Advances in research on the effects of aquaporins on animal health

Aquaporins (AQPs) are an essential transmembrane channel protein and have been discovered in many different tissues (e.g., brain, liver, kidney, and intestine) in animals and serve many specialized biological functions. Research shows that AQPs not only carry the transport of water and other small molecules in animals, but also play a crucial role in diarrhea, constipation, stress, and immunity. Currently, the research about AQPs mainly focuses on the excavation of the water channel structure and function. Additionally, researchers are using knockout mice to construct a channel protein deletion model to explore its mechanism of action on human health as well as exploring the impact of AQPs on livestock health. This paper reviews research progress on understanding AQPs in animal health, especially the impact of aquaporin on livestock health and its nutritional regulation. We also present a bioinformatics method that was used to predict the homology between livestock, poultry, and mouse AQPs genes and proteins. This research provides a theoretical reference for AQPs in animal nutrition research and scientific application.