Genome Wide Association Study of Beef Traits in Local Alpine Breed Reveals the Diversity of the Pathways Involved and the Role of Time Stratification

Knowledge of the genetic architecture of key growth and beef traits in livestock species has greatly improved worldwide thanks to genome-wide association studies (GWAS), which allow to link target phenotypes to Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) across the genome. Local dual-purpose breeds have rarely been the focus of such studies; recently, however, their value as a possible alternative to intensively farmed breeds has become clear, especially for their greater adaptability to environmental change and potential for survival in less productive areas. We performed single-step GWAS and post-GWAS analysis for body weight (BW), average daily gain (ADG), carcass fleshiness (CF) and dressing percentage (DP) in 1,690 individuals of local alpine cattle breed, Rendena. This breed is typical of alpine pastures, with a marked dual-purpose attitude and good genetic diversity. Moreover, we considered two of the target phenotypes (BW and ADG) at different times in the individuals’ life, a potentially important aspect in the study of the traits’ genetic architecture. We identified 8 significant and 47 suggestively associated SNPs, located in 14 autosomal chromosomes (BTA). Among the strongest signals, 3 significant and 16 suggestive SNPs were associated with ADG and were located on BTA10 (50–60 Mb), while the hotspot associated with CF and DP was on BTA18 (55–62 MB). Among the significant SNPs some were mapped within genes, such as SLC12A1, CGNL1, PRTG (ADG), LOC513941 (CF), NLRP2 (CF and DP), CDC155 (DP). Pathway analysis showed great diversity in the biological pathways linked to the different traits; several were associated with neurogenesis and synaptic transmission, but actin-related and transmembrane transport pathways were also represented. Time-stratification highlighted how the genetic architectures of the same traits were markedly different between different ages. The results from our GWAS of beef traits in Rendena led to the detection of a variety of genes both well-known and novel. We argue that our results show that expanding genomic research to local breeds can reveal hitherto undetected genetic architectures in livestock worldwide. This could greatly help efforts to map genomic complexity of the traits of interest and to make appropriate breeding decisions.

Photopolymerized superhydrophobic hybrid coating enabled by dual-purpose tetrapodal ZnO for liquid/liquid separation

The development of low-cost and scalable superhydrophobic coating methods demands viable approaches for energy-efficient separation of immiscible liquid/liquid mixtures. A scalable photoinitiated method is developed to functionalize stainless-steel mesh with...

Commercial meat cuts hardness of dual-purpose cattle from Cundinamarca (Colombia) high tropics zone

Este estudio tuvo como objetivo determinar el efecto del biotipo, la edad al sacrificio, la condición sexual y el sistema de alimentación sobre la dureza de cuatro cortes comerciales: Lomo (Longissimus dorsi), Bota (Biceps femoris), Muchacho (Semitendinosus) y Paletero (Infraspinatus), provenientes de 50 bovinos pertenecientes a sistemas de doble propósito del trópico alto en el departamento de Cundinamarca, Colombia. Para la obtención de los valores en este atributo se emplearon los métodos de medición instrumental de fuerza de corte con cuchilla de Warner-Bratzler y la evaluación sensorial, cuya correlación fue del 71%. Esto permitió la elaboración de una escala de dureza en la cual los cortes Lomo y Paletero se ubicaron en la categoría de “suave” (blando) y se comportaron estadísticamente igual en ambos métodos de medición, mientras que los cortes Bota y Muchacho se ubicaron en la categoría de “medio” y tuvieron diferencias estadísticas de acuerdo con la percepción dada por el panel sensorial. Así mismo, los resultados obtenidos mostraron diferencias significativas entre los cortes, destacando al Paletero por su menor valor de dureza y comportamiento similar al Lomo. Efectos significativos sobre la dureza de la carne fueron encontrados para todos los factores a excepción de la edad, lo cual muestra la influencia que tienen estos y su manejo en finca sobre la calidad de la carne.

Hatching, embryo death and chicks growth in dual purpose and brawl hens under natural hypobaric conditions

The present study aimed to compare results for hatchability and growing performance of chicks from 2 biotypes, dual purpose (DP) and brawl (BR), in hipobaric conditions (2718 m above sea level). In experiment 1, a total of 352 hatching eggs were randomly arranged, 176 egg of DP y 176 BR. In experiment 2, a total of 114 one-day-old unsexed chickens were reared for 28 d. The experimental design for hatchability and chick performance variables was completely randomized with 2 treatments (DP and BR). There were no differences between the studied treatments for hatchability results (p>0.05). Hens’ biotype affected chicken performance in the rearing phase (p<0.01), where the DP chickens had better body weight and feed conversion than BR, but BR chickens had lower mortality than DP chickens.

A dual-purpose real-time indicator and transcriptional integrator for calcium detection in living cells

Calcium is a ubiquitous second messenger in eukaryotes, correlated with neuronal activity and T-cell activation among other processes. Real-time calcium indicators such as GCaMP have recently been complemented by newer calcium integrators that convert transient calcium activity into stable gene expression. Here we introduce LuCID, a dual-purpose real-time calcium indicator and transcriptional calcium integrator which combines the benefits of both calcium detection technologies. We show that the calcium-dependent split luciferase component of LuCID provides real-time bioluminescence readout of calcium dynamics in cells, while the GI/FKF1 split GAL4 component of LuCID converts bioluminescence into stable gene expression. We also show that LuCID modular design enables it to also be used for dual-purpose detection of other cellular events such as protein-protein interactions. LuCID should facilitate the study of cell populations and circuits that utilize calcium for signaling.