Function Identification of Bovine ACSF3 Gene and Its Association With Lipid Metabolism Traits in Beef Cattle

Acyl-CoA synthetase family member 3 (ACSF3) carries out the first step of mitochondrial fatty acid synthesis II, which is the linkage of malonate and, to a lesser extent, methylmalonate onto CoA. Malonyl-coenzyme A (malonyl-CoA) is a central metabolite in mammalian fatty acid biochemistry that is generated and utilized in the cytoplasm. In this research, we verified the relationship between expression of the ACSF3 and the production of triglycerides (TGs) at the cellular level by silencing and over-expressing ACSF3. Subsequently, through Sanger sequencing, five polymorphisms were found in the functional domain of the bovine ACSF3, and the relationship between ACSF3 polymorphism and the economic traits and fatty acid composition of Chinese Simmental cattle was analyzed by a means of variance analysis and multiple comparison. The results illustrated that the expression of ACSF3 promoted triglyceride synthesis in bovine mammary epithelial cells and bovine fetal fibroblast cells. Further association analysis also indicated that individuals with the AG genotype (g.14211090 G > A) of ACSF3 were significantly associated with the fatty acid composition of intramuscular fat (higher content of linoleic acid, α-linolenic acid, and arachidonic acid), and that CTCAG haplotype individuals were significantly related to the fatty acid composition of intramuscular fat (higher linoleic acid content). Individuals with the AA genotypes of g.14211055 A > G and g.14211090 G > A were substantially associated with a larger eye muscle area in the Chinese Simmental cattle population. ACSF3 played a pivotal role in the regulation of cellular triacylglycerol and long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid levels, and polymorphism could serve as a useful molecular marker for future marker-assisted selection in the breeding of intramuscular fat deposition traits in beef cattle.

Effects of Inclusion of N-Carbamylglutamate in the Non-Protein Diet on Growth and Slaughter Performance, Meat Quality, Nitrogen Metabolism and Antioxidant of Holstein Bulls

The objectives of this experiment were to investigate the effects of N-carbamylglutamate (NCG) on growth and slaughter performance, meat quality, nitrogen utilization, plasma antioxidant and amino acids of Holstein bulls. In this case, 24 Holstein bulls (490 ± 29.0 kg of body weights and 540 ± 6.1 d of age) were blocked by body weights and age and randomly assigned to 1 of 4 groups: (1) CON group: bulls were fed the control diet, (2) CON + NCG group: bulls were fed the control diet with 40 mg/kg BW NCG, (3) Urea group: bulls were fed the urea diet, and (4) Urea + NCG group: bulls were fed the urea diet with 40 mg/kg BW NCG. Feeding NCG significantly improved ADG, FCR, DM and CP digestibility, carcass weight, slaughter weight, DOP, eye muscle area, shear force (p = 0.001) and reduced L* of color, drip loss and cooking loss. Concurrently, feeding the urea diet induced a decreased ADG, carcass weight and slaughter weight, DOP, eye muscle area and shear force. NCG decreased contents of fecal N and urinary N, plasma urea in bulls and ammonia but increased N retention and utilization, plasma NO, plasma Arg, Leu, Ile and Tyr. On the other hand, feeding the urea diet increased urinary N, plasma urea and ammonia. Thus the study efficiently demonstrates that beef benefited from being fed a NCG product in the urea diet by enhancing its growth and slaughter performance, meat quality, nitrogen metabolism and plasma amino acids.

Lipid Metabolism, Carcass Characteristics and Longissimus dorsi Muscle Fatty Acid Composition of Tropical Crossbred Beef Cattle in Response to Desmanthus spp. Forage Backgrounding

