Metabolomic Analysis of Liver from Dietary Biotin Deficient Mice

Biotin is a water-soluble B-complex vitamin that functions as a cofactor of five carboxylases. Because biotin-dependent carboxylases catalyze indispensable cellular metabolic functions, biotin deficiency is considered to be involved in various pathological conditions. Moreover, biotin supplementation shows pharmacological effects in vivo. However, the precise mechanisms by which biotin deficiency induces pathological conditions remain unclear. Although abnormal metabolites are used as indicators for biotin deficiency, few comprehensive analyses of total metabolites have been reported. In this study, we analyzed the metabolomic profiles of liver extracts prepared from biotin-sufficient (BS) and -deficient (BD) mice. Thirteen of 126 metabolites showed significantly different concentrations between liver extracts from BD and BS mice. The concentrations of 5 essential amino acids, Met, Val, Thr, Ile, and Leu, and 2 conditionally essential amino acids, Cys and Tyr were significantly lower in BD mice than in BS mice. Among these, the concentrations of sulfur-containing amino acids, Cys and Met, were more than 1.5-fold lower in BD mice. The concentrations of Met metabolites, such as S-adenosylmethionine and S-adenosylhomocysteine were not significantly different between the two groups. The concentrations of glutathione and its reaction intermediates gamma-Glu-Cys tendency to be lower in BD mice. The present study revealed that biotin deficiency induces an abnormal amino acids composition, especially among sulfur-containing amino acids and provide important information on the effect of biotin as a pharmacological agent.