Genetic markers of osteoarticular disorders: facts and hopes.

in Arthritis Research (2001), 3(5), 270-80

Osteoarthritis and osteoporosis are the two most common age-related chronic disorders of articular joints and skeleton, representing a major public health problem in most developed countries. Apart from ... [more ▼]

Osteoarthritis and osteoporosis are the two most common age-related chronic disorders of articular joints and skeleton, representing a major public health problem in most developed countries. Apart from being influenced by environmental factors, both disorders have a strong genetic component, and there is now considerable evidence from large population studies that these two disorders are inversely related. Thus, an accurate analysis of the genetic component of one of these two multifactorial diseases may provide data of interest for the other. However, the existence of confounding factors must always be borne in mind in interpreting the genetic analysis. In addition, each patient must be given an accurate clinical evaluation, including family history, history of drug treatments, lifestyle, and environment, in order to reduce the background bias. Here, we review the impact of recent work in molecular genetics suggesting that powerful molecular biology techniques will soon make possible both a rapid accumulation of data on the genetics of both disorders and the development of novel diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic approaches. [less ▲]

Genetic parameters and evaluation of rear legs (rear view) for Brown Swiss and Guernseys

in Journal of Dairy Science (2006), 89(12), 4895-4900

Genetic parameters were estimated for rear legs (rear view; RLRV) and 15 current linear type traits of Brown Swiss and Guernsey dairy cattle. The Brown Swiss Cattle Breeders' Association of the USA and ... [more ▼]

Genetic parameters were estimated for rear legs (rear view; RLRV) and 15 current linear type traits of Brown Swiss and Guernsey dairy cattle. The Brown Swiss Cattle Breeders' Association of the USA and the American Guernsey Association began scoring RLRV in 2004. For Brown Swiss, 8,502 records were available for 7,676 cows in 417 herds; Guernsey data included 5,437 records for 4,749 cows in 229 herds. Nine unknown-parent groups were defined for each breed, each with 2 birth years. The model included fixed effects for the interaction of herd, appraisal date, and parity; appraisal age within parity; and lactation stage within parity and random effects for animal, permanent environment, and residual error. The multitrait analysis for RLRV and the 15 linear type traits used canonical transformation, multiple diagonalization, and a decelerated expectation-maximization REML algorithm. For Brown Swiss, heritability was 0.102 for RLRV and ranged from 0.099 for rear legs (side view) to 0.453 for stature. For Guernseys, heritability ranged from 0.078 for RLRV to 0.428 for stature. For Brown Swiss, the highest genetic correlation with RLRV was 0.71 for rear udder width; the most negative correlation was -0.19 with rump angle. For Guernseys, the highest genetic correlations with RLRV were 0.43 for rear udder width and 0.42 for body depth; the most negative correlation was -0.46 with rear legs (side view). With heritability near 0.10, RLRV should be useful in selection for improved locomotion. Release of genetic evaluations for RLRV began in May 2006 for Brown Swiss and Guernseys. [less ▲]

Genetic parameters for growth traits in Moroccan Timahdit breed ans its D'man x Timahdit cross

(1999)

Genetic parameters for methane indicator traits based on milk fatty acids

Scientific conference (2012, February 14)

Genetic parameters for methane indicator traits based on milk fatty acids in cows

in Journal of Dairy Science (2012, July 18)

Dairy production is pointed out for its large methane emission. Therefore, currently studies of factors affecting emission and methods to abate methane emission are numerous. However, an important issue ... [more ▼]

Dairy production is pointed out for its large methane emission. Therefore, currently studies of factors affecting emission and methods to abate methane emission are numerous. However, an important issue is the development of easily obtainable indicators, because they would also allow estimating animal genetic variability of methane emission. Recently methane indicators were proposed using gas chromatrography based milk fatty acid composition. We derived these published methane indicators using 1100 calibration samples directly from mid-infrared (MIR).For the published indicator showing the highest relationship (R2 = 0.88) with Sulfur Hexafluoride 6 methane emission data, genetic parameters for this MIR based indicator were estimated by single trait random regression test-day models from 619,272 records collected from 2007 to 2011 on 71,188 Holstein cows in their first three lactations at Walloon region of Belgium. The average daily heritability was 0.35±0.01, 0.35±0.02 and 0.32±0.02 for the first three lactations, respectively. Similarly, the lactation heritability was 0.67±0.02, 0.72±0.03 and 0.62±0.03. As expected, methane production was higher during the peak milk production depicting the normal lactation curve. The largest differences between estimated breeding values (EBV) of sires having cows in production eructing the highest and the lowest methane content was 21.80, 22.75 and 24.89 kg per lactation for the first three parities, the variances of the EBV of the sires with daughters were 10.67, 12.46, 12.18 kg2. Results were similar for other indicators. This study suggested that methane indicator traits can be predicted by MIR. Genetic parameters also indicated a rather high heritability and genetic variability exist for these published indicators and consequently a potential high genetic variability of methane eructation by dairy cows. Therefore, these first finding might open new opportunities for animal selection programs that include the reduction of methane emission. [less ▲]

Genetic parameters for Tunisian Holsteins using a test-day random regression model.

in Journal of Dairy Science (2008), 91(5), 2118-26

Genetic parameters of milk, fat, and protein yields were estimated in the first 3 lactations for registered Tunisian Holsteins. Data included 140,187; 97,404; and 62,221 test-day production records ... [more ▼]

