Expression profiles of genes regulating dairy cow fertility: recent findings, ongoing activities and future possibilities

Subfertility has negative effects for dairy farm profitability, animal welfare and sustainability of animal production. Increasing herd sizes and economic pressures restrict the amount of time that farmers can spend on counteractive management Genetic improvement will become increasingly important to restore reproductive performance. Complementary to traditional breeding value estimation procedures, genomic selection based on genome-wide information will become more widely applied. Functional genomics, including transcriptomics (gene expression profiling), produces the information to understand the consequences of selection as it helps to unravel physiological mechanisms underlying female fertility traits. Insight into the latter is needed to develop new effective management strategies to combat subfertility. Here, the importance of functional genomics for dairy cow reproduction so far and in the near future is evaluated. Recent gene profiling studies in the field of dairy cow fertility are reviewed and new data are presented on genes that are expressed in the brains of dairy cows and that are involved in dairy cow oestrus (behaviour). Fast-developing new research areas in the field of functional genomics, such as epigenetics, RNA interference, variable copy numbers and nutrigenomics are discussed including their promising future value for dairy cow fertility

An ATP-binding cassette-type cysteine transporter in Campylobacter jejuni inferred from the structure of an extracytoplasmic solute receptor protein

Campylobacter jejuni is a Gram-negative food-borne pathogen associated with gastroenteritis in humans as well as cases of the autoimmune disease Guillain Barre syndrome. C. jejuni is asaccharolytic because it lacks an active glycolytic pathway for the use of sugars as a carbon source. This suggests an increased reliance on amino acids as nutrients and indeed the genome sequence of this organism indicates the presence of a number of amino acid uptake systems. Cj0982, also known as CjaA, is a putative extracytoplasmic solute receptor for one such uptake system as well as a major surface antigen and vaccine candidate. The crystal structure of Cj0982 reveals a two-domain protein with density in the enclosed cavity between the domains that clearly defines the presence of a bound cysteine ligand. Fluorescence titration experiments were used to demonstrate that Cj0982 binds cysteine tightly and specifically with a K-d of similar to 10(-7) M consistent with a role as a receptor for a high- affinity transporter. These data imply that Cj0982 is the binding protein component of an ABC-type cysteine transporter system and that cysteine uptake is important in the physiology of C. jejuni

Interdependence of primary and secondary somatosensory cortices for plasticity and texture discrimination learning

Feedforward and feedback pathways are important for transfer and integration of information between sensory cortical areas. Here we find that two closely connected cortical areas, the primary (S1) and secondary somatosensory cortices (S2) are both required for mice to learn a whisker-dependent texture discrimination. Increased inhibition in either area (using excitatory DREADDs expressed in inhibitory interneurones) prevents learning. We find that learning the discrimination produces structural plasticity of dendritic spines on layer 2/3 pyramidal neurones in vibrissae S1 that is restricted to the basal dendrites and leaves dendritic spines on apical dendrites unchanged. As S2 projects to the apical dendrites of S1 neurones, we tested whether S2 affects LTP-induction in S1. We found that feedback projections from S2 to S1 gates LTP on feedforward pathways within S1. These studies therefore demonstrate the interdependence of S1 and S2 for learning and plasticity in S1

Prediction of Primary vs Secondary Hypertension in Children

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/91106/1/j.1751-7176.2012.00603.x.pd

Influence of mycotoxin zearalenone and its derivatives (alpha and beta zearalenol) on apoptosis and proliferation of cultured granulosa cells from equine ovaries

BACKGROUND: The mycotoxin zearalenone (ZEA) and its derivatives, alpha and beta-zearalenol (alpha and beta-ZOL), synthesized by genera Fusarium, often occur as contaminants in cereal grains and animal feeds. The importance of ZEA on reproductive disorders is well known in domestic animals species, particularly in swine and cattle. In the horse, limited data are available to date on the influence of dietary exposure to ZEA on reproductive health and on its in vitro effects on reproductive cells. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of ZEA and its derivatives, alpha and beta-ZOL, on granulosa cells (GCs) from the ovaries of cycling mares. METHODS: The cell proliferation was evaluated by using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) test after 3 days exposure at different concentrations of ZEA and its derivatives (from 1 × 10-7 to 0.1 microM). The apoptosis induction was evaluated after 1 day exposure, by DNA analysis using flow cytometry. RESULTS: An increase in cell proliferation with respect to the control was observed in the presence of ZEA at 1 × 10-3 and 1 × 10-4 microM and apoptosis was induced by all mycotoxins at different concentrations. CONCLUSION: The simultaneous presence of apoptosis and proliferation in GC cultures treated with zearalenones could indicate that these mycotoxins could be effective in inducing follicular atresia. These effects of zearalenones may result from both direct interaction with oestrogen-receptors as well as interaction with the enzymes 3alpha (beta)-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (HSD), involved in the synthesis and metabolism of endogenous steroid hormones. These cellular disturbances, described for the first time in equine GCs cultured in vitro, could be hypothesized as referred to reproductive failures of unknown ethiology in the mare

Functional Characterization of a Lipoprotein-Encoding Operon in Campylobacter jejuni

