Investigation of candidate genes for metabolic disorders expressed in liver and pituitary gland by comparing the RNA-seq data of Polish-HF and Polish-Red cattle

Background: Metabolic disorder is a major health problem in dairy cattle, particularly to high milk producing dairy cattle. It is worthily emphasized that metabolic diseases have a very complex etiology and pathogenesis, and the impact of these diseases on hepatic and pituitary gland gene expression and organism oxidative balance is not fully described. The presented study was aimed to determine and predict the hepatic and pituitary gland expression of potential candidate genes in context to maintenance of oxidative balance, negative nitrogen balance, as well as ketosis in Polish HF and Polish Red cattle.Methods: Based on the RNA-seq experimental data, we investigated the candidate genes (SOD1, SOD2, SOD3, GPx2, GPx3, GPx5, GPx6, GPx7, GPx8, BDH1, FN1, ACSL3, HMGCL, HMGCS2, BDH2, ACSL6, ACAT2, IDH3B, ACAT1, HMGCS1, ACSL4, ACSL1, PC, CPT1A, OXCT1 and ACSL5 respectively) expressions in liver and pituitary gland tissues of Polish HF and Polish Red cattle. The RNA-seq experimental design comprised of young bulls aged between 6 to 12 months were investigated. For each breed, six liver and six pituitary gland tissues were sequenced using Next-seq 500 illumina platform. The RNA-seq expression data were normalized by the reads per kilobase of exon per million reads mapped (RPKM) method.Results: By comparing the RNA-seq data of liver and pituitary gland tissues, the investigated candidate genes were highly expressed in the hepatic tissues than to pituitary gland in investigated cattle breeds. However, by comparing the Polish HF and Polish Red cattle breeds, results revealed a similar trend of gene expression profiling of all investigated candidate genes for both metabolic tissues. In case of hepatic gene expression profiling, the SOD1, FN1, HMGCL, HMGCS2, ACAT2, ACAT1, HMGCS1, ACSL1 and ACSL5 were highly expressed (FPKM values of >40), followed by SOD2, GPX3, IDH3B, PC and BDH2 as moderately expressed (FPKM values: >10 to <40), and averagely expressed SOD3, GPX5, GPX6, GPX7, GPX2, GPX8, BDH1, ACSL3, ACSL6, ACSL4, CPT1A and OXCT1 respectively, in Polish HF and Polish Red breeds. In case of pituitary gland gene expression profiling, the SOD1 and GPx3 were highly expressed (FPKM values of >40), followed by SOD2, GPX8, IDH3B, ACAT1, ACSL4 and PC as moderately expressed (FPKM values: >10 to <40), and averagely expressed SOD3, GPX3,GPX5, GPX6, GPX7, GPX2, BDH1, BDH2, ACSL3, ACSL6, CPT1A, OXCT1, FN1, HMGCL, HMGCS2, ACAT2, ACAT1, HMGCS1, ACSL1 and ACSL5 respectively, in Polish HF and Polish Red breeds.Conclusions: Based on this presented results on hepatic and pituitary gland gene expression, a further research plan is an essential pre-requisite to validate the identified candidate genes. Study indicated the understanding the genetic factors that predispose metabolic disorders in cattle would benefit the dairy industry as a whole by providing producers, breeding services, and veterinarians a tool to forecast a cow’s susceptibility to metabolic disorders

Identification of CXCL8c.105A>G and CXCL8c.210C>T polymorphism in Polish HF cattle

Background: Bovine chemokine C-X-C motif legend 8 (CXCL8) also known as interleukin 8 (IL8) is a chemotactic factor that attracts neutrophils, basophils, and T-cells, in response to an inflammatory stimulus. The aim of this study was to investigate the novel single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) located at the promoter region of CXCL8 gene in Polish Holstein Friesian (HF) bulls.Methods: Genotypic profiling of CXCL8c.105A>G and CXCL8c.210C>T SNP polymorphism were carried out by polymerase chain reaction - restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) methods using HpyCH4VI and RsaI restriction enzymes. Polymorphism study was conducted on 151 randomly selected Polish HF bulls.Results: The genotype frequencies of CXCL8c.105A>G SNPs polymorphism in the investigated Polish HF bulls were observed as 0.24%, 0.5% and 0.26% respectively, whereas, the genotype frequencies of CXCL8c.210C>T SNPs polymorphism were observed as 0.27%, 0.5% and 0.23% respectively. Overall, the allele frequencies were recorded higher for “G’ allele for CXCL8c.105A>G and “C” allele and CXCL8c.210C>T SNP polymorphism. In both investigated SNP polymorphism, the state of genetic equilibrium was maintained in Polish HF bulls. Overall, the obtained results identified four haplotypes with the highest frequencies of CG (0.493%) and TA (0.476%) haplotypes, and the lowest frequencies of CA (0.02%) and TG (0.01%) haplotypes, respectively.Conclusions: Study concludes that both polymorphism could be further investigated for the trait-associated studies in the breeding population of Polish HF cattle

