Small RNA profiles as fertility indicators in bovine semen

先进的奶牛育种和遗传技术是加拿大乳制品和牛肉产业不可或缺的要素，而乳制品和牛肉产业是国民经济的主要贡献者。Semex是我们在这个项目上的工业合作伙伴，是该领域领先的加拿大公司，一直在该领域表现出全球领先地位和快速的科学创新。影响Semex和该领域所有公司增长的一个障碍是，用于人工授精（AI）和胚胎移植（ET）的种牛的生育力存在显著差异。这种可变性很难仅根据系谱来确定，而且评估公牛的最佳生产性状和验证将这些性状快速传递给下一代所需的生育能力通常需要两年或更长时间，这既昂贵又耗时。此外，个体公牛生育能力的限制可能会阻止它们成为成功的母猪，即使它们在其他方面具有遗传优势。对于Semex和更广泛的养牛业来说，能够快速识别并可能纠正公牛生育力变化的潜在原因的策略将是极其宝贵的资产。**公牛的生育能力受精子发育过程中基因表达模式的影响。小rna是细胞功能的有效调节剂，有助于控制基因表达。在这个项目中，我们将评估不同生育能力的公牛精液中的小RNA分子浓度，以确定目前的模式是否反映了公牛的生育状况。精液中含有丰富的小rna，这使它们成为健康状况的理想“生物标志物”。我们将采用小RNA序列分析来确定不同生育状态公牛精液样本中存在的所有小RNA的**身份。我们期望**能鉴定出一小部分rna，其表达能反映总体生育能力。如果成功，这将提供一个强大的工具，通过它，Semex可以快速识别公牛的高生育率和低生育率，提高在全球农业市场上的竞争力。

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.