Figure 5.

Expression of proteins involved in mitochondrial and peroxisomal fatty acid β-oxidation was elevated in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) lymphoblasts. Error bars represent the standard error of the mean. RNA sequencing transcriptomics experiment: ME/CFS n = 23, control n = 17. Each cell line was sampled once. Mass spectrometry proteomics experiment: ME/CFS n = 34, control n = 31. Each cell line was sampled once, or twice for a subset of healthy controls arbitrarily selected to act an internal control between experiments in the proteomics work. (A) A total of 21 proteins involved in mitochondrial fatty acid β-oxidation and transport were detected within the whole-cell proteomes of ME/CFS and control lymphoblasts. Fold change refers to the mean abundance of a given protein in the CFS group divided by the mean abundance in the control group. The proportion of detected proteins that were upregulated (binomial test with H_o set to 0.5 and H₁ being that the upregulated proportion was greater) and the average extent of the upregulation (single-sample t test with H_o ≤ m1 and H₁ m>1) were statistically significant. (B) A total of 25 RNA transcripts encoding proteins involved in mitochondrial fatty acid β-oxidation and transport were detected by RNA sequencing within the whole-cell transcriptomes of ME/CFS and control lymphoblasts. Fold change refers to the mean abundance of a given transcript in the CFS group divided by the mean abundance in the control group. The proportions of reduced or elevated transcripts were not significantly different (binomial test with H_o p = 0.5) nor was the average magnitude of expression (single-sample t test with H_o m = 1). (C) The expression levels of both subunits of the mitochondrial trifunctional enzyme complex Hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase/3-keotacyl-CoA thiolase (HADHA and HADHB), very long-chain specific acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (ACADVL), enoyl-CoA hydratase (ECHS1) and electron transfer flavoprotein subunit alpha (ETFA (are significantly elevated in whole-cell mass spectrometry proteomics experiments (independent t test). Relative abundance was obtained from Intensity-Based Absolute Quantitation values normalised to the control average within the respective individual experiments. (D) The expression of Acyl-CoA oxidase 1 (ACOX1) was significantly elevated in whole-cell mass spectrometry proteomics experiments (independent t test). Relative abundance was obtained from Intensity-Based Absolute Quantitation values normalised to the control average within the respective individual experiments. ACOX1 expression was not altered at the transcriptional level as measured by whole-cell RNA sequencing transcriptomics. Counts per million mapped reads were calculated for each gene transcript.