Small RNA profiles as fertility indicators in bovine semen

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Advanced cattle breeding and genetics are indispensable elements of the dairy and beef industries in Canada,**which are major contributors to the national economy. Semex, our industrial partner on this project, is a leading**Canadian company in this sector which has consistently shown global leadership and rapid scientific**innovation in the field. One impediment to growth that affects Semex and all companies in this sector is the**presence of significant variability in the fertility of breeding bulls that are used for artificial insemination (AI)**and embryo transfer (ET). This variability is difficult to identify based on pedigree alone and the time required**to evaluate bulls for optimal production traits and verify the fertility necessary to rapidly transmit those traits to**the next generation is often two years or more, which is both costly and time consuming. Furthermore,**limitations in the fertility of individual bulls may prevent them from ever being used as successful sires, even if**they are genetically superior in other respects. Strategies with the potential to rapidly identify and possibly**correct the underlying causes of bull fertility variation would be extremely valuable assets to Semex and to the**broader cattle industry.**Bull fertility is influenced by the patterns of genes expressed during sperm development. Small RNAs are**potent regulators of cellular function that help control gene expression. In this project, we will evaluate the**concentrations of small RNA molecules in the semen of bulls experiencing variable fertility in order to**determine whether the patterns present reflect bull fertility status. Small RNAs are abundant in semen, making**them ideal "biomarkers" of health status. We will employ small RNA sequence analysis to determine the**identities of all the small RNAs present in semen samples from bulls with different fertility status. We expect**to identify a small set of RNAs for which expression reflects overall fertility. If successful, this will provide a**powerful tool through which Semex can rapidly identify bulls with higher and lower fertility, increasing**competitiveness in the global agricultural marketplace.