Project description:Adult pike Esox lucius was caught in the end of summer (August, 2020) in Teletskoye Lake (Altai region, west Siberia, Russia, 51°79’10’’ N, 87°30’43’’E). Parasite (Triaenophorus crassus) was retrieved from the intestine of pike and immediately frozen in liquid nitrogen. After that, the sample was lyophilized and sent in ice (-20 °C) to the Group of mass spectrometry of Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry RAS (Moscow, Russia) where further analysis was performed.
Project description:Compensatory growth is a naturally occurring accelerated growth phenomenon observed in cattle upon re-alimentation following a prior period of dietary restriction (Hornick et al., 2000). It is incorporated into man production systems as a method to reduce feed costs and consequently is economically important for animal production systems. The goal of our research project is to identify biomarkers for cattle with a superior ability to display compensatory growth. Transcriptional profiling studies of liver and muscle tissues in cattle have shown large numbers of differentially expressed genes in animals undergoing dietary restriction and subsequent compensatory growth when compared to a continuously-fed ad libitum control group of cattle (Connor et al., 2010; Keogh et al., 2016a,b). Given the identification of differential expression at the transcript level, the intended project aims to evaluate potential differences in protein abundance between animals that are diet restricted and subsequently undergo compensatory growth compared to a continuously-fed ad libitum control group of cattle. Differences in genes that are apparent at both the protein and the transcript level are more likely to be transferable across breed type (Snelling et al., 2013) and consequently have more utility for incorporation within genomic selection breeding programs for cattle evaluations.
Project description:MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short non-coding RNAs that post-transcriptionally regulate expression of mRNAs in many biological pathways. Here we report comprehensive miRNAs profiles by next-gen deep sequencing in Angus cattle divergently selected for residual feed intake (RFI) and identify miRNAs related to feed efficiency in beef cattle Results: Two microRNA libraries were constructed from pooled RNA extracted from livers of low and high RFI cattle, and sequenced by Illumina genome analyser. In total, 23,628,103 high quality short sequence reads were obtained and more than half of these reads were matched to the bovine genome (UMD 3.1). We identified 305 known bovine miRNAs (miRBase v.19). Bta-miR-143, bta-miR-30, bta-miR-122, bta-miR-378 and bta-let-7 were the top five most abundant miRNAs families expressed in liver, representing more than 63% of expressed miRNAs. We also identified 52 homologous miRNAs and 10 novel putative bovine-specific miRNAs, based on precursor sequence and the secondary structure and utilizing the miRBase (version 19). We compared the miRNAs profile between high and low RFI animals and ranked the most differentially expressed bovine known miRNAs. Bovine miR-143 was the most abundant miRNA in the bovine liver and comprised 20% of total expressed mapped miRNAs. The most highly expressed miRNA in liver of mice and humans, miR-122, was the third most abundant in our cattle liver samples. We also identified 10 putative novel bovine-specific miRNA candidates. Differentially expressed miRNAs between high and low RFI cattle were identified with 18 miRNAs being up-regulated and 7 other miRNAs down-regulated in low RFI cattle Conclusions: Our study has identified comprehensive miRNAs expressed in bovine liver. Some of the expressed miRNAs are novel in cattle. The differentially expressed miRNAs between high and low RFI give some insights into liver miRNAs regulating physiological pathways underlying residual feed intake in bovine
Project description:This experiment was undertaken to document changes in gene expression in the skin of tick-resistant Brahman (Bos indicus) and tick-susceptible Holstein-Friesian (Bos taurus) cattle prior to, and following, infestation with the cattle tick Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus Experiment Overall Design: RNA was extracted from skin samples of tick-naïve cattle (animals with no previous R.microplus exposure) and tick-infested cattle after a period of successive, heavy infestations with R. microplus. Skin samples taken from tick-infested animals were taken at sites where tick larvae (approximately 24 h old) were attached to the skin sample. Skin samples were of 8 mm diameter and full skin thickness (approximately 10 mm). RNA samples from 12 animals (3 tick-naive Holstein-Friesian, 3 tick-naive Brahman, 3 tick-infested Holstein-Friesian and 3 tick-infested Brahman) were processed and hybridised to individual slides.
Project description:Genomic structural variation is an important and abundant source of genetic and phenotypic variation. Here we describe the first systematic and genome-wide analysis of copy number variations (CNVs) in modern domesticated cattle using array comparative genomic hybridization (array CGH), quantitative PCR (qPCR) and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH). The array CGH panel included 90 animals from 11 Bos taurus, 3 Bos indicus and 3 composite breeds for beef, dairy or dual purpose. We identified over 200 candidate CNV regions (CNVRs) in total and 177 within known chromosomes, which harbor or are adjacent to gains or losses. These 177 high-confidence CNVRs cover 28.1 mega bases or ~1.07% of the genome. Over 50% of the CNVRs (89/177) were found in multiple animals or breeds and analysis revealed breed-specific frequency differences and reflected aspects of the known ancestry of these cattle breeds. Selected CNVs were further validated by independent methods using qPCR and FISH. Approximately 67% of the CNVRs (119/177) completely or partially span cattle genes and 61% of the CNVRs (108/177) directly overlap with segmental duplications. The CNVRs span about 400 annotated cattle genes that are significantly enriched for specific biological functions such as immunity, lactation, reproduction and rumination. Multiple gene families, including ULBP, have gone through ruminant lineage-specific gene amplification. We detected and confirmed marked differences in their CNV frequencies across diverse breeds, indicating that some cattle CNVs are likely to arise independently in breeds and contribute to breed differences. Our results provide a valuable resource beyond microsatellites and single nucleotide polymorphisms to explore the full dimension of genetic variability for future cattle genomic research.
