Holstein cattle carrying a prolactin receptor gene mutation (SLICK) exhibit short and sleek hair coats (short-haired Holstein [SLK]) enhancing thermotolerance and productivity compared with wild type-haired Holstein (WT) under tropical conditions. The objectives were to unravel the physiological and molecular mechanisms that confer an advantage to this slick genotype in Puerto Rico and determine potential correlations between metabolites and physiological variables. At 160 ± 3 DIM we compared vaginal temperatures (VT) and voluntary solar radiation exposure (VSRE) during 48 h between 9 SLK and 9 WT Holsteins, whereas a subsample of 7 SLK and 7 WT were used to assess udder skin temperature, mammary gland hemodynamics and transcriptomics, and blood plasma untargeted metabolomics at a single time point. The SLK cattle showed lower VT throughout the day and greater VSRE at 1000 h and 1100 h compared with their WT counterparts. Total mammary blood flow (MBF) was greater in SLK Holsteins compared with WT. The metabolite 9-nitrooctadecenoic acid was identified as a potential biomarker for MBF; moreover, SLK cattle had greater amounts of this metabolite in their plasma. Prostaglandin D2 synthase (PTGS) was upregulated in the slick mammary gland, while plasma prostaglandin D2 was positively correlated with milk yield and increased in SLK Holsteins compared with WT. Interestingly, the arachidonic acid metabolism pathway was enriched in the mammary gland transcriptome and perturbed in the blood metabolome in the SLK Holsteins. In conclusion, SLK Holsteins exhibited lower body temperatures, greater VSRE, enhanced blood supply to the mammary gland, and alterations in genes and metabolites involved in arachidonic acid metabolism at the mammary gland and blood plasma. The usage of the SLK Holstein cattle genetics in dairy operations could be a feasible alternative to mitigate the adverse consequences of heat stress.

Seminal plasma uterine priming is important for pregnancy and offspring phenotype in mice and swine; however, impacts on the uterus of the dam and her offspring in cattle are unknown. We sought to determine the effects of seminal plasma uterine priming at estrus on uterine transcriptomics, early gestation (d 35, 40, and 45) embryo morphometrics, mid- to late-gestation (d 140 to 220) uterine artery hemodynamics, birth morphometrics, and liver transcriptomics in offspring at 30 d of age. Multiparous Angus-based commercial beef cows were randomly assigned to receive treatment at estrus: 0.5 mL pooled seminal plasma in the uterine body (n = 31, seminal plasma primed) or no treatment (n = 31, control). Seven d later a subset of cows (n = 4/treatment) underwent uterine biopsies, and the remaining cows underwent embryo transfer. Embryo crown-rump length and uterine artery hemodynamics were measured during gestation using ultrasonography. Morphometrics of the calf were collected within 24 h of parturition. Liver biopsies were collected at 30 d of age. Data were analyzed by ANOVA in a completely randomized design for the effect of treatment. Myosin heavy chain I (JSP.1) was downregulated [Benjamin-Hochberg adj P (BH) <= 0.05] and ABO alpha 1-3-N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase and alpha 1-3-galactosyltransferase (ABO) was upregulated (BH adj P <= 0.05) in the uterus of seminal plasma primed cows 7 d after treatment. Embryo crown-rump length was less (P < 0.05) in seminal plasma primed cows. Mid- to late-gestation (d 140 to 220) uterine artery resistance was increased (P < 0.05) in seminal plasma primed cows. Seminal plasma priming did not alter birth weights or curve-crown-rump length, but heart girth was increased (P < 0.05) in offspring from seminal plasma primed cows. There were no differentially expressed genes (BH adj P <= 0.05) in offspring liver at 30 d of age; however, myosin light chain, phosphorylatable, fast skeletal muscle (MYLPF) was absent in all liver samples from calves from seminal plasma primed cows. In contrast, vomeronasal 1 receptor bosTauV1R414 (BOSTAUV1R414) was present in 6 of the 7 liver samples from calves from seminal plasma primed cows. Seminal plasma uterine priming alters uterine transcriptomics, negatively impacts early gestation embryo growth and mid- to late-gestation uterine artery resistance suggesting downstream vascular anomalies. However, these in utero conditions did not impact offspring from birth to 30 d of age.

