Journal of Animal Science and Biotechnology最新文献

{"title":"BMPER induces the adipogenic differentiation of fibro/adipogenic progenitors and promotes intramuscular fat deposition in chickens.","authors":"Ying Liu, Jianliang Liu, Xuan Sun, Xiuze Zhang, Tong Xing, Lin Zhang, Feng Gao, Liang Zhao","doi":"10.1186/s40104-026-01389-9","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s40104-026-01389-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Fibro-adipogenic progenitors (FAPs) serve as the developmental origin of intramuscular adipocytes in skeletal muscle‌. Enhancing their adipogenic transition could increase intramuscular fat (IMF) deposition, thereby improving meat flavor in chickens‌. However, critical aspects of FAPs including their cellular composition, dynamic changes during skeletal muscle growth, and associated regulatory mechanisms remain poorly understood‌. Therefore, we comprehensively characterized FAPs in Langshan chickens from d 1 to d 98 using both in vivo and in vitro approaches combined with single-nucleus RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq) analysis.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Our analysis of IMF contents and adipogenesis-related gene expression in the pectoralis major muscle of Langshan chickens revealed that the adipogenic properties of FAPs peaked at d 1, reached its lowest point at d 14, and subsequently increased until d 98. The snRNA-seq analysis successfully identified the population of FAPs along with their 5 subtypes including the pre-adipogenic, adipogenic, and fibrotic FAPs. The ratio of the pre-adipogenic subtype decreased from d 14 to d 98, which was reversely correlated with the changes of the adipogenic subtype, suggesting a differentiating process. Furthermore, RNA velocity and pseudo-trajectory analysis revealed that the initial FAPs had superior fibrotic capacity but decreased over time which contrasted with their enhanced adipogenic capacity with development. Notably, BMPER was identified as an important regulator for the adipogenic differentiation of FAPs, which was also confirmed by in vitro over-expression studies. In addition, the expression of BMPER in the adipogenic portion of FAPs was found to be highly conserved across human and mouse skeletal muscles.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Our study provides the first comprehensive atlas of FAPs in the skeletal muscle of chickens and identifies BMPER as a key regulator for the adipogenic differentiation of FAPs. The findings will not only provide novel targets for breeding chickens with high IMF content but also offer significant insights into understanding the cell fate decision of FAPs under both physiological and pathological conditions across species.</p>","PeriodicalId":64067,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Animal Science and Biotechnology","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.5,"publicationDate":"2026-04-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13092164/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147719036","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Integrated ATAC-seq and mRNA-seq analyses on granulosa cells identify key regulators of follicle selection in chickens.","authors":"Dandan Li, Chao Qi, Yi Sun, Li Kang, Qingqing Wei, Yunliang Jiang","doi":"10.1186/s40104-026-01386-y","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s40104-026-01386-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The differences in egg production performance among hens are closely linked to the efficiency of follicle selection, which is characterized by granulosa cell differentiation and progesterone production. In this study, by integrating ATAC-seq and mRNA-seq analyses on granulosa cells from pre-hierarchical (Pre-GCs) and hierarchical (Post-GCs) follicles, we set out to identify key regulatory factors involved in chicken follicle selection.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>ATAC-seq analysis revealed 21,616 upregulated and 6,344 downregulated differentially accessible peaks in Post-GCs compared to Pre-GCs. Enrichment analysis of the top 400 upregulated and downregulated peaks (ranked by |log₂FC|) identified 106 upregulated and 81 downregulated genes encoding transcription factors (TFs). mRNA-seq analysis showed 1,337 upregulated and 2,282 downregulated differentially expressed genes in Post-GCs compared to Pre-GCs. Among these, 146 genes were uniquely expressed in Pre-GCs, and 40 genes were uniquely expressed in Post-GCs. Integrated ATAC-seq and mRNA-seq analyses revealed that chromatin accessibility and gene expression were not always positively correlated. Additionally, four significantly upregulated core TFs (CREM, ESRRB, NR5A1, GATA6) and one significantly downregulated TF (ETS1) genes were identified. The upregulated TFs were associated with 651 significantly upregulated target genes across both mRNA and ATAC-seq data, while the downregulated TFs were associated with 236 significantly downregulated target genes. KEGG enrichment of these target genes identified core genes enriched in pathways closely related to follicle selection, such as Wnt signaling pathway. In the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network of core upregulated target genes, genes such as SMAD2 and PPARA occupied central positions, while genes such as LEF1 and RAC2 were central in the PPI network of core downregulated target genes. Among these core TFs, GATA6 is confirmed to promote the expression of key cholesterol and progesterone synthesis genes to enhance both cholesterol and progesterone production, with follicle-stimulating hormone further amplifying its effect on progesterone synthesis.