Project description:Our hypothesis was that genes differentially expressed in the endometrium and corpus luteum on day 13 of the estrous cycle between cows with either good or poor genetic merit for fertility would be enriched for genetic variants associated with fertility. We combined a unique genetic model of fertility (cattle which have been selected for high and low fertility and show substantial difference in fertility), with gene expression data from these cattle, and genome-wide association study (GWAS) results in ~20,000 cattle, to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) regions and sequence variants associated with genetic variation in fertility.
Project description:The experiment is part of a study aimed at identifying and studying genes that contribute to differences in oestrous behaviour expression and fertility levels of dairy cows. Samples from 4 brain areas (dorsal hypothalamus, ventral hypothalamus, amygdala and hippocampus) and the anterior pituitary were collected from 28 primiparous Holstein Friesian cows, 14 of which were sacrificed at start of oestrus and 14 at mid of oestrous cycle. Differential gene expression between the 2 phases of oestrous cycle as well as the association of gene expression patterns with the level of oestrous behaviour expression are studied.
Project description:This study aimed to investigate the effect of a mild underfeeding on global gene expression in the oviduct, the endometrium and the corpus luteum between 4 and 15 days post-ovulation in postpartum (PP) Holstein cows. Four control cows (C) received 100% of energy and protein requirements after calving when 4 underfed (U) received 80% of the control diet. Oestrus synchronization treatment was applied to induce ovulation on D80 PP. Oviduct, ovaries and the anterior part of each uterine horn were recovered chirurgically 4, 8, 12 and 15 days after ovulation. Gene expression was assessed on a dedicated 10K array and statistically analyzed on pools across the oestrus cycle days. Tissues appeared divergently "diet-responsive" as no differentially expressed gene (DEG) in the corpus luteum between U and C were highlighted, conversely to 293 DEGs in the oviduct vs. 1 in endometrium under a False discovery rate (FDR)<0.11, and 3830 DEGs vs. 28 respectively under a FDR<0.30. Pathways involved immunity, lipid catabolism and cell proliferation. However, once correlated with dedicated statistics (regularized canonical correlation analysis) to the evolution of 6 plasmatic markers measured weekly over 80 days, IGF-1, insulin, beta-Hydroxybutyrate and genes potentially implied in tissue repair mechanisms (e.g. FABP5/CRABP2, ELF1, TCEA1, NF-kB, TGF-beta1, HNF4A) became relevant to dairy cow physiology during PP in the oviduct and the endometrium. Keywords: Postpartum dairy cows, induced cycle, mild underfeeding, genital tract, gene-metabolites correlations
Project description:The liver of dairy cows naturally displays a series of metabolic adaptation during the periparturient period in response to the increasing nutrient requirement of lactation. The hepatic adaptation is partly regulated by insulin resistance and it is affected by the prepartal energy intake level of cows. We aimed to investigate the metabolic changes in the liver of dairy cows during the periparturient at gene expression level and to study the effect of prepartal energy level on the metabolic adaptation at gene expression level.B13:N13
Project description:Lactation and associated metabolic stresses during the post-partum period have been shown to impair fertility in dairy cows. The oviduct plays key roles in embryo development and the establishment of pregnancy in cattle. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of lactation and location relative to the corpus luteum (CL) on the transcriptome of the bovine oviduct epithelium.
Project description:Liver plays a profound role in the acute phase response (APR) observed in the early phase of acute bovine mastitis caused by Escherichia coli (E. coli). To gain an insight into the genes and pathways involved in hepatic APR of dairy cows we performed a global gene expression analysis of liver tissue sampled at different time points before and after intra-mammary (IM) exposure to E. coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS) treatment. Experiment Overall Design: Eight healthy, high yielding Holstein-Friesian dairy cows in their first lactation (9 to 12 weeks after calving) were chosen for this study. At time 0 the right front quarter was infused with 200 μg E. coli LPS dissolved in 10 ml 0.9% NaCl solution, the left front quarter serving as control was infused with 10 ml 0.9% NaCl solution. Liver biopsies were taken at â22, 3, 6, 9, 12 and 48 hours relative to LPS infusion in 4 cows, and also at â22, 9 and 48 hours in the remaining 4 cows. RNA from liver biopsies was isolated and biotin labeled cRNA was loaded onto the Affymetric GeneChip Bovine Genome Array. A control study using cows infused with 0.9% NaCl showed that there was no effect of taking the biopsy, neither in the clinical measurement nor in the expression of a selected subset of genes. Therefore, only samples taken from the LPS treated cows were measured for the gene expression using microarrays.