Effects of methionine on muscle protein synthesis and degradation pathways in broilers

This study investigated the hypothesis that supplementation of methionine (Met) to broiler diets increases muscle growth due to regulation of molecular pathways related to protein synthesis and degradation depending on the Met source. Day-old male Cobb-500 broilers (n = 240) were phase-fed three different wheat-soya bean meal-based basal diets during days 1-10, 11-21 and 22-35. Basal diets (Met- group, Met + Cys concentration 15% below NRC recommendations) were supplemented with 0.10% or 0.40% Met either as DL-Met (DLM) or DL-2-hydroxy-4-(methylthio) butanoic acid (DL-HMTBA) (equimolar comparison). Breast muscle weights were lower in the Met- group compared to all Met-supplemented groups and were lower in broilers supplemented with 0.10% of DL-HMTBA compared to the other groups fed Met-supplemented diets. However, the expression of genes or relative phosphorylation and thus activation state of proteins involved in the somatotropic axis, the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway of protein synthesis, the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway (UPP) and autophagy-lysosomal pathway of protein degradation, the GCN2/eIF2a pathway involved in the inhibition of protein synthesis and in the myostatin-Smad2/3 pathway involved in myogenesis were not affected by Met source. Feeding diets with suboptimum Met + Cys concentrations, however, decreased expression of GHR and IGF1 in liver and muscle and increased that of MURF1 involved in the UPP in the broiler's muscle at day 10 and 21, while that of FOXO and atrogin-1 and FOXO phosphorylation remained unaffected. Additionally, suboptimum dietary Met concentrations increased expression of the autophagy-related genes ATG5 and BECN1 at day 35. Met supplementation neither affected gene expression nor phosphorylation of proteins involved in the GNC2/eIF2a and mTOR pathways. These data indicate that protein synthesis was not affected on the molecular level, while protein degradation was marginally affected by dietary Met dosage.