Deep Crotonylproteomics Analysis of High-Altitude Exposure Hearts in Mice

The potential molecular mechanisms of short-term adaptation
and
long-term structural deteriorations in the cardiac structure in response
to high altitude remain not fully understood. This study aims to investigate
changes in the crotonylproteome in the hearts of mice exposed to high
altitude at different time points. The hearts were obtained from mice
living at the lowland and 3, 10, and 30 days after arriving at a plateau.
Crotonyllysolylated proteins were subsequently comprehensively evaluated.
Among the identified 13,731 crotonyllysine sites, 11,140 were quantified.
Furthermore, 1247 differentially expressed crotonyllysine sites on
764 proteins in 46 pathways were analyzed, and the results showed
that the abundance of crotonylation increased with the increase of
exposure time to altitude. Functional enrichment analysis showed that
most of these significantly altered crotonylated proteins were enriched
in the regulation of metabolism and myocardial function, indicating
that these enriched biological processes may be involved in the acute
adaptation and chronic remodeling of cardiac function and structural
changes at a high altitude. Our study uncovers some crotonylation-affected
processes and pathways in the heart’s response to high-altitude
exposure, giving novel insights into molecular processes of cardiac
function and structure changes at high altitude (ProteomeXchange identifier:
PXD044178).