Project description:Pig breeds have different attitude to traits like growth rate, carcass composition and reproduction parameters as well as other traits. These traits considered as external traits or end phenotypes are the outcome of complex biological processes and interactions. The main goal of pig breeding programs and the basis for crossbreeding is finding a balance between these traits. In pig production, Large White and Duroc breeds are commonly used to optimise respectively fertility and growth ability and differ on several production traits, indeed the first breed as a high fertility characters whereas Duroc is used as terminal sire for her growth performance and good carcass quality traits. In this study, we have used a quantitative label-free LC-MS proteomics approach to characterise and compare the liver proteome of two heavy Italian pig breeds, Italian Duroc and Italian Large White to identify difference due to their different genetic background. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 703094.
Project description:The study investigated the impact of environment on the composition of the gut microbiota and mucosal immune development and function at gut surfaces in early and adult life. Piglets of similar genotype were reared in indoor and outdoor environments and in an experimental isolator facility. Mucosa-adherent microbial diversity in the pig ileum was characterized by sequence analysis of 16S rRNA gene libraries. Host-specific gene responses in gut ileal tissues to differences in microbial composition were investigated using Affymetrix microarray technology and Real-time PCR.
2009-12-01 | GSE15256 | GEO
Project description:pig microbial community diversity
Project description:Western commercial pig breeds have been intensively selected, resulting in a sizeable, rapid, and efficient accretion of muscle but a reduction in meat quality. When compared with Western commercial pig breeds, Chinese indigenous pig breeds exhibited slower growth rates and reduced lean meat content but superior perceived meat quality. To study the factors that determine meat quality, we examined piglets of one Western commercial breed (Yorkshire) and one Chinese indigenous breed (Wannanhua) and sequenced the longissimus dorsi muscle using RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq). We analyzed their transcriptomes, focusing on identifying candidate genes that may influence porcine muscle growth, meat quality and adipose deposition. Gene ontology functional enrichment and pathway enrichment analyses identified differentially expressed genes primarily associated with glycolytic metabolism, biological processes of muscle development and signaling pathways related to fatty acid metabolism, growth and carcass traits. This finding suggests that the differentially expressed genes may play important roles in determining meat quality traits. Quantitative real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) confirmed the differential expression of twelve selected differentially expressed genes. This study identified a number of novel candidate genes for porcine meat quality and carcass traits that merit further investigation to elucidate the molecular mechanisms responsible for muscle growth and fat deposition.
Project description:The study investigated the impact of environment on the composition of the gut microbiota and mucosal immune development and function at gut surfaces in early and adult life. Piglets of similar genotype were reared in indoor and outdoor environments and in an experimental isolator facility. Mucosa-adherent microbial diversity in the pig ileum was characterized by sequence analysis of 16S rRNA gene libraries. Host-specific gene responses in gut ileal tissues to differences in microbial composition were investigated using Affymetrix microarray technology and Real-time PCR. Experiment Overall Design: Animals were reared on the sow at an outdoor or indoor facility. Additional piglets from the indoor facility were transferred to individual isolator units at 24 hours of age, and given a daily dose of antibiotic cocktail for the duration of the study. Piglets were weaned at day 28. From day 29 onwards, piglets were fed creep feed ad libitum. Ileal tissue samples were excised from N=6 piglets per group at day 5, 28 and 56.