Lipid metabolism, carcass characteristics and fatty acid (FA) composition of the Longissimus dorsi (loin eye) muscle were evaluated in tropical crossbred steers backgrounded on Desmanthus spp. (desmanthus) with or without feedlot finishing. It was hypothesized that steers backgrounded on isonitrogenous diets augmented with incremental proportions of desmanthus will produce carcasses with similar characteristics and FA composition. Forty-eight Brahman, Charbray and Droughtmaster crossbred beef steers were backgrounded for 140 days on Rhodes grass (Chloris gayana) hay augmented with 0, 15, 30 or 45 percent desmanthus on dry matter basis. Lucerne (Medicago sativa) hay was added to the 0, 15 and 30 percent desmanthus diets to ensure that they were isonitrogenous with the 45 percent desmanthus diet. After backgrounding, the two heaviest steers in each pen were slaughtered and the rest were finished in the feedlot for 95 days before slaughter. Muscle biopsy samples were taken at the beginning and end of the backgrounding phase. Carcasses were sampled at slaughter for intramuscular fat (IMF) content, fat melting point (FMP) and FA composition analyses. Increasing the proportion of desmanthus in the diet led to a linear increase in docosanoic acid (p = 0.04) and omega-6/omega-3 polyunsaturated FA ratio (n-6/n-3 PUFA; p = 0.01), while docosahexaenoic acid decreased linearly (p = 0.01). Feedlot finishing increased hot carcass weight, subcutaneous fat depth at the P8 site and dressing percentage (p ≤ 0.04). The n-6/n-3 PUFA ratio was within the recommended < 5 for human diets. IMF was within the consumer-preferred ≥3% level for palatability. The hypothesis that steers backgrounded on isonitrogenous diets augmented with incremental proportions of desmanthus will produce similar carcass characteristics and FA composition was accepted. These findings indicate that a combination of tropical beef cattle backgrounding on desmanthus augmented forage and short-term feedlot finishing produces healthy and highly palatable meat.

Estimation of Genetic Correlations of Primal Cut Yields with Carcass Traits in Hanwoo Beef Cattle

This study was carried out to estimate the variance components, heritability, and genetic correlations between the carcass traits and primal cut yields in Hanwoo cattle. Carcass traits comprising 5622 records included back fat thickness (BFT), carcass weight (CW), eye muscle area (EMA), and marbling score (MS). The 10 primal cut yields from 3467 Hanwoo steers included the tenderloin (TLN), sirloin (SLN), striploin (STLN), chuck (CHK), brisket (BSK), top round (TRD), bottom round (BRD), rib (RB), shank (SK), and flank (FK). In addition, three composite traits were formed by combining primal cut yields as novel traits according to consumer preferences and market price: high-value cuts (HVC), medium-value cuts (MVC), and low-value cuts (LVC). Heritability estimates for the interest of traits were moderate to high, ranging from 0.21 ± 0.04 for CHK to 0.59 ± 0.05 for MS. Except genetic correlations between RB and other primal cut traits, favorable and moderate to high correlations were observed among the yields of primal cut that ranged from 0.38 ± 0.14 (CHK and FK) to 0.93 ± 0.01 (TRD and BRD). Moreover, the estimated genetic correlations of CW and EMA with primal cut yields and three composite traits were positive and moderate to strong, except for BFT, which was negative. These results indicate that genetic progress can be achieved for all traits, and selection to increase the yields of primal cuts can lead to considerable profitability in the Hanwoo beef industry.

Effect of supplementing flaxseed oil on growth and carcass traits of Friesian bulls

This study aimed to evaluate effects of supplementing flaxseed oil (FSO) on growth and carcass traits, as well as meat chemical composition, quality, and fatty acids (FA) profile in Friesian bulls. The bulls (n = 30) were randomly divided into 3 groups (G1-G3, n = 10/group). In G1 (control), animals fed basal diet, while in G2 and G3, they were supplemented with 2% and 4% FSO, respectively, for ~ 7 months. The obtained results revealed that bulls fed diet supplemented with 2% (G2) and 4% (G3) FSO had significantly higher TDN intake (P ˂ 0.01) and average daily gain (P ˂ 0.05) than G1. Additionally, G3 showed significantly higher hot carcass weight (P<0.001), dressing % (P<0.05), fat weight (P<0.05), boneless meat weight (P<0.001), 9-11th ribs cut weights (P<0.05), DM (P<0.01), CP (P<0.05), and CF (P<0.05) in eye muscle, and general cooked meat quality (P<0.05) than G1. However, meat of G3 had significantly (P<0.05) lower water-holding capacity than G1. Meat contents of C20:0 and C22:0 SFAs were significantly higher in G3 (P<0.05) than G1, while C14:0, C15:0, and C17:0 were significantly (P<0.05) lower in G3 and G2 than G1. C16:1 trans-9 MUFA was significantly higher in G3 (P<0.01) and G2 (P<0.05) than G1, while C18:1 cis-9 +trans-13-14 and C20:1 cis-11 were significantly lower in G3 (P<0.001) and G2 (P<0.05) than G1. Among the 2 treated groups, only G3 had significantly higher C17:1 cis-9 (P<0.05), C18:1 cis-11+trans15 (P<0.01), and C18:1 cis-15+trans-16 (P<0.01) and significantly lower C16:1 cis-7 (P<0.05) and C18:1 trans-12 (P<0.01) than G1. Meat contents of C18:3 n-3 (ALA), C22:5 n-3 (EPA) and C22:6 n-3 (DHA) was significantly higher in G3 (P<0.0001) and G2 (P<0.05) than G1. The total n-3 FAs content in meat was significantly (P<0.0001) higher in G3 and G2 than G1, while only G3 showed significantly higher total PUFA (P<0.05) than G1. The n-6:n-3 ratio was significantly (P<0.0001) lower in G3 and G2 than G1. With these results, we could conclude that flaxseed oil supplementation in bull diets could improve growth performance, and carcass quality and increase omega-3 FA in animal meat.

