Project description:We carried out a cross species cattle-sheep array comparative genome hybridization (aCGH) experiment in order to identify copy number variations (CNVs) in the sheep genome analysing animals of Italian dairy breeds (Sarda, Bagnolese, Laticauda, Massese and Valle del Belice) using a tiling oligonucleotide array with ~385,000 probes designed on the bovine genome. We identified 135 CNV regions (CNVRs) covering about 10.5 Mb of the virtual sheep genome referred to the bovine genome (0.398%) with a mean and median equal to 77.6 kb and 55.9 kb, respectively. A comparative analysis between the identified sheep CNVRs and those reported in the cattle and goat genomes indicated that overlaps between sheep and goat and sheep and cattle CNVRs are highly significant (P<0.0001) suggesting that several chromosome regions might contain recurrent interspecies CNVRs. Many sheep CNVs affect genes with important biological functions. Further studies are needed to evaluate the functional relevance of these CNVs. In this study we made use of the high conservation and homology between the cattle and sheep genomes determined by their phylogenetic closeness to identify CNVs in sheep applying the same approach we carried out to identify CNVs in the goat genome. We used a custom tiling array including ~385,000 oligonucleotide probes designed on the Btau_4.0 version of the Bos taurus genome assembly and analysed genomic DNA samples of 11 sheep belonging to 6 different Italian dairy sheep breeds (2 Sarda, 2 Bagnolese, 2 Comisana, 2 Massese, 2 Laticauda and 1 Valle del Belice) compared to the reference DNA of another Sarda sheep.
Project description:We carried out a cross species cattle-sheep array comparative genome hybridization (aCGH) experiment in order to identify copy number variations (CNVs) in the sheep genome analysing animals of Italian dairy breeds (Sarda, Bagnolese, Laticauda, Massese and Valle del Belice) using a tiling oligonucleotide array with ~385,000 probes designed on the bovine genome. We identified 135 CNV regions (CNVRs) covering about 10.5 Mb of the virtual sheep genome referred to the bovine genome (0.398%) with a mean and median equal to 77.6 kb and 55.9 kb, respectively. A comparative analysis between the identified sheep CNVRs and those reported in the cattle and goat genomes indicated that overlaps between sheep and goat and sheep and cattle CNVRs are highly significant (P<0.0001) suggesting that several chromosome regions might contain recurrent interspecies CNVRs. Many sheep CNVs affect genes with important biological functions. Further studies are needed to evaluate the functional relevance of these CNVs.
Project description:Milk and soy are reported to contain bioactive molecules with antibacterial and immunomodulatory actions, which may be beneficial to people with IBD. The aim of this study was to determine whether diets containing ruminant milk or soy solids reduce intestinal inflammation in Il10-/- mice. Male Il10-/- mice and C57BL/6J mice were fed diets containing 40% (w/w) sheep, goat, or cow whole milk powder, 40% (w/w) soy solids (NOW® Foods Soy Milk Powder, Instant), or one of two control diets (casein-free modified-AIN76A or standard AIN76A) from 4 to 11 weeks of age. Diets were based on AIN76A, which was included as an inter-experimental control for inflammation. For all diets except AIN76A, total protein, fat, carbohydrate and energy were kept as similar as possible. Weight and food intake were measured throughout the experiment (three times weekly), and intestinal tissue was taken for histopathology evaluation of inflammation and analysis of gene expression. Analysis of mouse weight and feed intake both showed a significant strain-diet interaction: Il10-/- mice fed the cow and goat milk diets ate less and gained less weight than all the other diet groups. This diet effect was not evident for the C57BL/6J mice. Il10-/- mice on the cow and goat milk diets had reduced colon histological injury scores relative to those on the other diets. Il10-/- mice on the cow and goat milk diets also had reduced expression of many immune/inflammatory-related genes and pathways.