Association of bovine CXCL8 polymorphism with clinical mastitis and fertility trait in Polish HF cattle

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between CXCL8 (CXCL8c.105A>G and CXCL8c.210C>T) SNP polymorphism and the clinical mastitis and production trait in Polish HF cattle.Methods: The trait-associated CXCL8 SNPs polymorphism study was carried out in the Polish HF bulls (n=151) by PCR-RFLP methods as described in the previous issue of this journal. The phenotypic records (assessment year 2017) of clinical mastitis, functional and fertility trait were collected from the Research Institute of Animal Production, Balice, Poland (http://www.izookrakow.pl).Results: Overall, the trait-associated study revealed no relationship between the CXCL8c.210C>T SNP polymorphism and the breeding value of selected clinical mastitis and fertility trait of breeding bulls. However, TT genotypes showed low levels of significance of differences for the breeding values of somatic cells count (p = 0.27) and stillborn calving of heifers (p=0.27). Similarly, the trait-associated study showed no correlation between the CXCL8c.105A>G polymorphism and the breeding value of selected clinical mastitis and fertility trait of breeding bulls. However, AA genotypes showed low levels of significance of differences for the somatic cell count (p = 0.12), ease calving of heifers (p = 0.14), the difficulty calving of heifers (p = 0.17), live-born calves of heifers (p = 0.21), and AG genotypes showed the low levels of significance of differences for the stillborn calving in heifers (p = 0.21).Conclusions: Study concludes that trait-associated studies of CXCL8 polymorphism did not identify highly significant effects on clinical mastitis and fertility trait in the investigated breeding bulls of Polish HF cattle

Influence of unilateral ovariectomy performed before ovulation on ovarian function, steroid hormone levels and development of porcine fetuses

Corpus luteum (CL) activity is closely linked with initiation and maintenance of pregnancy and with fetal development. The present study was aimed to analyze the impact of unilateral ovarian removal on ovarian function, steroid hormone level and fetal distribution and development. Unilateral ovariectomy (uni-OVX) was performed in gilts one day before ovulation (group SHORT, n = 24), 20 days before subsequent ovulation (group LONG, n = 23) or ovaries remained intact (group INTACT, n = 22). Gilts were inseminated by single fixed-time laparoscopic intrauterine insemination (LIUI) after hormonal estrus synchronization. Two days before the end of a 15 day long altrenogest feeding, a part of gilts (n = 23) were surgically fitted with a jugular vein catheter and blood samples were collected to determine of estradiol (E2) and progesterone (P4) concentrations. All animals were slaughtered on day 30 of gestation and ovarian features as well as the number, weight and distribution of fetuses recorded. Altogether, 48 gilts (70%) were pregnant and pregnancy rates did not differ between groups. Short term uni-OVX affected CL number compared to intact and long term OVX gilts (9.9 ± 0.8 vs. 20.6 ± 1.9 and 17.5 ± 0.8; P < 0.05) and the number of fetuses (8.7 ± 0.5 vs. 15.0 ± 1.0 and 14.4 ± 1.1; P<0.05), respectively. Weights of individual CL were not influenced by treatment. Fetuses were differently distributed in the uterine horns after uni-OVX. A higher (P<0.05) proportion of fetuses was present always in the horn which bore the ovary. In all groups, weights of fetuses from uterine horns with an active ovary was similar; however, fetuses of the OVX horn of the SHORT group were lighter (P < 0.05). Steroid hormone profile was typical for pregnant gilts, but differences were observed between groups. Both, the preovulatory E2 concentrations and the early luteal phase P4 levels were higher (P < 0.05) in gilts of the INTACT and LONG groups. In summary, compared to intact gilts, only long term uni-OVX could compensate ovarian development. Short term uni-OVX affects (1) the total number of CL and fetuses, (2) the distribution and weight of fetuses in the uterine horns and (3) steroid hormone levels. Therefore, the time window, but not the uni-OXV per se, which alters the local supply of progesterone, has an impact on fetal development and survival

