Microbiome diversity of Nelore steers compared to different diets and its influence in production characteristics and methane emission

• Grant number: 17/12642-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: March 01, 2018
• End date: October 15, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Animal Husbandry - Genetics and Improvement of Domestic Animals
• Principal Investigator: Luciana Correia de Almeida Regitano
• Grantee: Bruno Gabriel Nascimento Andrade
• Host Institution: Embrapa Pecuária Sudeste. Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (EMBRAPA). Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento (Brasil). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 19/15557-7 - Associations of Nelore microbiome with host metadata using machine learning and convolutional networks, BE.EP.PD

Abstract

The success of different ruminant species in the colonization of different environments is due to their ability to ingest and metabolize cellulose, which is found abundantly in the form of leaves and grasses. This characteristic is possible thanks to the existence of an unique gastrointestinal structure, the rúmen, and to a complex microorganisms community, known as the microbiome. As the rumen microbiome, the gut microbiome is also important in the host's development and health maintenance, in which small changes in the microbiome composition could lead to drastic effects in the host, like the increase of disease susceptibility and problems in the host's development. Thanks to advances in the sequence technology, we are now able to explore the diversity and gene pool of non-cultivable microorganisms, such method is known as metagenomic and can be applied directly to the community gene pool (deep sequencing), with which we are able to know what the microorganisms are doing, or to ribosomal RNA coding gene amplicons (16 or 18s), with which we are able to explore their taxonomical diversity. Previous analyses indicated that some phenotypes were influenced by the diet, like methane emission (data not shown), therefore, this research aims to explore the taxonomical diversity of both rumen and gut microbiomes of 50 animals under two different feed intervention, identify the relation between taxas abundance with diet and phenotypic characteristics as well as to investigate the existence of an interdependency between taxas from 2 microbiomes of the same host. The sequencing of these microbiomes will increase both volume and the diversity of the data generated by this research group in Nelore cattle, introducing a novel source of information to the multiple genomic layers of genomic data (mRNA and miRNA profiles, muscle proteomics, high density SNPs markers and genomic sequencing), contributing also with the knowledge of the relation between host and microbiota. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

ANDRADE, BRUNO G. N.; BRESSANI, FLAVIA A.; CUADRAT, RAFAEL R. C.; TIZIOTO, POLYANA C.; DE OLIVEIRA, PRISCILA S. N.; MOURAO, GERSON B.; COUTINHO, LUIZ L.; REECY, JAMES M.; KOLTES, JAMES E.; WALSH, PAUL; et al. The structure of microbial populations in Nelore GIT reveals inter-dependency of methanogens in feces and rumen. JOURNAL OF ANIMAL SCIENCE AND BIOTECHNOLOGY, v. 11, n. 1, FEB 24 2020. (17/12642-8)