Project description:The biological mechanisms associated with the residual feed intake in ruminants have been harnessed immensely via transcriptome analysis of liver and ruminal epithelium, however, this concept has not been fully explored using whole blood. We applied whole blood transcriptome analysis and gene set enrichment analysis to identify key pathways associated with divergent selection for low or high RFI in beef cattle. A group of 56 crossbred beef steers (average BW = 261.3 ± 18.5 kg) were adapted to a high-forage total mixed ration in a confinement dry lot equipped with GrowSafe intake nodes for period of 49 d to determine their residual feed intake (RFI). After RFI determination, weekly whole blood samples were collected three times from beef steers with the lowest RFI (most efficient; low-RFI; n = 8) and highest RFI (least efficient; high-RFI; n = 8). Prior to RNA extraction, whole blood samples collected were composited for each steer. Sequencing was performed on an Illumina NextSeq2000 equipped with a P3 flow. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was used to analyze differentially expressed gene sets and pathways between the two groups of steers. Results of GSEA revealed pathways associated with metabolism of proteins, cellular responses to external stimuli, stress, and heat stress were differentially inhibited (false discovery rate (FDR) < 0.05) in high-RFI compared to low-RFI beef cattle, while pathways associated with binding and uptake of ligands by scavenger receptors, scavenging of heme from plasma, and erythrocytes release/take up oxygen were differentially enriched (FDR < 0.05) in high-RFI, relative to low-RFI beef cattle. Taken together, our results revealed that beef steers divergently selected for low or high RFI revealed differential expressions of genes related to protein metabolism and stress responsiveness.
Project description:Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) is the most common and costly infectious disease affecting the well-being and productivity of beef cattle in North America. BRD is a complex disease whose development is dependent on environmental factors and host genetics. Due to the polymicrobial nature of BRD, our understanding of the genetic and molecular mechanisms underlying the disease is still limited. This knowledge would augment the development of better genetic/genomic selection strategies and more accurate diagnostic tools to reduce BRD prevalence. Therefore, this study utilized multi-omics data (genomics, transcriptomics, and metabolomics) analyses to study the associations between genome, transcriptome, metabolome, and BRD phenotype of feedlot crossbred cattle. The findings may be useful for the development of genomic selection strategies for BRD susceptibility, and for the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic tools.
Project description:miRNA profiling of bovine satellite cells (BSC) differentiated into myotubes (6th day of in vitro differentiation). BSC isolated from m. semitendinosus of beef (Hereford & Limousine) and dairy (Holstein-Friesian) cattle. Goal was to determine differences in miRNA expresion during in vitro myogenesis in beef vs dairy cattle used as a control.
Project description:Bovine tropical theileriosis is a major haemoprotozoan disease associated with high rates of morbidity and mortality particularly in exotic and crossbred cattle. It is one of the major constraints for of the livestock development programmes in India and southern Asia. Indigenous cattle (Bos indicus) are less affected by this disease than exotic and crossbred cattle. Genetic basis of resistance to tropical theileriosis in indigenous cattle is not well studied. Recent studies gives an idea that differentially genes expressed in exotic and indigenous breeds play an important role in breed specific resistance to tropical theileriosis. The present study was designed to visualize the global gene expression profiling in PBMCs derived from indigenous (Tharparkar) and crossbred cattle with in vitro infection of T. annulata. T. annulata Parbhani strain, originally isolated from Maharashtra (India) and maintained as cryopreserved stabilates of ground-up tick tissue sporozoite (GUTS) of infected H. anatolicum anatolicum was used as infective material. Two separate microarray experiments were carried out using separately each for crossbred and Tharparkar cattle. The crossbred cattle showed 1082 differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Out of total DEGs, 597 genes were downregulated and 485 were upregulated. Their fold change varies from 2283.93 to -4816.02. Tharparkar cattle showed 875 differentially expressed genes. Out of total DEGs in Tharparkar cattle, 451 genes were downregulated and 424 genes were upregulated. Their fold change varies from 94.93 to -19.20. A subset of genes was validated by quantitative RT-PCR and results correlated well with data obtained from the microarrays indicating that the microarray results gave an accurate report of transcript level. Functional annotation study of differentially expressed genes has confirmed their involvement in various pathways including response to oxidative stress, immune system regulation, cell proliferation, cytoskeletal changes, kinases activity and apoptosis. Gene network analysis of these differentially expressed genes provided an effective way to understand the interaction among them. It is therefore, hypothesised that the dissimilar susceptibility to tropical theileriosis exhibited by indigenous and crossbred cattle is due to breed-specific differences in the interaction of infected cells with other immune cells, which ultimately influences the immune response generated against T. annulata infection. Global gene expression profiling in PBMCs derived from indigenous (Tharparkar) and crossbred cattle were studied after in vitro infection of T. annulata Parbhani strain at 2h time period. Two separate microarray experiments were carried out using Bovine (V2) Gene Expression Microarray, 4x44K (Agilent). Two biological replicate samples were profiled per condition (i.e. replicates samples each in crossbred and Tharparkar cattle).
