Transcriptome profiles in peripheral white blood cells at the time of artificial insemination discriminate beef heifers with different fertility potential.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Infertility is a longstanding limitation in livestock production with important economic impact for the cattle industry. Female reproductive traits are polygenic and lowly heritable in nature, thus selection for fertility is challenging. Beef cattle operations leverage estrous synchronization in combination with artificial insemination (AI) to breed heifers and benefit from an early and uniform calving season. A couple of weeks following AI, heifers are exposed to bulls for an opportunity to become pregnant by natural breeding (NB), but they may also not become pregnant during this time period. Focusing on beef heifers, in their first breeding season, we hypothesized that: a- at the time of AI, the transcriptome of peripheral white blood cells (PWBC) differs between heif

SUBMITTER: Dickinson SE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5807776 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature