Changes in the Milk Metabolome of the Giant Panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) with Time after Birth – Three Phases in Early Lactation and Progressive Individual Differences
Fig 3
Compounds in giant panda milk tentatively correlated with cub growth rate.
(A) OPLS loading plot for 21 serially collected samples from giant panda Yuan Yuan (YY). Components selected for testing for correlation with rate of cub body weight change are highlighted in red; see main text for selection criteria. X-variables, Pareto scaled LC-HRMS data; Y-variable, rate of body weight change over time of YY’s cub. (B) Body mass changes for YY’s cub over the milk sampling period (see also Fig A in S1 File). (C, D, E, F) Changes in abundance with time of the compounds indicated with diamonds in (A) selected to illustrate diverse correlations with weight gain by the cub. Compound N258 showed positive correlation, whereas compound N254 showed negative correlation, and compound P318 exhibited a more complex pattern. Y-axes represent relative abundances of each compound as estimated from areas under peaks calculated from HILIC-HRMS data, x-axes represent time after birth. Putative initial identifications were N258, isoglobotriose; P318, methyl-imidazole acetate; N254, citrate; N338, 3-methyl-2-oxopentanate.
