Project description:The differential expression profile of the pathogenic bacteria Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis was evaluated under three stress conditions, based on the environment found inside the host, compared to control condition. Those stress conditions were undertaken in order to better understand the behavior of this bacteria and to discover which genes could be involved with the infectious process. Based on the analysis performed through the use of the next-generation sequencer SOLiD 3 Plus System, we intended to identify potential vaccine and drug targets that could be used to develop new treatments against the disease caseous lymphadenitis, which causes several economic losses worldwide in goats and sheep raising.
Project description:Staphylococcus aureus is recognized worldwide as a major pathogen causing clinical or subclinical intramammary infections in all the dairy species (sheep, goats and cows). The present study was designed to comparatively investigate 65 S. aureus isolates recovered from dairy sheep and S. aureus suclinical mastitis from cows (n=21) and goats (n=22), for the presence of 190 putative virulence determinants with a single-dye DNA microarray and PCR. The probes (65 mer) were mainly designed from the S. aureus Mu50. The extracted DNA of each strain was labelled with Cy5. The microarray results were validated with PCR.The genomic comparative study with the DNA microarrays showed lineage and species specificity genes leading to the host-specific pathogenic traits of S. aureus in dairy species.
Project description:Artificial insemination in small ruminants is most commonly performed using fresh semen due to the low fertility rates typically achieved with frozen spermatozoa. Usually, when developing and applying assisted reproductive technologies, sheep and goats are often lumped together as one specie. In order to optimize sperm cryopreservation protocols in sheep and goat, differences in sperm proteomics between ram and buck are necessary to detect, which may contribute to differences in sperm function and fertility.
Project description:Haemonchus contortus is the gastrointestinal nematode (GIN) species that most parasites sheep and goats in tropical and subtropical regions. Due to the high prevalence and pathogenicity by hematophagy, it causes severe anemia, submandibular edema and deaths. Post-genomics tools, such as proteomics, allow the identification of differentially expressed genes and differentially abundant proteins and metabolites between two conditions of a given factor. Thus, the detection of protein profiles that occur in more parasitized animals may be of great interest for the identification of sheep that effectively need anthelmintic treatment. As a result, the parasites are preserved in refugia through Targeted Selective Treatment (TST) strategies for the animals, extension of the period of efficacy of the anthelmintics and, when its use is necessary, parasite control will be more efficient. This project aims to characterize the plasma proteomic profile of sheep breeds susceptible and resistant to GIN infection, aiming at the future development of a diagnostic tool and the understanding of the resistance mechanisms involved in the Santa Inês, White Dorper and Texel sheep breeds. In this way, the development of methodologies, processes and products for the identification of sheep with higher rates of infection by GIN, in addition to the detection of breeds/individuals more resistant to these parasites and the understanding of the resistance mechanisms involved in the different hosts, is presented as a topic of great relevance for sheep farming, which can be extended to goat farming. It also addresses public health issues and the consumer population, which is increasingly demanding in terms of quality, certification and safety.
Project description:Dietary supplementation with fish-oil modulates ruminant milk composition towards a healthier fatty acid profile for consumers, but it also causes milk fat depression (MFD). Because the dairy goat industry is mainly oriented towards cheese manufacturing, MFD can elicit economic losses. There is large individual variation in animal susceptibility with goats more (RESPO+) or less (RESPO−) responsive to diet-induced MFD. Thus, we used RNA-Seq to examine gene expression profiles in mammary cells to elucidate mechanisms underlying MFD in goats and individual variation in the extent of diet-induced MFD.