Diplopia as the First Sign of Gastric Carcinoma

Orbital metastasis may be the initial manifestation of a malignancy of unknown origin. The primary locations of orbital metastasis are usually the lung, prostate, gastrointestinal tract, skin, kidney, eye, or thyroid gland. Metastasis of gastric carcinoma to an extraocular eye muscle is extremely rare. A solitary thickening in an extraocular eye muscle with no inflammatory features is suspect for a tumor. Symptoms such as diplopia, proptosis, ptosis, vision loss, or pain may be associated with an orbital malignancy. Our patient, a 67-year-old man known with radically resected prostate cancer, presented with complaints of vertigo with a tendency to fall, headache, and diplopia when looking to the right. As a coincidental finding, swelling of the rectus lateralis muscle of the left eye was observed on imaging. Extensive additional investigations showed that a gastric carcinoma with intraorbital and leptomeningeal metastasis was the cause. In conclusion, a solitary thickened extraocular eye muscle should be recognized in time and examined further.

PSXI-27 Comparison of live weight, backfat depth, and loin eye muscle measurements in ewe and ram lambs

Application of ultrasound carcass trait scanning in meat animals enhances the selection efficiency and accuracy. One hundred and sixty-two mixed age Katahdin ewes were selected based on ultrasound carcass traits and bred in a high lean muscle selection (n=81) and control (n=81) flocks, respectively in December 2019. Carcass traits including loin eye area (LEA), loin eye muscle width (LEW) and depth (LED), and back-fat depth (BFD) were measured for sires, dams, and their progeny lambs. Birth weight (BW), rearing rank, sex, and weaning weight (WW=90 d) and post weaning weight (PW=120 d) were recorded for progeny. Post-weaning live weight, LEA and BFD values were calculated for deriving an expected progeny difference lists and ewe replacements. Retaining ram lambs (25% male progeny) were recorded for live weight, carcass trait scanning, and breeding values estimate at six-month old as breeding sires. There was no difference between selection and control progeny for WW, PW, BFD and LEA measurements. Means for BW, WW, PW, LEA, LEW, LED, and FBD in progeny were 3.77 ±0.56, 22.13 ±2.98, 24.48 ±3.08 kg, 5.9 ±0.1cm², 4.4 ±0.5 cm, 1.9 ±0.2 cm and 2.9 ±2.6 mm. However, the WW, PW, LEA, and LEW were measured significantly (P &lt; 0.05) greater for ram lambs (20.6 kg, 25.5 kg, 6.1 cm², 4.5 cm) over ewe lambs (19.5 kg, 23.8 kg, 5.7 cm², 4.3 cm). Single born lambs were significantly (P &lt; 0.01) heavier at birth, weaning and post-weaning, and measured greater value for LEA and LED than twin birth or reared lambs. The statistical analysis showed WW was significantly (P &lt; 0.01) correlated with PW (r=0.71) and both WW and PW correlated with LEA (r=0.5) but not with BFD. The result indicates that lean animal selection using ultrasound carcass trait scanning will improve early age selection efficiency and accuracy.