Gossypol is a phenolic compound found in cottonseed. Phenolic compounds are plant secondary metabolites, known to have both, beneficial and negative effects on animals. The present experiment evaluated the beneficial and negative effects of cottonseed on growth, daily weight gain, and parasite infection measured by fecal egg counts, liver function, and ruminal microbiome of growing female meat goats. Forty Boer × Spanish doelings were assigned to 4 groups (n = 10 per group) in a 2 × 2 factorial design consisting of cottonseed supplementation (CS)-NP CS (0.5% body weight-BW in kg) + no parasite infection (NP) CON-NP commercial pellets or control (CON) + no parasite infection (NP); CON-P commercial pellets or control (CON) + Haemonchus contortus artificial infection (P); and CS-P CS supplementation (CS) + H. contortus artificial infection (P). Artificial infection consisted of 4,000 H. contortus infective larvae (L3). The FEC were not affected by diet. The liver function showed a diet by parasite interaction (P = 0.03) for the mean velocity of the hepatic portal vein, which was decreased in CON-P compared with CS-NP indicating a reduction in metabolism. A diet by parasite interaction (P = 0.014) was also observed for the diameter of the hepatic portal vein, which was increased in the CS-P goats compared to all other groups. Liver weights were affected by diet, being decreased in the CS animals vs the CON ones (P = 0.00), as well as the liver weight relative to the animal’s BW (P = 0.01). Diet effect (P = 0.01) was observed for the liver blood flow relative to liver weight. For the rumen microbiome, the number of bacterial species was unaffected by CS but decreased by the parasite challenge (P = 0.03). In conclusion, the supplementation of female meat goats with CS did not affect BW, daily weight gain, parasite infection, and FAMACHA©, but reduced the liver weights, influenced fiber-digesting bacteria in the rumen, and restored lipolytic bacteria in the rumen of goats with parasite challenge.

Gestational nutrient restriction can reduce fetal growth efficiency, while melatonin supplementation can mitigate some of these negative outcomes. This study investigated placental fatty acid (FA) transporter gene expression and maternal-fetal FA concentrations in cattle supplemented with dietary melatonin during late gestational nutrient restriction. Brangus heifers (n = 29) were fed a diet of 100% of National Research Council (NRC) requirements (ADQ) or 60% of NRC requirements (RES) from day 160 to day 240 of gestation. These groups were then randomly assigned to receive 20 mg of melatonin daily or no supplement, resulting in four treatment groups (ADQ-CON, n = 7; ADQ-MEL, n = 7; RES-CON, n = 7; RES-MEL, n = 8). On d 240, heifers underwent cesarean sections, in which amniotic fluid and blood samples from both the dam and fetus were collected to determine FA profiles. Placentomes were collected to determine transporter transcript abundance. Maternal concentrations of monounsaturated FA (P = 0.001) and total omega-3 (P = 0.041) were increased in RES versus ADQ fed dams. Melatonin supplementation did not alter maternal FA profiles (P ≥ 0.081). Fetal concentrations of total omega-6 (n-6) were increased (P < 0.05) in RES-CON versus ADQ-CON, whereas ADQ-MEL and RES-MEL did not differ. Fetal concentrations of total branch chain fatty acids (BCFA) were increased (P < 0.05) in ADQ-MEL versus RES-MEL. Interestingly, maternal concentrations of C16:0 were increased (P = 0.015) in RES vs ADQ fed dams, while the opposite was observed for amniotic fluid concentrations of C16:0 which were decreased (P = 0.003) in RES vs ADQ fed dams. Amniotic fluid concentrations of total BCFA were decreased (P = 0.019) in RES versus ADQ fed dams. Both caruncular and cotyledonary transcript abundance of CASR were decreased (P < 0.05) in RES-CON versus ADQ-CON, while melatonin supplementation rescued this depression in the cotyledon. Both caruncular and cotyledonary transcript abundance of SLC27A1 were increased (P < 0.05) in RES versus ADQ fed dams. These results indicate that maternal melatonin supplementation differentially altered placental FA transporter transcript abundance and fetal FA profiles, demonstrating context-dependent effects under adequate versus restricted maternal nutrition. Maternal nutrition during gestation, especially during key periods of fetal growth and development, is vital for producing a calf capable of meeting its genetic potential. Reduced growth efficiency in offspring is detrimental to producer profitability because maternal nutrient repartitioning prioritizes development of central nervous system over skeletal, muscular, and immune systems. Previous studies have investigated the use of melatonin supplementation to mitigate the effects of nutrient restriction during gestation. Melatonin increased fetal birth weights as well as negating cellular stress prior to birth. The present study investigated the effect of maternal nutrition and dietary melatonin supplementation on fatty acid concentrations and placental fatty acid transporters. Nutrient restriction increased maternal fatty acid concentrations, while melatonin did not influence maternal levels. Melatonin altered gene expression of nutrient transporters in the placenta leading to several nutrient restriction by melatonin interactions for fetal concentrations of fatty acids. In general, fetal fatty acids were altered in nutrient restricted animals supplemented with dietary melatonin. Furthermore, amnionic fluid experienced a depression in branch chain fatty acids when dams were nutrient restricted which was not rescued by melatonin supplementation.