Background: Bacterial lipoproteins have important functions in bacterial pathogenesis and physiology. In Campylobacter jejuni, a major foodborne pathogen causing gastroenteritis in humans, the majority of lipoproteins have not been functionally characterized. Previously, we showed by DNA microarray that CmeR, a transcriptional regulator repressing the expression of the multidrug efflux pump CmeABC, modulates the expression of a three-gene operon (cj0089, cj0090, and cj0091) encoding a cluster of lipoproteins in C. jejuni. Methodology/Principal Findings: In this work, we characterized the function and regulation of the cj0089-cj0090-cj0091 operon. In contrast to the repression of cmeABC, CmeR activates the expression of the lipoprotein genes and the regulation is confirmed by immunoblotting using anti-Cj0089 and anti-Cj0091 antibodies. Gel mobility shift assay showed that CmeR directly binds to the promoter of the lipoprotein operon, but the binding is much weaker compared with the promoter of cmeABC. Analysis of different cellular fractions indicated that Cj0089 was associated with the inner membrane, while Cj0091 was located on the outer membrane. Inactivation of cj0091, but not cj0089, significantly reduced the adherence of C. jejuni to INT 407 cells in vitro, indicating that Cj0091 has a function in adherence. When inoculated into chickens, the Cj0091 mutant also showed a defect in early colonization of the intestinal tract, suggesting that Cj0091 contributes to Campylobacter colonization in vivo. It was also shown that Cj0091 was produced and immunogenic in chickens that wer

Comparison of Muscle Transcriptome between Pigs with Divergent Meat Quality Phenotypes Identifies Genes Related to Muscle Metabolism and Structure

Background: Meat quality depends on physiological processes taking place in muscle tissue, which could involve a large pattern of genes associated with both muscle structural and metabolic features. Understanding the biological phenomena underlying muscle phenotype at slaughter is necessary to uncover meat quality development. Therefore, a muscle transcriptome analysis was undertaken to compare gene expression profiles between two highly contrasted pig breeds, Large White (LW) and Basque (B), reared in two different housing systems themselves influencing meat quality. LW is the most predominant breed used in pig industry, which exhibits standard meat quality attributes. B is an indigenous breed with low lean meat and high fat contents, high meat quality characteristics, and is genetically distant from other European pig breeds. Methodology/Principal Findings: Transcriptome analysis undertaken using a custom 15 K microarray, highlighted 1233 genes differentially expressed between breeds (multiple-test adjusted P-value,0.05), out of which 635 were highly expressed in the B and 598 highly expressed in the LW pigs. No difference in gene expression was found between housing systems. Besides, expression level of 12 differentially expressed genes quantified by real-time RT-PCR validated microarray data. Functional annotation clustering emphasized four main clusters associated to transcriptome breed differences: metabolic processes, skeletal muscle structure and organization, extracellular matrix, lysosome, and proteolysis, thereb

Microbial Co-occurrence Relationships in the Human Microbiome

The healthy microbiota show remarkable variability within and among individuals. In addition to external exposures, ecological relationships (both oppositional and symbiotic) between microbial inhabitants are important contributors to this variation. It is thus of interest to assess what relationships might exist among microbes and determine their underlying reasons. The initial Human Microbiome Project (HMP) cohort, comprising 239 individuals and 18 different microbial habitats, provides an unprecedented resource to detect, catalog, and analyze such relationships. Here, we applied an ensemble method based on multiple similarity measures in combination with generalized boosted linear models (GBLMs) to taxonomic marker (16S rRNA gene) profiles of this cohort, resulting in a global network of 3,005 significant co-occurrence and co-exclusion relationships between 197 clades occurring throughout the human microbiome. This network revealed strong niche specialization, with most microbial associations occurring within body sites and a number of accompanying inter-body site relationships. Microbial communities within the oropharynx grouped into three distinct habitats, which themselves showed no direct influence on the composition of the gut microbiota. Conversely, niches such as the vagina demonstrated little to no decomposition into region-specific interactions. Diverse mechanisms underlay individual interactions, with some such as the co-exclusion of Porphyromonaceae family members and Streptococcus in the subgingival plaque supported by known biochemical dependencies. These differences varied among broad phylogenetic groups as well, with the Bacilli and Fusobacteria, for example, both enriched for exclusion of taxa from other clades. Comparing phylogenetic versus functional similarities among bacteria, we show that dominant commensal taxa (such as Prevotellaceae and Bacteroides in the gut) often compete, while potential pathogens (e.g. Treponema and Prevotella in the dental plaque) are more likely to co-occur in complementary niches. This approach thus serves to open new opportunities for future targeted mechanistic studies of the microbial ecology of the human microbiome.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (grant CA139193)Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek – VlaanderenJuvenile Diabetes Research Foundation InternationalNational Institutes of Health (U.S.) (grant NIH U54HG004969)Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of AmericaNational Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF DBI-1053486)United States. Army Research Office (ARO W911NF-11-1-0473)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (grant NIH 1R01HG005969

At the bottom of the differential diagnosis list: unusual causes of pediatric hypertension

Hypertension affects 1–5% of children and adolescents, and the incidence has been increasing in association with obesity. However, secondary causes of hypertension such as renal parenchymal diseases, congenital abnormalities and renovascular disorders still remain the leading cause of pediatric hypertension, particularly in children under 12 years old. Other less common causes of hypertension in children and adolescents, including immobilization, burns, illicit and prescription drugs, dietary supplements, genetic disorders, and tumors will be addressed in this review