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Our integrated ATAC-seq and mRNA-seq analyses define key epigenetic and transcriptional changes during chicken follicle selection. We highlight core transcription factors, including CREM, ESRRB, NR5A1, GATA6 and ETS1, and their stage-specific target networks. Functional assays show that GATA6 promotes cholesterol and progesterone synthesis, providing mechanistic insight and candidate targets for improving hen reproductive performance.</p>","PeriodicalId":64067,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Animal Science and Biotechnology","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.5,"publicationDate":"2026-04-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13088730/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147700731","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Baicalin alleviates mastitis in dairy cows by targeting IL-17RA to inhibit IL-17 signaling pathway activation.","authors":"Rui Feng, Hefei Huang, Qian Ma, Weilin Gao, Xu Chen, Xiaoxue Yan, Fan Wang, Qian Zhang, Yu Cao, Han Zhang, Junyang Teng, Xin Ran, Yong Zhang, Shoupeng Fu, Jun Liu, Xu Liu","doi":"10.1186/s40104-026-01401-2","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s40104-026-01401-2","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Mastitis, one of the most prevalent inflammatory diseases in female mammals, causes significant economic losses in livestock farming. Notably, the natural flavonoid compound baicalin exhibits potent anti-inflammatory activity. However, its efficacy in alleviating mastitis severity and the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unexplored. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the protective effects of baicalin in alleviating mastitis and its key molecular mechanisms.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>This study demonstrated in vivo that baicalin effectively alleviates mastitis symptoms in dairy cows and mice, primarily manifested by reduced tissue pathological damage, decreased levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, and maintain the integrity of the blood-milk barrier (BMB). Multi-omics sequencing analysis indicated that IL-17 and TNF signaling pathways play crucial roles in this process. Further studies demonstrated that IL-17RA^-/- mice exhibited a phenotype similar to that observed with baicalin treatment, confirming the importance of this pathway. Notably, network pharmacology screening combined with molecular dynamics simulations revealed stable binding of baicalin to IL-17RA, suggesting that baicalin exerts its protective effect to alleviate mastitis by targeting IL-17RA. Mechanistically, both baicalin treatment and IL-17RA deletion block activation of key downstream pathways of the IL-17 signaling pathway, including MAPK, ERK and NF-κB, thereby suppressing excessive activation of the TNF signaling pathway, preventing exacerbation of the inflammatory response and barrier damage.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>In conclusion, this study demonstrates that baicalin inhibits excessive activation of the IL-17/TNF signaling pathway by targeting IL-17RA, thereby reducing inflammatory responses and BMB damage within the mammary gland and alleviating mastitis severity.</p>","PeriodicalId":64067,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Animal Science and Biotechnology","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.5,"publicationDate":"2026-04-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13085363/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147694184","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"RFLNA mitigates heat stress-impaired chondrocyte proliferation and vertebral development through cytoskeletal regulation in pigs.","authors":"Xiaoyang Yang, Yuxuan Xie, Yabiao Luo, Yubei Wang, Lixian Yang, Longmiao Zhang, Pengxiang Xue, Chengwan Zha, Meiying Fang","doi":"10.1186/s40104-026-01387-x","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s40104-026-01387-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Global climate change has brought severe challenges to the livestock industry, among which heat stress (HS) acts as a key factor impairing the growth and development of pigs. It has been established that ambient temperature influences body size traits mainly by directly affecting skeletal development, yet the molecular mechanisms by which HS inhibits this process remain largely unclear. The cytoskeleton is critical for mediating cellular morphological adaptation to environmental stimuli, and HS can disturb cellular development by destroying cytoskeletal homeostasis. Previous studies have demonstrated that RFLNA regulates bone development through the cytoskeleton, but whether it alleviates HS-induced chondrocyte damage by modulating the cytoskeleton has not been reported. Therefore, this study was conducted to explore the effects of HS on the proliferation and differentiation of pig thoracic vertebral growth plate chondrocytes (PTVCs), and to clarify the regulatory mechanism by which the regulatory factor RFLNA endows PTVCs with HS resistance.