Case Report: Molecular Detection and Characterization of Trypanosoma cruzi in Ocular Tissue from Donors with Chagas Disease

Corneal transplantation is the most frequent transplant worldwide. Tissue characteristics allow storage and transport, even between continents, increasing its accessibility around the world. Donor infection with Trypanosoma cruzi is not defined as a corneal discarding factor, although the transplant is not recommended preventively, as in any infectious diseases. Herein, by means of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) strategies, we analyzed parasite presence in ocular tissue from 10 deceased donors with Chagas diseases. Among them, positive findings were obtained in corneas, scleras, and eye muscle samples of three, two, and one donor, respectively. Moreover, among the six T. cruzi defined populations, TcV and TcVI parasites were found in some samples based on group-specific amplification strategies. Our findings point out the actual possibility of T. cruzi transmission due to corneal transplantation and makes donor’s serological status knowledge mandatory regardless of graft provenance. Failing that, we suggest a posttransplant follow-up of recipients from seropositive donors.

Estimated Breeding Values of Beef Sires Can Predict Performance of Beef-Cross-Dairy Progeny

On average, half of the animal’s estimated breeding value (EBV) is passed on to their progeny. However, it is not known how the performance of beef-cross-dairy cattle relates to the EBV of their beef sire. Such information is required to determine the genetic potential of beef sires selected based on existing EBV to be used on dairy cows in New Zealand. This study evaluated the relationship between the EBV of 30 Angus and 34 Hereford sires and the performance of their progeny for birth, growth, and carcass traits, via progeny testing of 975 beef-cross-dairy offspring born to dairy cows and grown on hill country pasture. Overall, BREEDPLAN EBV did predict progeny performance of the beef-cross-dairy cattle from this study. Gestation length and birthweight increased with increasing sire EBV (mean 0.37–0.62days and 0.52–0.64kg, respectively, p&lt;0.05). Age at weaning decreased with increasing sire EBV for liveweight at 200days (0.17–0.21days per extra kilo of sire EBV, p&lt;0.05) but sire EBV for liveweight at 200days had no effect on the liveweight of the progeny at 200days for either breed (p&gt;0.05). Liveweight increased with sire EBV for liveweight at 400, 600, and 800days, by a similar amount for both breeds (between 0.23 and 0.42kg increase in progeny liveweight per extra kilo of sire EBV, p&lt;0.05). The relationships were more inconsistent for carcass traits. For Hereford, carcass weight and eye muscle area increased with increasing sire EBV (0.27kg and 0.70cm2, respectively, p&lt;0.05). For Angus, marble score increased by 0.10 with 1% extra in sire EBV for intramuscular fat (p&lt;0.05). Rib fat depth tended to increase with sire EBV for both breeds (p&lt;0.1). EBV derived from beef-breed data work in dairy-beef systems but maybe slightly less than the expected 0.5units of performance per unit of EBV. New Zealand farmers should consider BREEDPLAN EBV when selecting sires to mate dairy cows or when buying beef-cross-dairy calves for beef production, to ensure the resulting calves are born safely and on time and then grow well to produce carcasses of suitable meat and fat composition.

Quality and Safety of Game Meat from the Biocenosis of the Beloosipovo Mercury Deposit

Introduction. Mercury contamination is one of the most common environmental problems. The research objective was to study the qualitative composition and physicochemical properties of raw game meat obtained from the area near the Beloosipovo mercury deposit in order to define any possible contamination w ith xenobiotics. Study objects and methods. The research featured rib eye muscle tissue and soft flesh of elks shot on the hunting farms of the Kemerovo Region aka Kuzbass. Results and discussion. A complex set of experiments revealed the chemical composition of elk muscle tissue and flesh, as well as the mineral composition of elk muscle tissue. The samples were obtained from different parts of carcasses. The amino acid and fatty acid composition of elk muscle tissue made it possible to describe the biological value, mineral composition, and vitamin profile of elk meat. The physicochemical analysis included toughness, cooking losses, and moisture-retaining capacity, i.e. the properties that ensure juiciness. The research also featured the accumulation of xenobiotics in elk meat samples obtained from the biosinosis near the Beloosipovo merc ury deposit. Conclusion. The slaughter yield of elk meat was 51–53%, which exceeds the average yield of farm cattle meat by 4–6%. The moisture content was 73–78%, while the content of protein was between 20–24% and depended on the anatomical location of the muscle sample; the fat content reached 0.75–1.75%. The mercury accumulation at different storage temperature conditions ranged from 0.004 ± 0.001 to 0.009 ± 0.001 mg/kg, while the max imum allowable concentration of mercury is 0.03 mg/kg.