본 연구는 6개 핵돈군생산농장(Great grand parents, GGP)에서 2015년 이후 태어난 Landrace종과 Yorkshire종의 두 품종에 대하여 생시체중 (Birth weight; BW), 복당평균생시체중(Mean of litter birth weight; MBW0)과 변이계수(Coefficient of variation in MBW0; CVMBW0) 및 산자수(Litter size) 등에 대한 유전모수를 추정하였다. Landrace종에서 총산자수(Total number of piglets born; TNB), 생존산자수(Number of piglets born alive: NBA), 복당평균생시체중 및 복당평균생시체중 변이계수의 유전력은 각각 0.14, 0.09, 0.33 및 0.16. Yorkshire종에서는 각각 0.11, 0.99, 0.28 및 0.07로 추정되었다. 산자수와 복당평균생시체중 간에는 부(-)의 상관관계를 나타내었으며, 복당평균생시체중과 변이계수사이의 표현형상관과 유전상관이 두 품종에서 모두 –0.40에서 –0.45로 높게 나타났다. 자돈 생시체중에 대한 균일도를 개량하기 위해서는 복당평균생시 체중(MBW0)과 복당평균생시체중변이계수(CVMBW0)를 선발지수식에 포함시키는 것이 바람직하다고 생각된다.

The artificial insemination (AI) is one of the best assisted reproductive technologies for increasing reproductive capacity and facilitating the genetic improvement in farm animals. AI has been used in Uganda for over 60 years, but a small population of the total herd has been used. This study was conducted to investigate the efficacy of AI with estrus synchronization technique and to propose ways of improving the productivity of dairy farms through AI services in Uganda. In total, 78 cows from 11 dairy farms were selected for timed-AI. Synchronization was performed according to the ovsynch programs followed by AI using frozen semen from Korean Holstein (0.5 ml straws). Pregnancy rate was varying among farms (0-50%) and the overall pregnancy rate was 28.2%. Cows in luteal phase at the time of treatment was 40.0% whereas that in follicular phase was 20.8%. After treatment, cows that showed normal estrus signal were 45.5% (25/55). Abnormal estrus was categorized into pre-estrus (9.1%), cystic ovaries (21.8%), anestrus (18.2%) and delayed ovulation (5.5%), respectively. These results imply that an assured protocol for timed-AI should be developed to improve the productivity of dairy farms through AI services in Uganda.

Macrophages play an important role in both the innate and adaptive immune responses. These include phagocytosis, killing of microorganisms, antigen presentation, and induction of immune cytokines and antimicrobial genes. Macrophage activity is reported to be controlled by diverse exogenous antigenic or endogenous metabolic molecules, and the underlying mechanisms are well documented in human and mouse macrophage cells. Bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is known to be one of the most potent stimuli activating macrophages through the toll like receptor 4 (TLR4) signaling pathway. There are other antigenic molecules, such as muramyl dipeptide (MDP) and outer membrane protein A (OmpA), that are also known to activate immune cells. On the other hand, short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) such as acetate and butyrate are produced by gut microbiota and control host energy metabolism and signal transduction through GPR receptors. However, there are few studies demonstrating the effects of these molecules in macrophages from domestic animals, including domestic pigs. In this study, we attempted to characterize gene expression regulation in porcine macrophages (PoM2, Pig Monocytes clone 2) following treatment with LPS, MDP, OmpA, and two short chain fatty acids using porcine genome microarray and RT-PCR techniques. A number of novel porcine genes, including anti-microbial peptides and others, appeared to be regulated at the transcriptional level. Our study reports novel biomarkers such as SLC37A2, TMEN184C, and LEAP2 that are involved in the porcine immune response to bacterial antigen LPS and two short chain fatty acids.

본 연구는 젖소 종모우 973두의 국내 추정 육종가, 국제유전능력평가에 의한 육종가 그리고 MACE proof를 이용한 DRP를 비교하여 종모우 선발의 정확도 향상을 위한 방안을 제시하기 위하여 수행하였다. Interbull의 국제유전능력평가는 유량 형질 기준으로 32개국 31개 집단과 총 134,533두의 종모우가 참여하는 것으로 조사되었다. 국내 추정 육종가와 interbull 추정 육종가 상관계수는 0.925로 나타났으며, 육종가에 대한 산지별 상관은 캐나다, 미국 및 국산에서 각각 0.917, 0.910과 0.996으로 나타났다. 충분한 딸소 수를 보유하여 신뢰도가 높은 경우에는 국내산이나 수입산 모든 종모우에서 신뢰도의 변화량이 크지 않으나, 국내에서는 EDC가 낮지만 해외 자료에서 EDC가 높은 경우 43까지 신뢰도가 증가하였다. 973두 종모우들의 경우 신뢰도의 평균은 87.16±10.62이며, 51~99의 범위를 나타내었으며, deregressed MACE proof와 MACE proof의 상관계수는 0.945로 높게 나타났다.