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Transcriptomic profiling of PTVCs cultured under control (37 °C) and HS (41 °C) conditions at multiple differentiation time points revealed that HS suppressed cell proliferation and extracellular matrix synthesis. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the early HS response (6 h and 24 h) were enriched in inflammation and stress-response pathways. In contrast, DEGs from later-phases (48, 96, and 144 h) were linked to cytoskeletal reorganization. Further analysis revealed that RFLNA expression was upregulated both by HS and during chondrocyte differentiation. RFLNA expression was higher in the thoracic vertebrae tissues from large-sized Yorkshire pigs than in those from small-sized Wuzhishan pigs. Spatial expression analysis indicated that RFLNA was predominantly expressed in thoracic and lumbar vertebrae, with subcellular localization to the cytoskeleton. Functional assays demonstrated that RFLNA overexpression under HS conditions promoted PTVC proliferation and adhesion while inhibiting migration, thereby mitigating HS-induced growth suppression. Conversely, RFLNA knockdown exacerbated the detrimental effects of HS.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Our findings show RFLNA might be a critical mediator of thermal adaptation and vertebral development, which links cytoskeletal regulation to temperature-related variations in body size. This work provides a theoretical foundation for strategies aimed at enhancing climate resilience in swine.</p>","PeriodicalId":64067,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Animal Science and Biotechnology","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.5,"publicationDate":"2026-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13081642/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147694120","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Cross-species single-cell transcriptomic analyses reveal evolutionary conservation and diversification of ovarian tissues.","authors":"Bailing Xue, Yajing Liu, Chen Zhou, Kairat Dossybayev, Narantuya Baatar, Nikolay Yudin, Linwei Zhang, Ji Yang, Menghua Li, Songsong Xu","doi":"10.1186/s40104-026-01383-1","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s40104-026-01383-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The ovary is a central female reproductive organ responsible for producing oocytes and secreting steroid hormones. To investigate the molecular similarities and potential evolutionary origins of the ovary across vertebrates, we integrated publicly available single-cell and single-nucleus transcriptomic data from nine species, including oviparous animals (fish and chicken) and viviparous mammals (mouse, rat, sheep, goat, yak, monkey, and human).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We generated a multi-species ovarian atlas comprising 186,748 cells and identified nine cell types. Cross-species comparative analysis identified conserved and species-specific features in granulosa cells (GCs) and stromal cells (SCs), including gene expression patterns, signaling pathways, and cell-cell communication networks. For example, proliferation-associated genes such as CKAP5, MCM3, and GINS1 were shared across vertebrates in GC-3, highlighting the evolutionary conservation of the molecular machinery underlying granulosa cell division. A comparison of granulosa cell subtypes further revealed species-specific gene co-expression patterns in oviparous and viviparous species, indicating adaptations for their different reproductive strategies. Stromal cells showed strong evolutionary conservation, as core extracellular matrix genes (e.g., COL6A1, FSTL1, ACTN1) were co-expressed across species in SC-1. Moreover, the conserved ligand-receptor pairs such as COL4A1-CD44, COL1A1-SDC4, LAMB1-ITGA6-ITGB1, and VEGFA-NRP2 constituted fundamental signaling axes of follicle development, while interactions such as PPIA-BSG in mouse and MDK-NCL in human were higher in these species compared with others, reflecting species-specific ovarian cell communication during evolution.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>These findings provide comprehensive insights into the molecular evolution and cellular diversity of the ovary, offering a valuable resource for understanding ovarian biology and evolutionary mechanisms.