Effect of some candidate genes on meat characteristics of three cattle breeds.

With the aim to assess if some molecular markers can help to select animals for meat characteristics, we studied 84 individuals equally representing the Marchigiana, Maremmana, and Holstein Friesian cattle breeds genotyped at 288 SNPs located within candidate genes. Several SNPs were found associated with meat quality parameters but with P which was higher than the Bonferroni threshold. However, several SNPs had a low P at different times during meat maturation, suggesting their involvement in the meat quality variation. Of particular interest for the biological role and potential for selection were: cathepsin G affecting MFI, IGF1R affecting pH and collagen XVIII affecting colour

Analysis of Early Events during the First Year of Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor Therapy in Patients with Chronic Phase - Chronic Myeloid Leukemia: A "Campus CML" Study

Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) revolutionized treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). However, the rst months of therapy are crucial, as optimal response is dened as the achievement of molecular milestones at 3, 6 and 12 months (mo.) and as many toxicities, also causing a TKI switch, are more frequent in the 1st yea

Genome-wide association for milk production and lactation curve parameters in Holstein dairy cows

The aim of this study was to identify genomic regions associated with 305-day milk yield and lactation curve parameters on primiparous (n = 9,910) and multiparous (n = 11,158) Holstein cows. The SNP solutions were estimated using a weighted single-step genomic BLUP approach and imputed high-density panel (777k) genotypes. The proportion of genetic variance explained by windows of 50 consecutive SNP (with an average of 165 Kb) was calculated, and regions that accounted for more than 0.50% of the variance were used to search for candidate genes. Estimated heritabilities were 0.37, 0.34, 0.17, 0.12, 0.30 and 0.19, respectively, for 305-day milk yield, peak yield, peak time, ramp, scale and decay for primiparous cows. Genetic correlations of 305-day milk yield with peak yield, peak time, ramp, scale and decay in primiparous cows were 0.99, 0.63, 0.20, 0.97 and -0.52, respectively. The results identified three windows on BTA14 associated with 305-day milk yield and the parameters of lactation curve in primi- and multiparous cows. Previously proposed candidate genes for milk yield supported by this work include GRINA, CYHR1, FOXH1, TONSL, PPP1R16A, ARHGAP39, MAF1, OPLAH and MROH1, whereas newly identified candidate genes are MIR2308, ZNF7, ZNF34, SLURP1, MAFA and KIFC2 (BTA14). The protein lipidation biological process term, which plays a key role in controlling protein localization and function, was identified as the most important term enriched by the identified genes

Expert-based development of a generic HACCP-based risk management system to prevent critical negative energy balance in dairy herds

The objective of this study was to develop a generic risk management system based on the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) principles for the prevention of critical negative energy balance (NEB) in dairy herds using an expert panel approach. In addition, we discuss the advantages and limitations of the system in terms of implementation in the individual dairy herd. For the expert panel, we invited 30 researchers and advisors with expertise in the field of dairy cow feeding and/or health management from eight European regions. They were invited to a Delphi-based set-up that included three inter-correlated questionnaires in which they were asked to suggest risk factors for critical NEB and to score these based on 'effect' and 'probability'. Finally, the experts were asked to suggest critical control points (CCPs) specified by alarm values, monitoring frequency and corrective actions related to the most relevant risk factors in an operational farm setting. A total of 12 experts (40 %) completed all three questionnaires. Of these 12 experts, seven were researchers and five were advisors and in total they represented seven out of the eight European regions addressed in the questionnaire study. When asking for suggestions on risk factors and CCPs, these were formulated as 'open questions', and the experts' suggestions were numerous and overlapping. The suggestions were merged via a process of linguistic editing in order to eliminate doublets. The editing process revealed that the experts provided a total of 34 CCPs for the 11 risk factors they scored as most important. The consensus among experts was relatively high when scoring the most important risk factors, while there were more diverse suggestions of CCPs with specification of alarm values and corrective actions. We therefore concluded that the expert panel approach only partly succeeded in developing a generic HACCP for critical NEB in dairy cows. We recommend that the output of this paper is used to inform key areas for implementation on the individual dairy farm by local farm teams including farmers and their advisors, who together can conduct herd-specific risk factor profiling, organise the ongoing monitoring of herd-specific CCPs, as well as implement corrective actions when CCP alarm values are exceeded

Proteomics and Transcriptomics Investigation on longissimus Muscles in Large White and Casertana Pig Breeds

L'articolo è disponibile sul sito dell'editore http://pubs.acs.org/Consumer complaints against the blandness of modern lean meat and the frequent reference to the more strongly flavored meat that was available years ago have prompted reconsideration of high fatdepositing typical pig breeds. Casertana and Large White pig breeds are characterized by a different tendency toward fat accumulation as they exhibit opposite genetic and physiological traits with respect to the energy metabolism. These physiological differences were investigated in longissimus lumborum muscles through proteomics (2-DE, MS/MS) and microarray approaches. Data were analyzed for pathway and network analyses, as well as GO term enrichment of biological functions. As a result, Casertana showed a greater amount of proteins involved in glycolitic metabolism and mainly rely on fast-mobilizable energy sources. Large White overexpressed cell cycle and skeletal muscle growth related genes. Metabolic behavior and other implications are discussed

Italian Goat Consortium: a collaborative project to study the Italian caprine biodiversity

The Italian Goat Consortium (IGC), joined the effort of many Universities and Research Institutes, in a comprehensive study of the Italian goat population genetic makeup using a medium density (54K) SNPs chip. Currently IGC has genotyped more than 1,000 animals from more than 30 goat breeds and populations from all Italian geographical and agroecological areas of goat rearing. The aim of this work is to obtain a clear picture of the Italian caprine biodiversity, to reconstruct the ancestry, to disentangle the genetic background and to assess the relationships among and within the investigated breeds. To date, the IGC dataset includes about 50 million genotypes. The data were quality checked by excluding markers and individuals on the basis of missing genotypes, minor allele frequency and close individual relatedness. Genetic relationships among and within breeds was investigated by Multi-Dimensional Scaling and Principal Component Analysis. Population structure, ancestry models and admixture were estimated by ADMIXTURE and fastSTRUCTURE software. Finally, phylogenic trees were reconstructed with PHYLIP software suite starting from shared-allele identity by state, and Reynolds distance matrices, while past migration events were modeled with TreeMix software. The results confirmed high levels of genetic polymorphism and confirmed the North-South geographical pattern of diversity, previously reported on a smaller sample of Italian goat breeds. The analysis also revealed a pivotal role of Central Italy in connecting the genetic resources of the northern and southern areas of the country, and confirms the genetic isolation of insular breeds. Moreover, some breeds show clearly distinctive and homogeneous gene pools, whereas other breeds present complex and, in some cases, dishomogeneous genetic background. Even if “A breed is a group of domestic animals, termed such by common consent of the breeders” (Lush J.L., 1994), genomic tools are useful in understanding the genetic background of populations and in defining their relationships or uniqueness. These tools can complement the traditional ones in providing farmers and their associations a powerful aid for a more conscious management of goat populations and their biodiversity