Functional Variants Surrounding Endothelin 2 Are Associated With Subspecies Infection.

Bovine paratuberculosis, caused by subspecies (), continues to impact the dairy industry through increased morbidity, mortality, and lost production. Although genome-wide association analyses (GWAAs) have identified loci associated with susceptibility to , limited progress has been made in identifying mutations that cause disease susceptibility. A 235-kb region on chromosome 3 (BTA3), containing a 70-kb haplotype block surrounding endothelin 2 (), has previously been associated with the risk of infection.

A novel understanding of global DNA methylation in bobcat ().

Epigenetic mechanisms may provide a novel prospective of bobcat () adaptation to habitat loss/fragmentation. Previous research has focused on bobcat behavior and genetics, but epigenetics has not been studied in bobcat. The aim of this study was to determine the quantity of global DNA methylation in the liver of 30 bobcats.

Global DNA Methylation in the Limbic System of Cattle.

To elucidate the extent to which DNA methylation varies across multiple tissues in the brain and between animals, we have quantified global DNA methylation in tissues comprising the limbic system for six Red Angus x Simmental steers. Global DNA methylation was measured in nine regions of the bovine brain: amygdala, the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, cingulate gyrus, dorsal raphe, hippocampus, hypothalamus, nucleus accumbens, periaqueductal gray and prefrontal cortex. DNA methylation varies among animals for each tissue type and varies among tissue types for each animal.

Genome-wide association study of Mycobacterium avium subspecies Paratuberculosis infection in Chinese Holstein.

Background: Paratuberculosis is a contagious, chronic and enteric disease in ruminants, which is caused by Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) infection, resulting in enormous economic losses worldwide. There is currently no effective cure for MAP infection or a vaccine, it is thus important to explore the genetic variants that contribute to host susceptibility to infection by MAP, which may provide a better understanding of the mechanisms of paratuberculosis and benefit animal genetic improvement. Herein we performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) to identify genomic regions and candidate genes associated with susceptibility to MAP infection in dairy cattle.