</p>","PeriodicalId":64067,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Animal Science and Biotechnology","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.5,"publicationDate":"2026-04-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13077819/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147678936","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Comparative profiling of extracellular vesicles and miRNA cargo from in vivo- and in vitro-derived bovine embryos during blastulation and hatching.","authors":"Miguel A Gutiérrez-Reinoso, Ioanna Martinez-Hormaza, Yat S Wong, Constanza Aguilera, Joel Cabezas, Felipe Navarrete, Barbara Melo-Báez, Fidel O Castro, Lleretny Rodriguez-Alvarez","doi":"10.1186/s40104-026-01378-y","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s40104-026-01378-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Extracellular vesicles (EVs) represent an important component of embryo-maternal communication by conveying molecular signals that reflect the embryo's physiological state and developmental competence. However, the combined impact of embryonic origin and developmental stage on EV molecular composition has remained largely unexplored. In this study, a comparison is presented for the first time between EVs secreted by bovine embryos produced in vivo (IVV) and in vitro (IVP) during the blastulation and hatching stages, providing evidence of how these factors shape their biological profiles.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>IVV embryos exhibited higher developmental competence and secreted larger EVs whose concentrations remained stable across developmental windows. In contrast, IVP embryos released smaller and more abundant vesicles, particularly during hatching, indicating origin- and stage-specific regulation of EV output. Distinct miRNA profiles clearly separated both embryo types. EVs from IVV embryos were enriched in miRNAs associated with implantation and lineage specification (e.g., miR-124, miR-125, miR-181), whereas EVs from IVP embryos contained higher levels of miRNAs linked to stress response, apoptosis, and the unfolded protein response (e.g., miR-23b, miR-92a, miR-409). Consistently, functional enrichment analyses revealed that IVV-derived miRNAs targeted pathways related to immune modulation and purinergic signaling, while IVP-derived miRNAs were associated with calcium transport and endoplasmic reticulum stress pathways. Together, these differences point to divergent regulatory programs shaped simultaneously by embryonic origin and developmental progression.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Embryonic origin and developmental stage influence the biophysical properties and miRNA composition of embryo-secreted EVs, reflecting distinct developmental trajectories between IVV and IVP embryos. This study provides the first direct evidence that embryonic origin significantly modulates EV physicochemical features and miRNA cargo, highlighting their role in embryo-maternal communication and supporting the use of EV-derived miRNAs as novel non-invasive biomarkers of embryo quality and developmental competence.</p>","PeriodicalId":64067,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Animal Science and Biotechnology","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.5,"publicationDate":"2026-04-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13072587/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147678902","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Post-transport recovery trajectory of the canine gut microbiome and metabolome.","authors":"Yang Lyu, Chunxia Su, Keying Sun, Yuwei Wang, Lingna Zhang, Junning Pu, Caimei Wu, David Thomas, Lianqiang Che","doi":"10.1186/s40104-026-01385-z","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s40104-026-01385-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Transportation induces a multisystem stress response in companion animals, yet the integrated recovery dynamics across physiological, microbial, and metabolic domains remain poorly characterized. This study comprehensively tracked the 7-day recovery trajectory in dogs following road transport by analyzing clinical parameters, fecal microbiome and metabolome.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Time-dependent changes were observed across domains, with differing temporal patterns. Fecal consistency improved rapidly, while behavioral scores exhibited a decrease followed by stabilization. Microbial alpha diversity initially decreased, with significant community restructuring persisting throughout recovery, culminating in a new stable state distinct from the arrival (D0) state. This shift was characterized by early enrichment of Fusobacterium and Clostridium sensu stricto 1, followed by late dominance of Erysipelatoclostridium, contrasting with the initial post-transport (D0) community dominated by Prevotella 9, Lactobacillus, Phascolarctobacterium, Anaerobiospirillum, Parabacteroides, and Prevotellaceae GA6A1 group. Metabolomic profiling confirmed a sustained metabolic shift, involving pathways in the biosynthesis of steroid and unsaturated fatty acids and the metabolism of butanoate and several amino acids. Strong cross-domain correlations linked specific microbial genera and metabolites with behavioral improvement, underscoring gut-brain axis involvement.