Data set for transcriptome analysis of pituitary galnd in cattle breeds

Transcriptome data presented in this article is associated with the research article entitled “Single nucleotide polymorphism discovery in bovine pituitary gland using RNA-seq technology” published in PLOS One [1]. Herein, we provide raw and analysed RNA-seq data of pituitary gland tissues from three cattle breeds, viz., Polish-HF, Polish Red and Hereford cattle breeds. Bioinformatics pipelines of high-quality RNA-seq data includes the FastQC tools for quality controls, Trimmomatic cutadapt tools for trimming RNA-seq data, and BWA version 0.7.5-r404 for mapping and alignment to the Bos taurus reference genome, SAMtools for SNPs identifications in bovine pituitary gland transcriptome. Raw FASTq files for the RNA-seq libraries of bovine pituitary gland were deposited in the NCBI Sequence Read Archive (SRA) and have been assigned BioProject accession PRJNA312148

Data set for transcriptome analysis of liver in cattle breeds

Transcriptome analysis using high-throughput next-generation sequencing (HT-NGS) technology provides the capability to understand global gene expression variations through a wide range of tissue samples in domesticated animals. We provide raw and analysed data for transcriptomic analysis of liver tissues from Polish-HF, Polish Red and Hereford cattle breeds, obtained by RNA-seq. High-quality sequencing data have been analysed using our bioinformatics pipeline which consists of FastQC for quality controls, Trimmomatic for trimming, and BWA version 0.7.5-r404 for alignment to the Bos taurus reference genome, SAMtools for SNPs identifications, and differentially expressed genes (DEGs) identification using DEseq and edgeR pipelines after adjustment for false-discovery rate (FDR) with adjusted two-sided p values <0.01 and the trimmed mean of M values (TMM) normalisation method. The data accompanying the published manuscript describing the SNPs and DEGs identification in the bovine liver transcriptome of cattle breeds. Raw FASTq files for the RNA-seq libraries are deposited in the NCBI Sequence Read Archive (SRA) and have been assigned BioProject accession PRJNA312148. Raw and processed RNA-seq data were deposited and made publicly available on the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO; GSE114233)

Contemporary Knowledge on the Assessment of Temperament in Cattle and Its Impact on Production and Reproduction Including Some Immunological, Genetic and Metabolic Parameters

Temperament is associated with the well-being, health, production and reproduction of cattle. In order to increase the population of individuals with the desired temperament, its evaluation should be standardized and be made one of the obligatory elements of breeding and veterinary examination. A number of different tests are used for temperament assessment. In this article, the importance of temperament correlation with some metabolic, genetic, immunological, production and reproductive parameters have been shown, pointing at its influence on the economy and cattle handling. The most common methods for assessing the temperament of cattle are presented, including long-time scales of temperament assessment. At the same time, the relationship of the temperament of cattle with production efficiency, immunity and reproductive indicators has been shown, indicating that its correct assessment is an important aspect of the proper development of the herd and the associated economic growth

Resynchronisation as an element of improving cattle reproduction efficiency

Oestrus resynchronisation (RES, Resynch) programmes for non-pregnant cows allow shortening the period between an unsuccessful insemination and the next attempt on the same cow. The protocol of oestrus RES may be started after ruling out pregnancy by means of ultrasonography carried out 28 days after insemination or after performing a test for pregnancy-specific glycoproteins (PAG) in blood or milk. The Resynch protocol can be based on a double application of prostaglandins, the OvSynch protocol, or hormonal therapy with exogenous sources of progesterone (CIDR intravaginal devices). The efficiency of the method depends on the functional state of the ovaries, the diameter of the corpus luteum, external factors, and the health and maturity of the cows. The present paper constitutes a comparison of research findings concerning the effectiveness of RES programmes

A Critical Overview on Prostaglandin Inhibitors and Their Influence on Pregnancy Results after Insemination and Embryo Transfer in Cows

Assisted reproductive techniques in cattle, such as artificial insemination (AI) and embryo transfer (ET), are widely used. Despite many years of methodological improvements, the pregnancy rate (PR) in cows has not increased in direct proportion with their development. Among the possibilities to increase the PR is the use of certain steroids and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). The antiluteolytic effect of NSAIDs is achieved by blocking cyclooxygenase, which is involved in the conversion of arachidonic acid to prostaglandins. This article compares the PRs obtained after treatment with the commonly used NSAIDs in cattle, including flunixin meglumine, carprofen, meloxicam, ibuprofen, aspirin, and sildenafil. Studies on the effectiveness of certain steroid drugs on the PR have also been described. The results were not always consistent, and so comparisons between studies were made. In conclusion, flunixin meglumine seems to be an option, and can be recommended for improving ET results, especially in situations of high exposure or susceptibility to stress. Its administration under all circumstances, however, might be pointless and will not lead to the desired effect