Genetic parameters of milk, fat, and protein yields were estimated in the first 3 lactations for registered Tunisian Holsteins. Data included 140,187; 97,404; and 62,221 test-day production records collected on 22,538; 15,257; and 9,722 first-, second-, and third-parity cows, respectively. Records were of cows calving from 1992 to 2004 in 96 herds. (Co)variance components were estimated by Bayesian methods and a 3-trait-3-lactation random regression model. Gibbs sampling was used to obtain posterior distributions. The model included herd x test date, age x season of calving x stage of lactation [classes of 25 days in milk (DIM)], production sector x stage of lactation (classes of 5 DIM) as fixed effects, and random regression coefficients for additive genetic, permanent environmental, and herd-year of calving effects, which were defined as modified constant, linear, and quadratic Legendre coefficients. Heritability estimates for 305-d milk, fat and protein yields were moderate (0.12 to 0.18) and in the same range of parameters estimated in management systems with low to medium production levels. Heritabilities of test-day milk and protein yields for selected DIM were higher in the middle than at the beginning or the end of lactation. Inversely, heritabilities of fat yield were high at the peripheries of lactation. Genetic correlations among 305-d yield traits ranged from 0.50 to 0.86. The largest genetic correlation was observed between the first and second lactation, potentially due to the limited expression of genetic potential of superior cows in later lactations. Results suggested a lack of adaptation under the local management and climatic conditions. Results should be useful to implement a BLUP evaluation for the Tunisian cow population; however, results also indicated that further research focused on data quality might be needed. [less ▲]

Genetic parameters of mastitis-correlated milk components in first parity dairy cows

Conference (2010, August 06)

Ind. of lactoferrin content, ind. of Na content, and lactose content were the three most correlated milk components with somatic cell score among available milk components predicted by mid-infrared ... [more ▼]

Ind. of lactoferrin content, ind. of Na content, and lactose content were the three most correlated milk components with somatic cell score among available milk components predicted by mid-infrared spectrometry on 590,083 test-day records from Walloon Region of Belgium collected between 2007 and 2009. Mean daily heritabilities and mean genetic correlations of these four traits were estimated using Gibbs sampling methodology applied to a multi-trait random regression test-day model with a subset of these records. Mean daily heritabilities of ind. lactoferrin content (0.34), ind. Na content (0.37) and lactose content (0.42) were higher then SCS (0.16) and mean genetic correlations were moderate (from -0.18 to -0.73), showing that these traits could be used together to describe udder health in genetic evaluations instead of SCS alone when clinical mastitis data are not available. [less ▲]

Genetic parameters of milk production traits and fatty acid contents in milk for Holstein cows in parity 1 – 3

in Journal of Animal Breeding & Genetics (2012)

The objective of this study was to estimate genetic parameters of milk, fat, and protein yields, fat and protein contents, somatic cell count, and 17 groups and individual milk fatty acid (FA) contents ... [more ▼]

The objective of this study was to estimate genetic parameters of milk, fat, and protein yields, fat and protein contents, somatic cell count, and 17 groups and individual milk fatty acid (FA) contents predicted by mid-infrared spectrometry for first-, second- and third-parity Holstein cows. Edited data included records collected in the Walloon region of Belgium from 37 768 cows in parity 1, 22 566 cows in parity 2 and 8221 in parity 3. A total of 69 (23 traits for three parities) single-trait random regression animal test-day models were run. Approximate genetic correlations among traits were inferred from pairwise regressions among estimated breeding values of cow having observations. Heritability and genetic correlation estimates from this study reflected the origins of FA: de novo synthetized or originating from the diet and the body fat mobilization. Averaged daily heritabilities of FA contents in milk ranged between 0.18 and 0.47. Average daily genetic correlations (averaged across days in milk and parities) among groups and individual FA contents in milk ranged between 0.31 and 0.99. The genetic variability of FAs in combination with the moderate to high heritabilities indicated that FA contents in milk could be changed by genetic selection; however, desirable direction of change in these traits remains unclear and should be defined with respect to all issues of importance related to milk FA. [less ▲]

Genetic parameters of saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids estimated by test-day model in Walloon dairy cattle

in Journal of Dairy Science (2008, July 07)

Genetic parameters of stearoyl coenzyme-A desaturase 9 activity estimated by test-day model

in Journal of Dairy Science (2008, July), 91(E-Suppl. 2), 542

Dairy and beef products account for a large part of fat intake in human nutrition and therefore can be linked to dietary diseases. The stearoyl Coenzyme-A desaturase 9 (delta-9) gene was identified as a ... [more ▼]

Dairy and beef products account for a large part of fat intake in human nutrition and therefore can be linked to dietary diseases. The stearoyl Coenzyme-A desaturase 9 (delta-9) gene was identified as a potential functional candidate gene affecting milk fat composition in dairy cattle. The objective of this research was to estimate the genetic parameters of delta-9 activity indicator traits and to study the relationship between delta-9 activity as described by these indicator traits and common milk production traits. A total of 126,331 test-day records were obtained from 14,259 Holstein (> 84% Holstein gene) heifers belonging to 105 herds. The studied traits were milk yield, percentages of fat and protein, content of monounsaturated fatty acids, and 3 ratios reflecting the delta-9 activity (C14:1/ C14:0; C16:1/C16:0 and C18:1/C18). The used model was a multiple-trait random regressions test-day model and included as fixed effects: herd x date of test, class of age, and month x year. Random effects were herd x year of calving, permanent environmental, additive genetic, and residual effects. The fatty acid contents were estimated by mid-infrared spectrometry. Delta-9 activity varied within year and lactation. The obtained heritability estimates of delta-9 as well as the genetic and phenotypic correlation varied also through lactation. This study suggests potential improvements of delta-9 activity and subsequently milk fat composition can be achieved by animal management but also by breeding and animal selection. [less ▲]