Project description:Bovine tuberculosis (bTB), caused by Mycobacterium bovis (Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex), is a zoonotic disease that affects cattle and wildlife worldwide. In some regions of Spain, Iberian red deer (Cervus elaphus hispanicus) can serve as reservoir of infection, thus increasing the risk of human and cattle exposure and infection. Mesenteric lymph nodes are naturally infected with M. bovis in Iberian red deer, in which the digestive route of infection is particularly important in Mediterranean Spain. In this study we characterized the differential expression of inflammatory and immune response genes in mesenteric lymph nodes of Iberian red deer naturally infected with M. bovis using a Ruminant Immuno-inflammatory Gene Universal Array (RIGUA) and real-time RT-PCR. Of the 600 genes that were analyzed in the microarray, 157 showed ? 1.2 fold changes in expression in infected or uninfected deer and 17 genes displayed an expression fold change greater than 1.7 with a P-value ? 0.05 and were selected for further analysis. These genes included tight junction proteins (Z02 and occluding), IL-11R, bactenecin, CD62L, CD74, desmoglein, IgA and IgM that constitute new findings and suggest new mechanisms by which M. bovis may modulate host inflammatory and immune responses. Identification of genes differentially expressed in animals and tissues naturally infected with M. bovis contributes to our basic understanding of the mechanisms of pathogenesis and protective immunity to mycobacterial infections and may have important implications for future functional genomic and vaccine studies to aid in the control of bTB in deer and other wildlife reservoir species. Mesenteric lymph node RNA from four different uninfected Iberian red deer stags and two Iberian red deer stags infected with Mycobacterium bovis. Infected animals were naturally infected with M. bovis. All animals were hunter-harvested and the tissues retrieved 2-6 hrs after animal hunting.
Project description:Bovine tuberculosis (bTB), caused by Mycobacterium bovis (Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex), is a zoonotic disease that affects cattle and wildlife worldwide. In some regions of Spain, Iberian red deer (Cervus elaphus hispanicus) can serve as reservoir of infection, thus increasing the risk of human and cattle exposure and infection. Mesenteric lymph nodes are naturally infected with M. bovis in Iberian red deer, in which the digestive route of infection is particularly important in Mediterranean Spain. In this study we characterized the differential expression of inflammatory and immune response genes in mesenteric lymph nodes of Iberian red deer naturally infected with M. bovis using a Ruminant Immuno-inflammatory Gene Universal Array (RIGUA) and real-time RT-PCR. Of the 600 genes that were analyzed in the microarray, 157 showed ≥ 1.2 fold changes in expression in infected or uninfected deer and 17 genes displayed an expression fold change greater than 1.7 with a P-value ≤ 0.05 and were selected for further analysis. These genes included tight junction proteins (Z02 and occluding), IL-11R, bactenecin, CD62L, CD74, desmoglein, IgA and IgM that constitute new findings and suggest new mechanisms by which M. bovis may modulate host inflammatory and immune responses. Identification of genes differentially expressed in animals and tissues naturally infected with M. bovis contributes to our basic understanding of the mechanisms of pathogenesis and protective immunity to mycobacterial infections and may have important implications for future functional genomic and vaccine studies to aid in the control of bTB in deer and other wildlife reservoir species. Keywords: disease state analysis
Project description:Enhancing climate resilience and sustainable production for animals in harsh environments are important goals for the livestock industry given the predicted impacts of climate change. Rapid adaptation to extreme climatic conditions has already been imposed on livestock species, including those exported after Columbus’ arrival in the Americas. We compared the methylomes of two Creole cattle breeds living in tropical environments with their putative Spanish ancestors to understand the epigenetic mechanisms underlying rapid adaptation of a domestic species to a new and more physiologically challenging environment. Reduced representation bisulfite sequencing (RRBS) was used to assess differences in methylation in Creole and Spanish samples and revealed 334 differentially methylated regions (DMRs) using high stringency parameters (p-value < 0.01, 4 CpGs within a distance of 200 bp, mean methylation difference > 25%), annotated to 263 unique features. Gene ontology analysis revealed candidates involved in tropical adaptation processes, including genes differentially hyper- or hypomethylated above 80% in Creole samples displaying biological functions related to immune response (IRF6, PRGDR, FAM19A5, PRLYRP1), nervous system (GBX2, NKX2-8, RPGR), energy management (BTD), heat resistance (CYB561) and skin and coat attributes (LGR6). Our results entail that major environmental changes imposed on Creole cattle has had an impact on their methylomes measurable today, which affects genes implicated in important pathways for adaptation. Although further work is needed, this first characterization of methylation patterns driven by profound environmental change provides a valuable pointer for the identification of biomarkers of resilience for improved cattle performance and welfare under predicted climatic change models.
Project description:The hypothalamus is implicated in controlling feeding and adiposity, besides many other physiological functions, and thus can be of great importance in explaining productive differences between lean and fatty pig breeds. The present study aimed to evaluate the hypothalamic transcriptome of pure Iberian (IBxIB) and Large White x Iberian crossbreds (IBxLW) at 60 days-old, produced in a single maternal environment. Results showed the implication of gender and genotype in the hypothalamic transcriptome, with 51 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between genotypes and 10 DEGs between genders. Fourteen genotype by sex interactions were found, due to a higher genotype effect on transcriptome found in males. In fact, just 31 DEGs were identified when using only females but 158 using only males. A higher expression of genes related to mitochondrial activity in IBxIB male animals (ND3, ND4, ND5, UQCRC2 and ATP6) was found, which was related to a higher oxidative phosphorylation and greater reactive oxygen species and nitric oxide production. IBxLW male animals showed higher expression of SIRT3 regulator, also related to mitochondrial function. When females were analysed, no such differences were found, since only some differences in genes related to the tricitric acid cycle were observed. Thus, the results indicate a significant effect and interaction of the breed and the sex on the hypothalamic transcriptome at this early age.