Nutrigenomic Effects of Long-Term Grape Pomace Supplementation in Dairy Cows

Abstract

The increasing demand for more animal products put pressure on improving livestock production efficiency and sustainability. In this context, advanced animal nutrition studies appear indispensable. Here, the effect of grape pomace (GP), the polyphenol-rich agricultural by-product, was evaluated on Holstein-Friesian cows’ whole-blood transcriptome, milk production and composition. Two experimental groups were set up. The first one received a basal diet and served as a control, while the second one received a 7.5% GP-supplemented diet for a total of 60 days. Milk production and composition were not different between the group; however, the transcriptome analysis revealed a total of 40 genes significantly affected by GP supplementation. Among the most interesting down-regulated genes, we found the DnaJ heat-shock protein family member A1 (DNAJA1), the mitochondrial fission factor (MFF), and the impact RWD domain protein (IMPACT) genes. The gene set enrichment analysis evidenced the positive enrichment of ‘interferon alpha (IFN-α) and IFN-γ response’, ‘IL6-JAK-STAT3 signaling’ and ‘complement’ genes. Moreover, the functional analysis denoted positive enrichment of the ‘response to protozoan’ and ‘negative regulation of viral genome replication’ biological processes. Our data provide an overall view of the blood transcriptomic signature after a 60-day GP supplementation in dairy cows which mainly reflects a GP-induced immunomodulatory effect.

Supplementing young cattle with a rumen-protected grape extract around vaccination increases humoral response and antioxidant defenses

“…The increase in specific circulating antibody titers observed in heifers supplemented with a RPGE is in accordance with other research where the effect of a long-time supplementation with grape pomace in dairy cattle (inclusion level: 5% of the total daily ration) was studied ( Pauletto et al, 2020 ). The authors reported that the supplementation had a positive impact on immunity-related gene expression.…”

“…Whilst, to the best of our knowledge, this other work is the sole reported study of grape polyphenols’ effect on ruminants’ immunity, several studies have been carried out on the effect of grape polyphenols on monogastric immune response. Interestingly, the low inclusion dose used in the present study, corresponding to 400 mg of total polyphenols/head/day, still induced a positive effect on the humoral response, despite being much smaller than the 23.4 g total polyphenol intake/day from a supplementation with grape pomace observed in this reported other work (19.5 kg DMI with 7.5% GP at 1.6% total polyphenols, ( Pauletto et al, 2020 ).…”

“…Studies have also evidenced the potential interest of grape polyphenols to stimulate humoral immunity in birds ( Ao & Kim, 2020 ; Farahat, Abdallah, Ali & Hernandez-Santana, 2017 ) and in rabbits ( Hassan, Mahrose & Basyony, 2016 ). Recent work also showed a general effect of grape polyphenols on dairy cows’ immunity from a transcriptomic point of view ( Pauletto et al, 2020 ). However, to the best of our knowledge, no published research has been carried out on the effect of grape polyphenols supplementation in cattle on their adaptive immunity.…”

Whole Blood Transcriptome Profiling Reveals Positive Effects of Olive Leaves-Supplemented Diet on Cholesterol in Goats

“…Specifically, the main finding of this study concerns the fact that dietary OL supplementation was shown to be effective in modifying the gene expression of lactating Saanen goats. This datum is therefore in a condition of affinity with what has already been shown in recent studies in which the enrichment of ruminants’ diet with plant matrices led to changes in the transcription process of specific genes [ 16 , 18 , 27 ]. The aspect that in any case must be immediately highlighted concerns the fact that generally, the RNA-seq approach on whole blood is capable of highlighting variations of expression that involve entire gene clusters and not only a few transcripts or even one, just like in our case.…”

“…In this study, we decided to investigate the peripheral blood of goats fed a dietary OL supplementation, since in previous nutrigenomic studies on ruminants, it was possible to identify differentially expressed genes with extreme sensitivity and accuracy [ 16 , 18 , 27 ]. In addition to this, the characterization of gene expression carried out on blood tissue allows us to collect information capable of reflecting the molecular and biochemical mechanisms occurring in other tissues or organs [ 28 ].…”