A5079832331- Animal Nutrition and Physiology
- Genetic and phenotypic traits in livestock
- Cancer-related molecular mechanisms research
- Livestock and Poultry Management
- Molecular Biology Techniques and Applications
- Salmonella and Campylobacter epidemiology
- Gut microbiota and health
- Milk Quality and Mastitis in Dairy Cows
- Animal Genetics and Reproduction
- Probiotics and Fermented Foods
- Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies
- Veterinary Equine Medical Research
- Effects of Environmental Stressors on Livestock
- Coccidia and coccidiosis research
- Reproductive Physiology in Livestock
- Cardiomyopathy and Myosin Studies
- Clostridium difficile and Clostridium perfringens research
- Genetic Mapping and Diversity in Plants and Animals
- Telomeres, Telomerase, and Senescence
- Animal Virus Infections Studies
- RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms
- Prion Diseases and Protein Misfolding
- Congenital heart defects research
- Helminth infection and control
- Cardiovascular Conditions and Treatments
Royal Veterinary College
2017-2025
University of London
2017-2025
Roslin Institute
2015-2024
University of Edinburgh
2015-2024
Animal Health Trust
2018
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
2016
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
2009-2015
Scotland's Rural College
2014
The caecal microbiota plays a key role in chicken health and performance, influencing digestion absorption of nutrients, contributing to defence against colonisation by invading pathogens. Measures productivity resistance pathogen are directly influenced genotype, but host driven variation microbiome structure is also likely exert considerable indirect influence. Here, we define the indigenous Indian Aseel Kadaknath breeds compare them with global commercial broiler Cobb400 Ross 308 lines...
Over the recent years, next generation sequencing and microarray technologies have revolutionized scientific research with their applications to high-throughput analysis of biological systems. Isolation high quantities pure, intact, double stranded, highly concentrated, not contaminated genomic DNA is prerequisite for successful reliable large scale genotyping analysis. High pure are also required creation DNA-banks. In present study, eleven different extraction procedures, including...
Mastitis is the most prevalent disease in dairy sheep with major economic, hygienic and welfare implications. The persists all production systems despite implementation of improved management practises. Selective breeding for enhanced mastitis resistance may provide means to further control disease. In present study, we investigated genetic architecture four traits sheep. Individual animal records clinical occurrence three indicator (milk somatic cell count, total viable bacterial count milk...
The majority of chickens in sub-Saharan Africa are indigenous ecotypes, well adapted to the local environment and raised scavenging production systems. Although they generally resilient disease challenge, routine vaccination biosecurity measures rarely applied infectious diseases remain a major cause mortality reduced productivity. Management genetic improvement programmes hampered by lack data recording. Selective breeding based on genomic technologies may provide means enhance...
Abstract Background Excessive inbreeding increases the probability of uncovering homozygous recessive genotypes and has been associated with an increased risk retained placenta lower semen quality. No genomic analysis investigated association between levels pregnancy loss. Objectives To compare genetic coefficients ( F ) naturally occurring Thoroughbred Early Pregnancy Loss (EPLs), Mid Late term (MLPL) Controls. The value was hypothesised to be higher in cases loss (EPLs MLPLs) than Study...
Effective mucosal immunity in the intestine involves a fine balance between tolerance of microbiome, recognition and elimination pathogens, inflammatory tissue injury. The anti-inflammatory cytokine IL10 regulates these processes intestines mice humans; activity is also conserved birds. To determine function avian immunity, we generated germ line modifications chicken locus to abolish or reduce expression. In vitro analysis macrophage response lipopolysaccharide confirmed loss protein...
Abstract Background Maintaining gut health is a persistent and unresolved challenge in the poultry industry. Given critical role of chicken performance welfare, there pressing need to identify effective intervention (GHI) strategies ensure optimal outcomes farming. In this study, across three broiler production cycles, we compared metagenomes broilers provided with ionophores (as control group) against birds subjected five different GHI combinations involving vaccination, probiotics,...
Abstract Background In perinatal dairy cows, ketosis is a prevalent metabolic disorder that lowers milk output and performance. Mitochondrial dysfunction chronic inflammation in mammary tissue are linked to elevated blood ketone levels, particularly β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB). Recent research has cytosolic mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) with aseptic by activating the cGAS-STING pathway during disorders, while autophagy activation effectively reverses this process. However, whether it involved gland...
Cardiomyopathies are the most common heritable heart diseases in cats and humans. This study aimed to identify novel genetic variants with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) restrictive (RCM) using a targeted panel of genes associated human cardiomyopathy. Cats were phenotyped for HCM/RCM by echocardiography ± necropsy. DNA was extracted from residual blood, next-generation sequencing performed on two separate feline cohorts: an across-breed cohort (23 healthy 21 HCM-affected pedigree or...