Project description:Hepatic steatosis is the initial manifestation of abnormal liver functions and often leads to liver diseases such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in humans and fatty liver syndrome in animals. In this study, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of a large chicken population consisting of 705 adult hens by combining host genome resequencing, liver transcriptome, proteome, and metabolome analysis, as well as microbial 16S rRNA gene sequencing of each gut segment.
Project description:In the present study, a oligonucleotide microarray platform is used to compare expression profiles of beef cattle muscle in animals treated with either Dexamethazone (Dex) or Dexamethazone plus 17?-estradiol (Estr) administered at sub-therapeutic dosage, against untreated controls. Seventeen male beef cattle 15-18 months old, around 450 kg mean body weight were randomly allocated in three groups: 6 were untreated (group Ctrl), 5 were administered with dexamethazone via feed 0.75mg/head for 43 days (group D); the last 6 animals were administered via feed for 43 days with Dex (0.75mg/head) and intramuscularly (i.m.) for three times with 17?-oestradiol, 20mg/head, (group DE). Three additional control animals, matching in sex and age, collected in a previous experiment were included in the Ctrl group to increase sample size and to control for biological variation. For each sample, total RNA was extracted from a specific anterior limb muscle (biceps branchii). Data analysis demonstrates that the expression profiles were strongly affected by Dex treatment with hundreds of genes up-regulated with relevant fold-change, whereas the myostatin gene was significantly down-regulated. On the contrary, the administration of Dex-Estr reveals a weaker effect on gene expression. In this study, we analyzed the gene expression profiles of 20 anterior limb muscle samples, 9 collected from untreated controls, 5 collected from cattle treated with Dex and 6 from cattle treated with Dex+Estr using Agilent-015354 Bovine oligo microarray platform (20 arrays, no replicate) based on single-colour detection (Cyanine-3 only). Microarrays are scanned with Agilent scanner G2565BA (barcode on the left, DNA on the back surface, scanned through the glass) at a resolution of 5 microns; all slides are scanned twice at two different sensitivity settings (XDRHi 100% and XDRLo 10%); the scanner software creates a unique ID for each pair of XDR scans and saves it to both scan image files. Feature Extraction 9.5 uses XDR ID to link the pairs of scans together automatically when extracting data. The signal left after all the FE processing steps have been completed is ProcessedSignal that contains the Multiplicatively Detrended, Background-Subtracted Signal
Project description:To assess how different levels of stress exposure affect epigenetic regulation mechanisms in cattle, we investigated genome-wide DNA methylation in 20 Italian Red Pied dairy cows falling in the high- and low-variant tails of the distribution of milk cortisol concentration (MC), a neuroendocrine biomarker of stress in dairy cows, measured in 126 animals belonging to the same farm in the framework of the Gen2Phen Italian project. The ‘low-’ and ‘high-cortisol’ groups of animals had MC<370 pg/ml and>810 pg/ml, respectively. Their methylome was analysed by Reduced Representation Bisulfite Sequencing, which provides single-base resolution methylation profiles across the whole genome. To date, 20 animals (10 low- and 10 high-MC) have been sequenced. The two groups showed similar proportion of methylation at CpG sites, while they differed at non-CpG sites. Significant methylation changes were observed in 897 regions and 248 genes. KEGG and Gene Ontology (GO) pathway analyses indicated that these genes were mainly involved in immune regulatory pathways, glucocorticoids metabolism and nervous system functions. These preliminary results suggest that cortisol secretion in livestock is mediated by epigenetic regulation, provide target biomarkers to assess the effect of stress management procedures and candidate genes for the selection of stress-tolerant animals.
Project description:Background The goat (Capra hircus) represents one of the most important farm animal species. It is reared in all continents with an estimated world population of about 800 million of animals. Despite its importance, studies on the goat genome are still in their infancy compared to those in other farm animal species. Comparative mapping between cattle and goat showed only a few rearrangements in agreement with the similarity of chromosome banding. We carried out a cross species cattle-goat array comparative genome hybridization (aCGH) experiment in order to identify copy number variations (CNVs) in the goat genome analysing animals of different breeds (Saanen, Camosciata delle Alpi, Girgentana, and Murciano-Granadina) using a tiling oligonucleotide array with ~385,000 probes designed on the bovine genome. Results We identified a total of 161 CNVs (an average of 17.9 CNVs per goat), with the largest number in the Saanen breed and the lowest in the Camosciata delle Alpi goat. By aggregating overlapping CNVs identified in different animals we determined CNV regions (CNVRs): on the whole, we identified 127 CNVRs covering about 11.47 Mb of the virtual goat genome referred to the bovine genome (0.435% of the latter genome). These 127 CNVRs included 86 loss and 41 gain and ranged from about 24 kb to about 1.07 Mb with a mean and median equal to 90,292 bp and 49,530 bp, respectively. To evaluate whether the identified goat CNVRs overlap with those reported in the cattle genome, we compared our results with those obtained in four independent cattle experiments. Overlapping between goat and cattle CNVRs was highly significant (P<0.0001) suggesting that several chromosome regions might contain recurrent interspecies CNVRs. Genes with environmental functions were over-represented in goat CNVRs as reported in other mammals. Conclusions We describe a first map of goat CNVRs. This provides information on a comparative basis with the cattle genome by identifying putative recurrent interspecies CNVs between these two ruminant species. Several goat CNVs affect genes with important biological functions. Further studies are needed to evaluate the functional relevance of these CNVs and their effects on behavior, production, and disease resistance traits in goats.