Fetal development is a critical period that establishes reproductive efficiency and herd performance depending on in-utero epigenetic modifications. Dietary restrictions may affect fetal testis development and the offspring fertility. Several studies have connected genetic instability to circadian cycle disruptions, including epigenetic modifications to melatonin, a key regulator. On day 160 of gestation, 17 male-bearing Brangus heifers were assigned to one of four groups in a 2 × 2 factorial treatment arrangement: adequately fed (ADQ; 100% NRC recommendation, n = 3), nutrient restricted (RES; 60% NRC recommendation, n = 5), or ADQ or RES supplemented with 20 mg/d melatonin (ADQ-MEL, n = 5; RES-MEL, n = 4). On day 240 of gestation, heifers underwent Cesarean sections to collect fetuses and testicular tissues. The fetal testicular tissue was processed and analyzed using the Methyl-MiniSeq Service: Genome-wide bisulfite sequencing (Methyl MiniSeq-GWBS). Sequence reads from Methyl Mini-Seq libraries were identified using standard Illumina platform calling software for methylome profile. RNA-Seq libraries were then sequenced on the Illumina platform for transcriptome profile. The common genes between differentially methylated regions (DMRs) and differentially expressed genes (DEGs) across different treatment groups were identified by an overlap analysis using bedtools v2.31.1. There were 413 DMRs in RES-CON and ADQ-CON testicular tissues, without differential gene expression. Compared with the ADQ-CON group, the ADQ-MEL group showed 411 DMRs and a higher KYAT1 gene expression (P-adj <0.05) without methylation changes. Comparing RES-MEL with RES-CON showed that 9 genes (DAAM1, COL28A1, RPL10, TRPM3, SLIT, ARHGEF40, SYT1, TMEM35B, CSPG4B) were expressed more in the former (P-adj <0.05). The only hypomethylated gene was DAAM1 located on chromosome 10. However, 13 genes (PTPRU, snRNP-E, TMEM59L, MUC5B, ANAPC15, FAM221A, SHCBPiL, PAQR5, PPP4R3C, DTNB, LncRNA, SHANK2, RIC3) showed increased expression in RES-CON vs. RES-MEL without differential methylation alterations, yet there were 370 DMRs. Five genes showed increased expression in RES-MEL compared with ADQ-MEL (P-adj <0.05), including histone H2B on chromosome 23. Two genes (PTPRU, TDRD10) showed increased expression in ADQ-MEL compared with RES-MEL (P-adj <0.05) without affecting methylation and 344 DMRs. In conclusion, dietary melatonin supplementation to nutrient restricted dams may influence fetal development as epigenomic and transcriptomic regulators are altered.

In lactating dairy cows, heat stress reduces feed intake, alters the metabolism of the animal, and compromises milk production. Holstein cattle carrying the prolactin receptor gene mutation (SLICK) have been shown to have superior performance under tropical conditions by exhibiting increased milk yield compared with wild-type haired Holstein cattle (WT). Recent research indicated that SLICK cattle have greater mammary gland blood flow and lower vaginal temperatures, while maintaining prolonged voluntary exposure to direct solar radiation than their WT counterparts. Nevertheless, differences in molecular mechanisms between genotypes at the mammary gland level have been unexplored. The objective of the current study was to investigate possible differences in the mammary gland transcriptome from SLICK (n = 7) and WT (n = 6) Puerto Rican Holstein cattle. At 160 ± 3 days in milk (DIM), ultrasound guided mammary biopsies were collected from the left rear quarter of each animal and samples were snap frozen. Unstranded RNA-seq libraries were created from the frozen mammary tissue and sequenced using Illumina Novaseq 2x150bp. Quantification of expression was done by salmon [v1.9.0] using the Bos taurus (ARS UCD1.3) transcriptome database. Testing for significant differential expression (DE) was done using a pipeline consisting of the R packages tximport [v1.26.1] and edgeR [v3.40.2]. The fry method from edgeR was used to do gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) for Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways and Gene Ontology (GO) terms. A single gene (GeneID:513329, major allergen Equ c 1 isoform X2) showed significant (B.H. adjusted P-value ≤ 0.05) differential expression. Aligning the protein sequence for this gene using the BLASTp against the non-redundant (NR) database revealed high similarity to two pheromones, salivary lipocalin 2 and salivary lipocalin-like. Both the KEGG pathway and GO term GSEA showed no statistically significant enrichment at B.H. adjusted P-value ≤ 0.05; however, using a less stringent criteria with a normal P-value ≤ 0.05, multiple relevant pathways were identified. For example, the KEGG pathway analysis revealed that the arachidonic acid metabolism pathway (bta00590) was enriched, and the tight junction function pathway (bta4530) was depleted in the SLICK Holstein samples. Among the GO analysis, genes were found to be downregulated in response to cold (GO:0009409), hair follicle development (GO:0001942), and vasoconstriction (GO:0042310), whereas positive regulation of oxytocin production (GO:0140668), and defense response to Gram-positive bacterium (GO:0050830) were upregulated. In conclusion, differences in gene expression were limited, but after enrichment interesting pathways were revealed and deserve further exploration to aid in elucidating different molecular mechanisms between SLICK and WT cattle.