Project description:To understand the etiology behind higher incidence of infertility in crossbred bulls, we performed transcriptomic analysis of testicular samples derived from crossbred males and compared with testicular transcriptomic profile of Zebu cattle
Project description:To explore the role of miRNAs in intrauterine exosomes in cattle pregnancy, we analyzed the expression levels of the exosomal miRNAs in Xianan cows, a beef cattle breed in China.
Project description:Crossbreeding has been an effective method to improve crossbred performance in pig industry. To have a global view of a classic three-way crossbreeding system of Duroc x (Landrace x Yorkshire) (DLY), we identified SNPs for each pig breed and crossbred individual originated from a DLY pig family to estimate the influence of purebreds on crossbred offspring using whole-genome sequencing. To confirm the accuracy of the SNPs identified by whole-genome sequencing, therefore, we performed the porcine 60K BeadChip genotyping array (Illumina) for each sequenced pig individual.
Project description:Bovine tropical theileriosis is a major haemoprotozoan disease associated with high rates of morbidity and mortality particularly in exotic and crossbred cattle. It is one of the major constraints for of the livestock development programmes in India and southern Asia. Indigenous cattle (Bos indicus) are less affected by this disease than exotic and crossbred cattle. Genetic basis of resistance to tropical theileriosis in indigenous cattle is not well studied. Recent studies gives an idea that differentially genes expressed in exotic and indigenous breeds play an important role in breed specific resistance to tropical theileriosis. The present study was designed to visualize the global gene expression profiling in PBMCs derived from indigenous (Tharparkar) and crossbred cattle with in vitro infection of T. annulata. T. annulata Parbhani strain, originally isolated from Maharashtra (India) and maintained as cryopreserved stabilates of ground-up tick tissue sporozoite (GUTS) of infected H. anatolicum anatolicum was used as infective material. Two separate microarray experiments were carried out using separately each for crossbred and Tharparkar cattle. The crossbred cattle showed 1082 differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Out of total DEGs, 597 genes were downregulated and 485 were upregulated. Their fold change varies from 2283.93 to -4816.02. Tharparkar cattle showed 875 differentially expressed genes. Out of total DEGs in Tharparkar cattle, 451 genes were downregulated and 424 genes were upregulated. Their fold change varies from 94.93 to -19.20. A subset of genes was validated by quantitative RT-PCR and results correlated well with data obtained from the microarrays indicating that the microarray results gave an accurate report of transcript level. Functional annotation study of differentially expressed genes has confirmed their involvement in various pathways including response to oxidative stress, immune system regulation, cell proliferation, cytoskeletal changes, kinases activity and apoptosis. Gene network analysis of these differentially expressed genes provided an effective way to understand the interaction among them. It is therefore, hypothesised that the dissimilar susceptibility to tropical theileriosis exhibited by indigenous and crossbred cattle is due to breed-specific differences in the interaction of infected cells with other immune cells, which ultimately influences the immune response generated against T. annulata infection.
Project description:To evaluate how commonly-utilized antimicrobials affect the host transcriptome of commercial beef cattle overtime, we enrolled 105 feedlot beef steers randomly into seven different treatment groups (negative control, tulathromycin, tildipirosin, enrofloxacin, florfenicol, ceftiofur, oxytetracycline) to receive a one-time label dose of a commercial antimicrobial or not (negative control), and collected jugular whole blood into PAXgene RNA blood tubes at six time points: Day 0 (baseline), 3, 7, 14, 21, and 56.
Project description:Neotyphodium coenophialum is an endophytic fungus that infects most tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea) pastures that are commonly used in animal grazing systems in the United States. Beef cattle grazing such pastures are impaired in health and production performance, resulting in a large economic loss in US food-animal production systems. Based on the clinical symptoms and laboratory analyses of blood, it was hypothesized that such affected cattle display liver-specific changes in the expression of gene transcripts that are associated with the metabolic enzymes and transporters critical for beef health and performance. Microarray analysis using the GeneChip Bovine Genome Array (Affymetrix, Inc., Santa Clara, CA) was conducted to determine if grazing endophyte-infected tall fescue pastures affects the liver gene expression profiles of growing beef steers.