The association between increasing levels of O-GlcNAc and galectins in the liver tissue of hibernating thirteen-lined ground squirrels (Ictidomys tridecemlineatus).

Post-translational glycosylation of proteins with O-linked β-N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAcylation) and changes of galectin expression profiles are essential in many cellular stress responses. We examine this regulation in the liver tissue of hibernating thirteen-lined ground squirrels (Ictidomys tridecemlineatus) representing a biological model of hypometabolism and physiological stress resistance. The tissue levels of O-GlcNAcylated proteins as well as galectin-1 and galectin-3 proteins detected by immunodot blot assay were significantly lower by 4.6–5.4-, 2.2–2.3- and 2.5–2.9-fold, respectively, in the non-hibernating summer squirrels compared with those in winter, whether hibernating or aroused. However, there were no differences in the expression of genes encoding enzymes involved in O-GlcNAc cycle (O-GlcNAc transferase and O-GlcNAcase) and such galectins as LGALS1, LGALS2, LGALS3, LGALS4 and LGALS9. Only the expression of LGALS8 gene in the liver tissue was significantly decreased by 37.6 ± 0.1% in hibernating ground squirrels relative to summer animals. Considering that the expression of a proven genetic biomarker ELOVL6 encoding ELOVL fatty acid elongase 6 was readily upregulated in non-hibernating animals by 11.3–32.9-fold, marginal differential changes in the expression of galectin genes cannot be classified as biomarkers of hibernation. Thus, this study provides evidence that hibernation in Ictidomys tridecemlineatus is associated with increasing O-GlcNAcylation of liver proteins and suggests that the contribution of galectins deserves further studies at the protein level.