Publications by authors named "Tim Martin Knutsen"

Lumpfish, , have historically been harvested throughout Atlantic Canada and are increasingly in demand as a solution to controlling sea lice in Atlantic salmon farms-a process which involves both the domestication and the transfer of lumpfish between geographic regions. At present, little is known regarding population structure and diversity of wild lumpfish in Atlantic Canada, limiting attempts to assess the potential impacts of escaped lumpfish individuals from salmon pens on currently at-risk wild populations. Here, we characterize the spatial population structure and genomic-environmental associations of wild populations of lumpfish throughout the Northwest Atlantic using both 70K SNP array data and whole-genome re-sequencing data (WGS).

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Background: Although bovine milk is regarded as healthy and nutritious, its high content of saturated fatty acids (FA) may be harmful to cardiovascular health. Palmitic acid (C16:0) is the predominant saturated FA in milk with adverse health effects that could be countered by substituting it with higher levels of unsaturated FA, such as oleic acid (C18:1cis-9). In this work, we performed genome-wide association analyses for milk fatty acids predicted from FTIR spectroscopy data using 1811 Norwegian Red cattle genotyped and imputed to a high-density 777k single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-array.

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Teleosts exhibit extensive diversity of sex determination (SD) systems and mechanisms, providing the opportunity to study the evolution of SD and sex chromosomes. Here we sequenced the genome of the common lumpfish (Cyclopterus lumpus Linnaeus), a species of increasing importance to aquaculture, and identified the SD region and master SD locus using a 70 K single nucleotide polymorphism array and tissue-specific expression data. The chromosome-level assembly identified 25 diploid chromosomes with a total size of 572.

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The interleukin (IL)-1 family play a fundamental role as immune system modulators. Our previous transcriptome-analyses of leukocytes from lumpfish ( L.) showed that IL-1β was among the most highly upregulated genes following bacterial exposure.

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The relative abundance of specific fatty acids in milk can be important for consumer health and manufacturing properties of dairy products. Understanding of genes controlling milk fat synthesis may contribute to the development of dairy products with high quality and nutritional value. This study aims to identify key genes and genetic variants affecting de novo synthesis of the short- and medium-chained fatty acids C4:0 to C14:0.

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Background: Bovine milk is widely regarded as a nutritious food source for humans, although the effects of individual fatty acids on human health is a subject of debate. Based on the assumption that genomic selection offers potential to improve milk fat composition, there is strong interest to understand more about the genetic factors that influence the biosynthesis of bovine milk and the molecular mechanisms that regulate milk fat synthesis and secretion. For this reason, the work reported here aimed at identifying genetic variants that affect milk fatty acid composition in Norwegian Red cattle.

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Article Synopsis
  • Clinical mastitis significantly impacts dairy production and is genetically linked to milk production, making it essential to understand the underlying mechanisms for improved breeding practices.
  • A QTL affecting both clinical mastitis and milk production was identified on bovine chromosome 6, and associations were found with SNPs near the GC gene, which encodes the vitamin D-binding protein involved in immune defense and milk production.
  • While a duplication related to increased mastitis susceptibility was discovered, no significant differences were observed in gene expression or protein levels between animals with different genotypes, indicating more research is needed to clarify the relationship.
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