energy and protein levels on mRNA expression of glucose transporters in the small intestine and muscle of Tan sheep. A total of 112 healthy Tan sheep (half male and half female) with similar initial live weight were randomly divided into four groups with four replicates per group and seven sheep per replicate. According to the Feeding Standard of Meat-producing Sheep and Goats (NY/T 816—2004),each group was fed diet with different levels of energy and protein respectively:0.84×standard level (group Ⅰ),0.96×standard level (group Ⅱ),1.08×standard level (group Ⅲ) and 1.20×standard level (group Ⅳ). The test period were divided into two stages by body weight of sheep (29-35 and 36-40 kg). At the end of each stage,one sheep was slaughtered at each replicate,and small intestine and muscle samples were collected to study mRNA relative expression of SGLT1,GLUT4 and GLUT5 genes by Real-time PCR. The results indicated that:SGLT1 gene mRNA expression levels of group Ⅲ was significantly higher than other groups in small intestine at the end of 29-35 kg stage (P< 0.05);At the end of 36-40 kg stage,the SGLT1 gene mRNA expression levels had no significant difference among the four groups (P> 0.05).In muscle,the SGLT1 gene mRNA expression level increased with the rise of energy and protein levels at both stages ,and that of group Ⅳ were the highest.In small intestine,at the end of 29-35 kg stage,the GLUT4 gene mRNA expression levels had no significant difference among the four groups (P> 0.05);At the end of 36-40 kg stage,the GLUT4 gene mRNA expression level increased with the rise of energy and protein levels,and that of group Ⅳ were significantly higher than the other groups (P< 0.05).In muscle,the GLUT4 gene mRNA expression level were the highest in group Ⅳ at both stages,and significantly higher than group Ⅰ (P< 0.05). The GLUT5 gene mRNA expression did not show any regularity at both stages. In conclusion,diets with different levels of energy and protein could significantly affect the mRNA expression of SGLT1 and GLUT4 genes,and affect absorption of glucose in sheep.