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>By D7, several measures remained distinct from the arrival (D0) state, indicating persistent multi-system differences during the first week after transport. These findings elucidate the complex, coordinated adaptation to transport stress, highlighting ongoing clinical, microbial, and metabolic differences by D7 and providing a framework for interventions aimed at enhancing welfare and resilience in transported companion animals.</p>","PeriodicalId":64067,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Animal Science and Biotechnology","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.5,"publicationDate":"2026-04-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13070285/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147663139","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Vitamin K₂ emerges as the key mediator: Cetobacterium somerae ZNN-1 increases muscle protein deposition and improves liver health in Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus).","authors":"Nannan Zhou, Junxi Liu, Xiangfeng Zhang, Guanxiu Xiao, Meiling Zhang","doi":"10.1186/s40104-026-01379-x","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s40104-026-01379-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Cetobacterium somerae (C. somerae) is a common indigenous bacterium in the intestine of freshwater fish. Studies have shown that it has the potential to promote protein deposition, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Nile tilapia were fed with C. somerae ZNN-1 (10⁸ CFU/g feed), which significantly increased the carcass ratio, reduced the hepatosomatic index, and decreased whole-body lipid content. Supplementation of C. somerae ZNN-1 significantly increased the crude protein content in muscle, promoted glucose uptake and utilization in muscle tissue, and activated the phosphorylation of S6K/S6 in muscle tissue. C. somerae ZNN-1 supplementation significantly decreased hepatic total lipid, triglyceride, and free fatty acid contents. Further analysis revealed that C. somerae ZNN-1 supplementation markedly activated the phosphorylation of hepatic AMPK and upregulated the expression of genes involved in hepatic lipolysis and fatty acid β-oxidation. Integrated serum metabolomic, bacterial genomic, and gut metagenomic analyses revealed that C. somerae ZNN-1 synthesized chorismate (CHA), which serves as a precursor for gut microbiota to produce vitamin K₂ (VK2). In vitro experiments demonstrated that VK2 activated the S6K/S6 pathway to promote protein synthesis, while stimulating AMPK phosphorylation and activating lipid catabolism to reduce fat accumulation.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>These findings provide a theoretical basis for the application of C. somerae ZNN-1 in enhancing edible protein content and reducing fat deposition of aquatic animals.</p>","PeriodicalId":64067,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Animal Science and Biotechnology","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.5,"publicationDate":"2026-04-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13069694/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147655520","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Characterizing breed-shared and breed-specific genetic regulatory effects of gene expression across three pig breeds.","authors":"Xiaojing Li, Xiaodian Cai, Jiajian Chen, Xiangchun Pan, Wentao Gong, Zhanming Zhong, Jinyan Teng, Zhe Zhang","doi":"10.1186/s40104-026-01374-2","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s40104-026-01374-2","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Differences across breeds in adaptation to various environments and in performance on complex traits such as growth rate are very common in livestock. These differences have been attributed to various factors, including genetic variation, selection, and environmental influences. Gene expression regulation, serving as a critical intermediary mechanism that bridges genotypes and phenotypes, may play a pivotal role in driving these differences across breeds. Hence, we characterized the breed-shared and breed-specific pattern in genetic regulatory effects on gene expression via expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) mapping in three pig breeds (Duroc, Landrace, and Yorkshire), aiming to gain a deeper understanding of the molecular basis underlying complex trait differences across breeds.