Measurements of telomere length at different life stages as predictive biomarkers of health, reproduction and longevity in dairy cattle

拟议工作的关键概念基于三个原则：1。健康、繁殖和寿命是影响英国和国际畜牧业可持续性和盈利能力的关键因素。除了具有相当大的经济意义外，这些因素还影响动物福利、畜牧经营的环境足迹以及消费者对动物产品的接受程度。因此，这些性状的改善将产生多方面的好处。2 .由于这些特征的准确记录具有复杂性和时间要求，因此需要可靠的早期生命预测指标，以便对健康状况不佳、繁殖和寿命问题提供早期预警，从而有效地为改进提供实用工具。人类和实验动物研究的最新进展揭示了与寿命、年龄和与年龄相关的疾病有关的潜在有用的生物标记。拟议中的项目旨在确定一种早期生物标志物，以预测奶牛的健康、繁殖和寿命。出于这个原因，该项目将使用在苏格兰克莱顿皇家农场的实验牛群中饲养的奶牛的综合数据库。动物属于两个不同的遗传系（选择高产量和平均产量）和两个饮食组（高蛋白质摄入量和低蛋白质摄入量），从出生到死亡或从畜群中移除都受到密切监测。该数据库包括单个动物的血统、性能、采食量、疾病和繁殖事件以及寿命的记录。与这些记录相关的详细环境描述符也包含在数据库中。该畜群中大约有1000只动物已经在出生时和6个月的间隔内进行了血液采样。这些样本将被用来测量每头奶牛一生中端粒的长度。端粒是动物细胞中覆盖染色体末端的小结构，已知与人类衰老有关。在拟议的研究中获得的端粒长度测量值的变化将在动物的整个生命周期中进行监测，并与有关健康事件、生殖问题和生产寿命长度的数据一起进行分析。这些分析将建立动物端粒长度与健康、繁殖和寿命之间的联系。为实现其目标，该项目将利用动物科学、遗传学、生物技术、生理学和生物学方面的互补专业知识。本研究的潜在应用和效益如下：1。这是有史以来第一次对食用动物进行研究，研究端粒随时间的变化方式，以及这种变化与动物重要特征的关系。此外，还将首次研究许多遗传和环境因素对端粒和寿命的影响。该项目的结果将使人们更好地了解产奶奶牛的衰老过程，并将确定一种预测动物未来健康、繁殖和寿命的早期指标。3. 最终的结果将是一种易于应用的、对动物友好的生物标志物，可以用作管理和选择工具，以提高奶牛的健壮性、福利和存活率，并减少畜群中高产动物的非自愿移除率。所设想的改善的进一步后果包括为动物产品的生产和消费提供更健康的背景，以及整个部门的环境足迹更低。4. 在这个项目中获得的知识可能会对动物保护计划产生更长远的影响，以提高稀有动物品种和濒危物种的存活率，以及更好地了解包括人类在内的其他物种的衰老过程的详细研究。

The key concept of the proposed work is based on three tenets:1. Health, reproduction and longevity are key factors influencing the sustainability and profitability of the livestock industry in the UK and internationally. In addition to bearing considerable economic significance, these factors affect animal welfare, the environmental footprint of livestock operations, and the acceptability of animal products by consumers. Therefore, improvement of these traits will yield multi-faceted benefits.2. Given the complexities and time requirements affecting the accurate recording of these traits, there is a need for reliable, early-life predictors that could provide early warnings for poor health, reproduction and longevity, effectively contributing practical tools for improvement.3. Recent advances in human and laboratory animal research have revealed potentially useful biological markers that are associated with lifespan, as well as age and age-related conditions.The proposed project aims to identify an early-life biomarker to predict health, reproduction and longevity in dairy cattle. For this reason, the project will use a comprehensive database of cows raised in the experimental herd of the Crichton Royal Farm in Scotland. Animals belong to two different genetic lines (selected for high vs. average production) and two diet groups (high vs. low protein intake) and are closely monitored from the time of birth until they die or are removed from the herd. The database comprises records of individual animal pedigree, performance, feed intake, disease and reproductive events, and longevity. Detailed environmental descriptors associated with these records are also included in the database.Approximately 1,000 animals from this herd have already been blood sampled at birth and then in 6-month intervals. These samples will be used to measure the length of the telomeres of each cow across her lifetime. Telomeres are small structures capping the chromosomes' ends in the animal cells and are known to be associated with aging in humans. Changes in telomere length measures obtained in the proposed study will be monitored throughout the animals' life and analysed together with data pertaining to health events, reproductive issues and length of productive life. These analyses will establish the link between animal telomere length and health, reproduction and longevity.To achieve its objectives, the project will draw on complementary expertise in animal science, genetics, biotechnology, physiology and biology.The potential applications and benefits of this study are as follows:1. This is the first ever study in food producing animals that looks at the way telomeres change across time and how this change may relate to important animal traits. Also for the first time the effect of many genetic and environmental factors on telomeres and longevity will be examined.2. The outcome of the project will bring a better understanding of the process of ageing of milk producing cows and will identify an early-life indicator that predicts the animals' future health, reproduction and longevity. 3. The end result will be an easily applicable, animal-friendly biomarker that could be used as a management and selection tool to improve the robustness, welfare and survival of dairy cattle, and reduce the rate of involuntary removal of high yielding animals from the herds. Further ramifications of the envisaged improvement include a healthier background for the production and consumption of animal products, and a lower environmental footprint of the sector as a whole. 4. Knowledge acquired in this project may have longer reaching consequences for animal conservation programmes to improve survival of rare animal breeds and endangered species, as well as detailed studies to better understand the aging process in other species including humans.