<title>Abstract</title> Background: Enteric microbiota are crucial for animal health and performance, but their role is often challenging to determine. Host genetics appear influence gut microbial communities, even among individuals in similar environments. This study aimed identify host genetic variation associated with the caecal two chicken breeds: indigenous Indian Kadaknath commercial Cobb400 broilers. Blood contents were collected from 300 chickens per breed Western India. Genotyping...
Enteric microbiota plays a crucial role in the health and productivity of poultry, including influences on nutrient absorption, immune function, pathogen resistance. In this study, we conducted genome-wide association study (GWAS) to identify host genetic variants associated with selected bacterial genera found chickens. We used high-density 600K SNP Affymetrix DNA arrays for genotyping, alongside 16S rRNA gene sequencing profile caecal from same individual A commercial broiler line...
Abstract Digital dermatitis (DD) is an endemic infectious hoof disease causing lameness in dairy cattle. The aim of the present study was to investigate genetic profile DD development using phenotypic and genotypic data on 2192 Holstein cows. feet each cow were clinically examined four times: pre-calving, shortly after calving, near peak milk production, late lactation. Presence or absence proportion healthy per constituted two phenotypes study. For phenotype timepoint clinical examination,...
<title>Abstract</title> Claw horn disruption lesions (CHDL) are painful non-infectious foot with significant animal welfare and socioeconomic impacts on the dairy industry. Lameness caused by CHDL is main cause of involuntary culling, considerably reduces milk production, constitutes a major concern directly sustainability sector through increased costs, veterinary intervention raising replacement cattle environmental implications. As complex heritable polygenic disease, better understanding...
Coccidiosis is a major contributor to losses in poultry production. With emerging constraints on the use of in-feed prophylactic anticoccidial drugs and relatively high costs effective vaccines, there are commercial incentives breed chickens with greater resistance this important production disease. To identify phenotypic biomarkers that associated impacts coccidiosis, assess their covariance heritability, 942 Cobb500 broilers were subjected defined challenge Eimeria tenella (Houghton)....
Telomere length (TL) is increasingly being used as a biomarker in epidemiological, biomedical and ecological studies. A wide range of DNA extraction techniques have been telomere experiments recent quantitative PCR (qPCR) based studies suggest that the choice method may influence average relative TL (RTL) measurements. Such effects limit use historically collected samples extracted with different methods. However, if are systematic an specific (MS) calibrator might be able to correct for...
Eimeria species parasites can cause the enteric disease coccidiosis, most notably in chickens where economic and welfare implications are significant. Seven recognized to infect chickens, although understanding of their regional occurrence, abundance population structure remains limited. Reports circulating across much southern hemisphere with cryptic genotypes capacity escape current anticoccidial vaccines have revealed unexpected levels complexity. Consequently, it is important supplement...
Abstract Average telomere length (TL) in blood cells has been shown to decline with age a range of vertebrate species, and there is evidence that TL heritable trait associated late-life health mortality humans. In non-human mammals, few studies date have examined lifelong dynamics no study estimated the heritability TL, despite these being important steps towards assessing potential as biomarker productive lifespan livestock species. Here we measured relative leukocyte (RLTL) 1,328 samples...
Campylobacter is the leading cause of foodborne diarrhoeal illness in humans and mostly acquired from consumption or handling contaminated poultry meat. In absence effective licensed vaccines inhibitors, selection for chickens with increased resistance to could potentially reduce its subsequent entry into food chain. intestinal colonisation levels are influenced by host genetics chicken. present study, two chicken populations were used investigate genetic architecture avian colonisation: (i)...
The domestic chicken (Gallus gallus) is widely used as a model in developmental biology and also an important livestock species. We describe novel approach to data integration generate mRNA expression atlas for the spanning major tissue types stages, using diverse range of publicly-archived RNA-seq datasets new derived from immune cells tissues.Randomly down-sampling common depth quantifying against reference transcriptome quantitation tool Kallisto ensured that disparate explored comparable...
Campylobacter is a leading cause of foodborne diarrheal disease worldwide. Poultry are key source human infections, but there currently few effective measures against in poultry during production. One option to control may be alter the composition microbial communities avian intestines by introducing beneficial bacteria, which exclude harmful ones. We previously described two inbred chicken lines differ resistance intestinal colonization . Here, we investigated gut these and whether...
Health and survival are key goals for selective breeding in farm animals. Progress, however, is often limited by the low heritability of these animal fitness traits addition to measurement difficulties. In this respect, relevant early-life biomarkers may be useful purposes. Telomere length (TL), measured leukocytes, a good candidate biomarker since TL has been associated with health, ageing, stress humans other species. However, telomere studies very Here, we examined genetic background,...