Improving dairy cow fertility: targeting exosome-responsive cell pathways. . This project aims to assist the dairy industry to achieve its goal of increasing the six-week in-calf pregnancy rate in dairy cows by at least 10 per cent within five years via the identification of circulating exosomal biomarkers of improved fertility that will be used to develop superior breeding stock to deliver higher industry productivity. The impact of novel biomarkers will permit the Australian and New Zealand da ....Improving dairy cow fertility: targeting exosome-responsive cell pathways. . This project aims to assist the dairy industry to achieve its goal of increasing the six-week in-calf pregnancy rate in dairy cows by at least 10 per cent within five years via the identification of circulating exosomal biomarkers of improved fertility that will be used to develop superior breeding stock to deliver higher industry productivity. The impact of novel biomarkers will permit the Australian and New Zealand dairy industries to meet their targets and provide economic benefit to the respective industries, whilst ensuring availability of low cost milk to Australian citizens.Read moreRead less
Epigenetic and biomarker approaches to improving dairy cow fertility. The dairy industry will not deliver sustainable higher productivity unless the reproductive performance of dairy cows is significantly improved. This expected outcome will be achieved via the identification of epigenetic and protein biomarkers of improved fertility that will be used to develop superior breeding stock. Caruncular and intercaruncular tissues and blood have been obtained from both fertile (New Zealand Holstein-Fr ....Epigenetic and biomarker approaches to improving dairy cow fertility. The dairy industry will not deliver sustainable higher productivity unless the reproductive performance of dairy cows is significantly improved. This expected outcome will be achieved via the identification of epigenetic and protein biomarkers of improved fertility that will be used to develop superior breeding stock. Caruncular and intercaruncular tissues and blood have been obtained from both fertile (New Zealand Holstein-Friesian) and sub-fertile (North American Holstein-Friesian) cows within pasture-based dairying systems that include seasonal calving and subclinical uterine inflammation (associated with poor reproductive performance). Determinations will be conducted using deep parallel (next generation) sequencing and mass spectrometry.Read moreRead less
Genetic Basis of Variable Expression of Glycan Xeno-Autoantigens by Cattle. Meat and dairy products from cattle contain sugar structures (glycans) that are not made by humans. These structures can be recognised by the immune system and lead to allergic reactions, inflammation and potentially cancer. These non-human structures are called xeno-autoantigens or XAs. We have discovered individual cattle that do not produce one of these XAs. We will study the gene required to make XA in the XA-free ca ....Genetic Basis of Variable Expression of Glycan Xeno-Autoantigens by Cattle. Meat and dairy products from cattle contain sugar structures (glycans) that are not made by humans. These structures can be recognised by the immune system and lead to allergic reactions, inflammation and potentially cancer. These non-human structures are called xeno-autoantigens or XAs. We have discovered individual cattle that do not produce one of these XAs. We will study the gene required to make XA in the XA-free cattle to find the underlying mutation. The same approach will be used to look for natural XA-free individuals in other food species. This knowledge may enable us to create a test to facilitate the natural breeding of non-GMO, XA-free livestock to benefit Australian primary producers and provide safer food for consumers.Read moreRead less
Identification of at-risk transition cows: Use of exosomal biomarkers. This project aims to improve the early diagnosis of cows at risk of infectious disease and debilitating metabolic syndromes. Animal health and longevity are pillars of the dairy industry. The risk of death is up to 6 times greater during the transition from pregnancy to lactation, making this ‘transition period’ the time for detection and intervention. If successful, this project will permit the focus of resources on high ris ....Identification of at-risk transition cows: Use of exosomal biomarkers. This project aims to improve the early diagnosis of cows at risk of infectious disease and debilitating metabolic syndromes. Animal health and longevity are pillars of the dairy industry. The risk of death is up to 6 times greater during the transition from pregnancy to lactation, making this ‘transition period’ the time for detection and intervention. If successful, this project will permit the focus of resources on high risk cows and reduce poor outcomes: lower milk production, involuntary culling and increased cow maintenance costs. Within this overall objective, a cost-effective project design will leverage partner facilities and existing networks to translate findings to farm use, thereby clearly delivering economic value.Read moreRead less
The extent, causes and implications of pleiotropy among complex traits. The project seeks to understand how a DNA mutation can affect many characters or traits. Many traits are called complex because they are controlled by a very large number of genes, most of which have small effects. Complex traits include traits important in medicine (such as susceptibility to heart disease) and in agriculture (such as tenderness of meat). Because there are many genes affecting each trait, most genes have sma ....The extent, causes and implications of pleiotropy among complex traits. The project seeks to understand how a DNA mutation can affect many characters or traits. Many traits are called complex because they are controlled by a very large number of genes, most of which have small effects. Complex traits include traits important in medicine (such as susceptibility to heart disease) and in agriculture (such as tenderness of meat). Because there are many genes affecting each trait, most genes have small effects which makes them hard to identify. The fact that a mutation that has a small effect on a complex trait also has a larger effect on a less complex trait may help us to identify the mutation and use it in agriculture or medicine.Read moreRead less
Identification of causal variants for complex traits. The aim of this project is to identify causal variants for complex traits in cattle and humans. Although most important traits in agriculture, medicine and evolution are complex traits, very few of the genetic variants affecting these traits are known and this undermines our understanding of how genetic variants affect a trait and practical uses of this knowledge. Huge datasets of individuals with genome sequence and phenotypes and new statis ....Identification of causal variants for complex traits. The aim of this project is to identify causal variants for complex traits in cattle and humans. Although most important traits in agriculture, medicine and evolution are complex traits, very few of the genetic variants affecting these traits are known and this undermines our understanding of how genetic variants affect a trait and practical uses of this knowledge. Huge datasets of individuals with genome sequence and phenotypes and new statistical methods provide the opportunity to close this gap. The outcome will be identification of many genomic variants causing variation in complex traits. This will benefit scientific understanding of complex traits and the ability to predict traits for individuals from their genome sequence.Read moreRead less
Evaluation of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens H57 as a probiotic in livestock using animal nutrition studies and metagenomics. To improve animal production, gene sequencing will unravel how microbial communities in the rumen of sheep and cattle and the gastro intestinal tract of poultry respond to feed quality and probiotic bacteria. The animal nutrition trials will also measure weight gain and feed utilisation efficiency, particularly for nitrogen, protein and energy.
Prediction of phenotype for multiple traits from multi-omic data. This project aims to develop better methods for predicting traits in an individual based on their genome sequence. This method will be tested in agricultural animals and plants and in humans. The prediction formula is derived from a training dataset that has information on the traits and genome sequence of a sample of individuals. The prediction formula can then be applied to predict the trait in individuals where the trait is un ....Prediction of phenotype for multiple traits from multi-omic data. This project aims to develop better methods for predicting traits in an individual based on their genome sequence. This method will be tested in agricultural animals and plants and in humans. The prediction formula is derived from a training dataset that has information on the traits and genome sequence of a sample of individuals. The prediction formula can then be applied to predict the trait in individuals where the trait is unknown. This is useful for selecting the best parents for breeding in agriculture and for predicting the future phenotype of animals, crops and people. The proposed method uses data on very many traits to identify sequence variants that have a function and to predict the traits affected by each variant.Read moreRead less