Proteome analysis identified proteins associated with mitochondrial function and inflammation activation crucially regulating the pathogenesis of fatty liver disease

BACKGROUND: Fatty liver disease prevalently occurs in commercial postpartum dairies, resulting in a worldwide high culling rate because of their subsequent limitations of production and reproduction performance. RESULTS: Fatty liver-specific proteome and acetylome analysis revealed that energy metabolism suppression closely associated with mitochondrial dysfunction and inflammation activation were shown to be remarkable biological processes underlying the development of fatty liver disease, furthermore, acetylation modification of proteins could be one of the main means to modulate these processes. Twenty pivotal genetic factors/genes that differentially expressing and being acetylation modified in liver were identified and proposed to regulate the pathogenesis of fatty liver dairies. These proteins were confirmed to be differentially expressing in individual liver tissue, eight of which being validated via immunohistochemistry assay. CONCLUSIONS: This study provided a comprehensive proteome and acetylome profile of fatty liver of dairy cows, and revealed potential important biological processes and essential regulators in the pathogenesis of fatty liver disease. Expectantly, understanding the molecular mechanisms of the pathogenesis of fatty liver disease in dairies, as an animal model of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in human beings, which is a clinico-pathologically defined process associated with metabolic syndrome, could inspire and facilitate the development of efficacious therapeutic drugs on NAFLD. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12864-021-07950-2.