Project description:The Gayal (Bos frontalis) is a rare semi-domesticated cattle in China. Gayal has typical beef body shape and good meat production performance. Compared with other cattle species, it has the characteristics of tender meat and extremely low fat content. To explore the underlying mechanism responsible for the differences of meat quality between different breeds, the longissimus dorsi muscle (LM) from Gayal and Banna cattle (Bos taurus) were investigated using transcriptome analysis. The gene expression profiling identified 638 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between LM muscles from Gayal and Banna cattle. Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment of biological functions and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis showed that the gene products were mainly involved in the PPAR signaling pathway, lipid metabolism and amino acid metabolism pathway. Protein-protein interaction(PPI) network analysis showed APOB, CYP7A1, THBS2, ITGAV, IGFBP1 and IGF2R may have great impact on meat quality characteristics of Gayal. Moreover, three transcription factors, FOXA2, NEUROG2, and RUNX1, which may affect meat quality by regulating the expression of genes related to muscle growth and development have also been found. In summary, our research reveals the molecular mechanisms that cause Gayal meat quality characteristics. It will contribute to improving meat quality of cattle through molecular breeding.
Project description:Heat stress is a critical environmental factor that adversely affects the health and productivity of cattle. It leads to substantial declines in productivity and compromises immune function, thereby increasing susceptibility to disease. Crossbred cattle (Bos indicus × Bos taurus) are known for their enhanced productivity. However, they are relatively vulnerable to environmental stressors. In recent years, the intensification of global warming and associated climatic extremes has further heightened their risk of heat stress. In this context, the present study investigated the underlying biological responses to heat stress through genome-wide expression analysis in Vrindavani crossbred cattle. The results identified sets of genes activated during heat stress and subsequent functional characterization revealed key molecular mechanisms of thermal stress response in these animals.
Project description:Wildebeests carry asymptomatically Alcelaphine herpesvirus 1 (AlHV-1), a γ-herpesvirus inducing a lethal lymphoproliferative disease named malignant catarrhal fever (MCF) in a number of susceptible species of the Artiodactyla order, including cattle. The local population welfare in eastern Africa is directly endangered by the important but underestimated impact of this disease on their livelihood. Although AlHV-1 genomic DNA is detected in abundance in tissues during MCF, no infectious viral particles and very low viral protein expression levels are observed. This suggests that AlHV-1 might be latent during MCF. Here, we studied the implication of AlHV-1 latency during MCF. We first examined the expression of poly-adenylated RNA from infected (multiplicity of infection, moi = 0.01) MDBK cells at 72h pi. This late time point was chosen as we expect the majority of viral genes to be expressed. The expression was obtained from two-color dye-swap analyses of 4 independent biological repeats. To determine cellular and viral gene expression during MCF, we extracted RNA from the inguinal LN (iLN) of each calf for analysis on a custom designed array. The arbitrary choice of the iLN as the selected tissue was based on the fact that AlHV-1 viral genomic load are the highest in the LN. Cellular and viral RNA transcription profiles were analyzed with two-color dye-swap analyses of 4 independent biological repeats.