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2024 Technical Program
Biotechnology
Yomi Watanabe
Head of Lipid Engineering Lab
Osaka Res Inst of Industrial Sci & Tech
Osaka, Japan
Mayumi Ieguchi
Student
Osaka Institute of Technology, Japan
Nana Mikami
Associate professor
Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Japan
Yuko Nobutoki
DVM
Kamogawa Sea World, Japan
Etsuko Katsumata
DVM
Kamogawa Sea World, Japan
Hiroshi Katsumata
Director
Kamogawa Sea World, Japan
Michihiro Taki
DVM
Miyajima Public Aquarium, Japan
Miki Ozaki
DVM
Adventure World, Japan
Araki Masuyama
Professor
Osaka Institute of Technology, Japan
Tadasu Urashima
Honorary professor
Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Japan
This study focused on cetacean milk fat and examined how milk fat composition correlates with dietary and genetic classifications. Cetaceans, including dolphins and whales, are genetically classified in the even-toed ungulates, which also includes cow, sheep, and goat. Even-toed ungulates are terrestrial and herbivorous, whereas cetaceans are marine and fish-eating.
Cetacean milk fat is known to contain PUFAs derived likely from dietary fish, and herbivore milk characteristically contains short-chain FAs. The FA distribution of milk TAGs containing these FAs cannot be analyzed by the conventional method using pancreatic lipase due to the FA specificity, discriminating PUFAs and short chain FAs from other major FAs. Therefore, we analyzed FA distribution of TAGs in milk of some toothed whales and dolphins by Joint JOCS/AOCS Official Method Ch 3a-2019 using CALB with wider FA specificity, and thus including PUFA and short-chain FA containing TAG in its scope.
In cow and goat milk TAGs, short chain FAs are characteristically distributed in sn-1(3), C14 distributed largely in sn-2 position, and other FAs distributed rather randomly. In contrast, little short chain FAs were detected in the milk TAGs from bottle-nosed dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), Pacific white-sided dolphin (Lagenorhynchus obliquidens), false killer whale (Pseudorca crassidens), and beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas), while 16:0 FA distributed largely in sn-2, as known in the human milk TAGs.
PUFAs in the cetacean milk distributed mainly in sn-1(3), which was the opposite distribution in oils of their dietary fish. Dietary oil was indicated to be decomposed and recomposed before it was transferred and secreted to milk.