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We observed breed differentiation at both the single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and gene expression levels. By eQTL mapping, within each tissue, an average of 71.1% of the eGenes identified in each breed were breed-shared, while the remaining 28.9% were breed-specific. We found that some regulatory effects are relevant to either the difference in average gene expression or expression variance among populations. Breed-shared eGenes were more abundant, showed larger effect sizes and lower evolutionary conservation, and vice versa. Enrichment analysis showed that the genome-wide association studies (GWAS) loci were significantly enriched in the cis-eQTLs of eGenes for an average of 12 of 19 complex traits per breed. These loci exhibited higher enrichment for breed-specific eGenes than for breed-shared eGenes. Through colocalization analyses with GWAS loci, we observed 220 colocalization events (PP.H4 > 0.8) with breed-specific eGenes and 758 events with breed-shared eGenes.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Our study reveals breed-shared and breed-specific effects and characteristics of genetic regulation on gene expression in three pig breeds. Both breed-shared and breed-specific eGenes contribute to the regulatory variation in complex traits, with breed-specific eGenes capturing additional regulatory signals not explained by breed-shared eGenes. Together, these findings demonstrate that both shared and breed-specific regulatory variation play important roles in shaping gene expression and suggest their potential contribution to complex traits.</p>","PeriodicalId":64067,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Animal Science and Biotechnology","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.5,"publicationDate":"2026-04-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13063976/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147640437","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Yeast polysaccharides modulate lipid metabolism and restore oviduct inflammatory and microbial homeostasis to support egg quality in Salmonella Pullorum-challenged hens.","authors":"Jianmin Zhou, Dong Dai, Yu Fu, Haijun Zhang, Guanghai Qi, Jing Wang","doi":"10.1186/s40104-026-01377-z","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s40104-026-01377-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Our previous work demonstrated that yeast polysaccharides (YP) possess prebiotic and immunomodulatory activity and improve performance, immunity via modulating gut microbiota in laying hens. Building on these findings, the present study examined whether YP additionally modulate layers lipid utilization and related metabolic signatures under basal conditions and mitigates oviduct dysfunction and egg-quality deterioration during Salmonella Pullorum challenge.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A total of 288 Hy-Line Brown hens (35 weeks) were fed diets containing 0, 250, 500, or 1,000 mg/kg YP for 12 weeks. Egg quality and apparent total tract digestibility were recorded, and untargeted plasma metabolomics was performed in CON and YP1000 hens. Thereafter, hens from the CON and YP1000 groups were orally inoculated with S. Pullorum or saline, generating the CON, SAL, and YP + SAL groups. Post-challenge assessments included egg quality, magnum histology, oviductal albumen antimicrobial proteins, serum and oviduct cytokines, Salmonella load and LPS levels, and oviduct microbiota composition.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Under basal conditions, YP linearly increased yolk color at week 12 (ANOVA, P = 0.043; linear, P = 0.015; quadratic, P = 0.045) and enhanced ether-extract digestibility (ANOVA, P = 0.004; linear, P < 0.001; quadratic, P < 0.001). Metabolomics identified 16 differential metabolites; YP1000 elevated multiple LysoPC/LysoPE species, choline, taurine-conjugated bile acids, riboflavin, and nicotinamide, and decreased PE(38:6) (P < 0.05). Following S. Pullorum challenge, SAL hens showed reduced albumen height and Haugh unit, magnum epithelial disruption, heightened IL-1β and TNF-α responses, increased Salmonella and LPS burdens, reduced ovotransferrin and lysozyme levels, and a Proteobacteria-enriched, Lactobacillus-depleted oviduct microbiota (P < 0.05). YP supplementation mitigated these outcomes: YP + SAL hens maintained internal egg quality near control values, preserved magnum structure and antimicrobial protein secretion, increased serum IL-10 while normalizing IL-1β and TNF-α, reduced Salmonella and LPS levels, and displayed higher oviduct microbial diversity with enrichment of Lactobacillus and fewer opportunistic Proteobacteria (P < 0.05).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>YP not only improve lipid utilization and yolk pigmentation but also enhance the resistance of the oviduct-egg axis to S. Pullorum through coordinated modulation of host inflammation and oviduct microbial balance, offering a practical nutritional tool to support egg quality and safety in layer production.</p>","PeriodicalId":64067,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Animal Science and Biotechnology","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.5,"publicationDate":"2026-04-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13059334/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147635276","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}