Gene expression profiling in pbMEC – in search of molecular biomarkers to predict immunoglobulin production in bovine milk

Abstract

BackgroundOptimization of the immunoglobulin (Ig) yield in bovine milk used as therapeutic immune milk or whey for the prevention of Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea in humans is of great importance to improve the economic efficiency of production. Individual dairy cows have diverse immune responses upon vaccination, resulting in a variable Ig yield in blood and milk. Therefore, it is advisable to pre-select cows with the best ability to produce and secrete high yields of specific Igs.ResultsThe gene expression profile of pbMEC (primary bovine mammary epithelial cells), challenged with the gram-positive, non-mastitis, pathogen Clostridium difficile showed distinct and significant differences in the gene expression of effector molecules of the innate immune system. A number of genes were identified that could possibly serve as molecular biomarkers to differentiate high responder cows from low responder cows. These identified genes play key roles in the promotion of innate immunity.ConclusionUsing a gene expression profiling approach, we showed that upon others, especially the gene expression of the pro-inflammatory cytokines was altered between the high and low responder cows. Those genes are indicated as potential molecular biomarkers in the pre-selection of cows that are able to secrete high immunoglobulin yields in milk.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12917-017-1293-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Genetic and genomic analyses of latent variables related to the milk fatty acid profile, milk composition, and udder health in dairy cattle

“…Finally, the markers ARS-BFGL-NGS-107651 and BTB-00141133 (located at ~84.8 Mb on BTA3) and BTA-64483-no-rs (located at 43.14 Mb in BTA28) mapped close to a QTL for SCS according to the Cattle QTL database. When searching for the nearest genes, we found that ARS-BFGL-NGS-107651 and BTB-00141133 (which were in high LD, r 2 = 0.92) corresponded to intron variants of the nuclear factor IA (NFIA) and BTA-64483no-rs mapped at 25 Kb from mitogen-activated protein kinase 8 (MAPK8), genes that play a role in immune system (Fazi et al, 2005;Hillreiner et al, 2017).…”