In-Depth Study of Feed Internal Molecular Structure and Nutrient Make-up within Cellular and Sub-cellular Dimensions Using Advanced Synchrotron Radiation Based Bioanalytical Techniques

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

An understanding of relationships between complex feed constituents, molecular structure and the interaction of biological components and nutrient utilization in animals is important to economical and sustainable animal production. Feed utilization and availability are closely related to, NOT ONLY 1) total feed chemical composition, BUT ALSO, 2) feed intrinsic molecular structures and nutrient make-up, and 3) biological component matrix. Unfortunately, conventional "wet" chemical analysis can determine total chemical composition but fails to detect feed intrinsic molecular structures and biological component matrix due to destruction during the processing for chemical analysis. Recently, advanced synchrotron-radiation based infrared microspectroscopy (SR-IMS) has been developed as a non-destructive analytical technique. This technique, taking advantage of the extreme brightness of synchrotron light (million times brighter than sunlight), is able to generate spatially localized and ultra-structural chemical information within cellular and subcellular dimensions. This cutting-edge technique can provide four kinds of information simultaneously: tissue composition, tissue structure, tissue chemistry, and tissue environment. However, this technique has been found mainly for medical research, extremely rare for feed science and animal nutrition research. Synchrotron x-ray spectroscopy (SR-X) is another cutting-edge technique. This technique can provide tissue chemical information on spatial distribution, oxidation state and chemical forms of mineral elements and is invaluable in unraveling the chemistry, bioavailability and toxicity of mineral elements. It is unknown whether these techniques can be used to discriminate and classify feed inherent structures and molecular structural changes induced by feed thermal processing methods. It is unknown whether it is possible to develop a diagnostic method for feed quality and nutrient metabolism and utilization prediction by applying knowledge of chemical and functional characteristics in relation to feed molecular spectroscopic characteristics. The objective of this proposed program is to use the advanced synchrotron-radiation based bioanalytical techniques (SR-IMS, SR-X) as a novel research tool to reveal feed inherent molecular structure and processing induced molecular structure changes in relation to nutrient utilization and availability in ruminant system. The final goal is to increase basic knowledge of the nutritional relevance of feed structure on a molecular basis. This research program will be completed in three phases and each phase consists of several experiments. Training highly qualified personal (1 MSc,1 PhD) will be one of high priority in this proposed program. It is anticipated that the proposed program will provide with a greater understanding the feed-animal interface and advance our basic scientific knowledge on interactive association between molecular structure and animal nutrition.