Impact of Intestinal Microbiota on Growth Performance of Suckling and Weaned Piglets.

Small-scale studies investigating the relationship between pigs' intestinal microbiota and growth performance have generated inconsistent results. We hypothesized that on farms under favorable environmental conditions (e.g.

A splice donor variant in CCDC189 is associated with asthenospermia in Nordic Red dairy cattle.

Background: Cattle populations are highly amenable to the genetic mapping of male reproductive traits because longitudinal data on ejaculate quality and dense microarray-derived genotypes are available for thousands of artificial insemination bulls. Two young Nordic Red bulls delivered sperm with low progressive motility (i.e.

Expression of Immune Regulatory Genes in the Porcine Internal Genital Tract Is Differentially Triggered by Spermatozoa and Seminal Plasma.

Mating or cervical deposition of spermatozoa or seminal plasma (SP) modifies the expression of genes affecting local immune defense processes at the oviductal sperm reservoir in animals with internal fertilization, frequently by down-regulation. Such responses may occur alongside sperm transport to or even beyond the reservoir. Here, immune-related gene expression was explored with cDNA microarrays on porcine cervix-to-infundibulum tissues, pre-/peri-ovulation.

Analysis of factors affecting the pregnancy rate of mares after inseminations with cooled transported stallion semen.

Artificial insemination (AI) with cooled stallion semen has increased markedly during the last decades in all countries, but fertility is often lower than when fresh semen or natural mating is used. The objective of this study was to examine field data (1634 ,cycles 523 Standardbred (SB) mares, 575 Finnhorse (FH) mares, and 90 stallions) using multivariable logistic regression for factors influencing the pregnancy rate (PR) after AI with cooled transported semen from SB and FH stallions. The PR per cycle for the material was 47%: Finnhorses 42% and Standardbreds 53%.

Maternal placenta modulates a deleterious fetal mutation.

Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) is caused by dysregulation of placental metabolism. Paternally inherited IUGR mutations in the fetus influence maternal physiology via the placenta. However, it is not known whether the maternal placenta also affects the extent of IUGR in such fetuses.

A frameshift mutation in ARMC3 is associated with a tail stump sperm defect in Swedish Red (Bos taurus) cattle.

Background: Artificial insemination is widely used in many cattle breeding programs. Semen samples of breeding bulls are collected and closely examined immediately after collection at artificial insemination centers. Only ejaculates without anomalous findings are retained for artificial insemination.

PEG3 domain gene expression in maternal and foetal placenta in intrauterine growth restricted bovine foetuses.

We used a genetic (MIMT1(Del)) model of intrauterine growth restriction to investigate dysregulation of PEG3 domain gene expression in bovine foetal and maternal placenta. ZIM2, APEG3 and PEG3 expressions were similarly reduced in MIMT1(Del/) (WT) foetal placenta, suggesting coordinated regulation. Methylation of DNA CpG sites associated with these genes showed no differences, but differences in the levels of MIMT1 RNA methylation at three CpG sites were found in foetal placenta.

In frame exon skipping in UBE3B is associated with developmental disorders and increased mortality in cattle.

Background: Inherited developmental diseases can cause severe animal welfare and economic problems in dairy cattle. The use of a small number of bulls for artificial insemination (AI) carries a risk that recessive defects rapidly enrich in the population. In recent years, an increasing number of Finnish Ayrshire calves have been identified with signs of ptosis, intellectual disability, retarded growth and mortality, which constitute an inherited disorder classified as PIRM syndrome.

Non-CpG hypermethylation in placenta of mutation-induced intrauterine growth restricted bovine foetuses.

The existence of non-CpG methylation in mammalian DNA has mainly been observed in embryonic stem cells, but its functional significance is uncertain. We found an age-dependent non-CpG hypermethylation in DMR at the 3' end of the MIMT1 in the placenta of intrauterine growth restricted foetuses in cattle. Data suggest that this DMR play a role in epigenetic regulation of the PEG3 domain.

Ectopic KIT copy number variation underlies impaired migration of primordial germ cells associated with gonadal hypoplasia in cattle (Bos taurus).

Impaired migration of primordial germ cells during embryonic development causes hereditary gonadal hypoplasia in both sexes of Northern Finncattle and Swedish Mountain cattle. The affected gonads exhibit a lack of or, in rare cases, a reduced number of germ cells. Most affected animals present left-sided gonadal hypoplasia.

Fetal growth restriction caused by MIMT1 deletion alters brain transcriptome in cattle.

We examined levels of gene expression in the brains of bovine fetuses carrying a truncated MIMT1 allele, MIMT1(Del), shown to cause late abortion and stillbirth as a result of fetal growth restriction. MIMT1 is a non-protein coding gene that forms part of the imprinted PEG3 (paternally expressed gene 3) domain. Microarray analysis of brain cortex samples from mid-gestation MIMT1(Del/WT) bovine fetuses and wild-type siblings was performed to study the effect of fetal growth restriction on brain gene expression.

Truncation of MIMT1 gene in the PEG3 domain leads to major changes in placental gene expression and stillbirth in cattle.

We previously identified a microdeletion (Del) in the maternally imprinted PEG3 domain in cattle that results in loss of paternal MIMT1 expression and causes late-term abortion and stillbirth. The mutation, when inherited from the sire, is semilethal for his progeny, with 85% mortality. Here we precisely delineate the deletion and describe comparative analyses of fetuses carrying the deletion with wild-type (WT) siblings.

An exonic insertion within Tex14 gene causes spermatogenic arrest in pigs.

Background: Male infertility is an increasing problem in all domestic species including man. Localization and identification of genes involved in defects causing male infertility provide valuable information of specific events in sperm development. Sperm development is a complex process, where diploid spermatogonia develop into haploid, highly specialized spermatozoa.

A novel mutation in the maternally imprinted PEG3 domain results in a loss of MIMT1 expression and causes abortions and stillbirths in cattle (Bos taurus).

Congenital malformations resulting in late abortions and stillbirths affect the economic wellbeing of producers and the welfare of cattle in breeding programs. An extremely high incidence of stillbirths of "half-sized" calves of normal karyotype and uninflated lungs was diagnosed in the progeny of the Finnish Ayrshire (Bos taurus) bull--YN51. No other visible anatomical abnormalities were apparent in the stillborn calves.