MYC (v-myelocytomatosis viral oncogene homologue) is a regulator gene that encodes for a nuclear phosphoprotein. Porcine MYC gene was mapped on chromosome SSC 4p13 and is associated with a variety of functions such as cell proliferation and cell growth. MYC expression is coupled to a multitude of physiological processes and is regulated by hormones, growth factors, cytokines, lymphokines, nutritional status, development and differentiation. MYC is also involved in myogenesis, muscle hyperplasia and adipogenesis. In this study, we investigated SNPs in MYC gene and their association with economic traits in Duroc, Landrace and Yorkshire populations. We detected a single point mutation in exon 3 of porcine MYC gene as a change of T to C at 906 base (amino acid position 302, nonsynomous mutation of alanine) in MYC-N domain. MYC mutation (T906C) was significantly associated with age at 90 kg in these breeds, signifying that this mutation can serve as a selection marker for growth traits in pigs.

The purpose of the livestock industry is to pursuit economic profits by increasing the economic productivity of livestock. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), that is characterized by one variation out of every 1000 polymorphisms, to increase economical benefits in stock breeding has been extensively studied. Particularly, replete number of investigations have been put forward that has associated SNPs of candidate genes with economically important traits such as carcass weight (CW), longissimus muscle area (LMA), backfat thickness (BFT) and marbling score (MS) in beef cattle. Bovine genome sequencing and HapMap projects have provided, millions of SNPs in the cattle genome. However, till date studies related to the association of the SNPs with economic traits in beef cattles are meager. Discovering of SNPs bovine whole genome would certainly be useful genetic assets for the development of SNP marker for economically important traits in beef cattle.

The role of Fatty acid binding protein 4 (FABP4) gene is critical for lipid metabolism and for maintaining homeostasis in adipocytes. Association between Hanwoo carcass traits and FABP4 gene g.7516G>C SNP has been reported previously, however, its association and how does it influence Korean brindle and black cattle has not been demonstrated and established till date. For this purpose, the study was planned to analyze the SNP association (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism) (g.7516G>C) in FABP4 gene and gather genetic information on economic traits of Korean brindle cattle and black cattle. As per sequence of bovine FABP4 gene available (Genbank accession No. NC_007312.4), one pair of primers (5’-ATA TAG TCC ATA GGG TGG CAA AGA-3’ and 5’-AAC CTC TCT TTG AAT TCT CCA TTC T-3’) was designed to amplify a 452bp product of the FABP4 gene including the region of 7417–7868. The SNP, detected by polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) methods using restriction enzyme MspA1I, was genotyped in 117 animals of brindle cattle and 24 animals of black cattle population. Statistical analysis revealed that the FABP4 genotype significantly (p<0.05) affect with carcass weight, but there was no significant association with any other economic traits was observed in brindle as well as in black cattle. In conclusion, these results suggested that SNP (g.7516G>C), located in FABP4 gene, could be used as important DNA marker of economic traits in Korean brindle cattle. Furthermore, we suggest that additional samples needs to further analysed to make related data exclusively authentic.

The aim of this study is to investigate the genetic interrelationships between economic or meat quality traits (birth weight, weaning weight, average daily gain, market weight, carcass weight, backfat thickness, water, ash, fat, protein, water holding capacity and pH) and 6 SNPs located on six selected candidate genes (MC4R, PGK2, TNNI1, TNNI2, PIK3C3, and CTSK) in Korean native pigs. The genotypes were identified in the 6 SNPs by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) procedure, and association of the genotype on economically important traits was analyzed by general liner model. According to the analyzed results, the MC4R c.1426A>G was correlated with birth weight (p=0.032) and the PGK2 g.122T>G was associated with pH (p=0.026). These findings obtained in the present revealed that the each SNPs of MC4R and PGK2 could be useful as potential genetic markers for birth weight and pH in Korean native pigs, respectively.

The melanocortin receptor type 4 (MC4R) gene is expressed in the hypothalamus and regulates energy intake and body weight. Recently, it has been reported that obesity and energy balance in human were also regulated by the MC4R gene. Therefore the objective of this study was to identify the polymorphism on the MC4R gene SNP C1786T and its association with economic traits in Korean native cattle (brindle and black cattle) by PCR-RFLP. A total of 125 cattle from the two breeds were tested for economic traits (meat quality index, backfat, thickness, carcass weight, longissimus muscle area and marbling score) and data was analyzed using SAS program. In the results, C allele had highest frequency than G allele frequency in the both breeds and the gene was significantly associated with meat quantity index and backfat thickness in brindle cattle breed. However, in black cattle, the gene was significantly associated with longissimus muscle area (p<0.05). These results suggest that C1786T SNP of the MC4R gene may be useful as a genetic marker for economic traits in the brindle and black cattle.

This study was carried out to investigate the influence of artificial insemination (AI) failure in 1,619 Korean native cows at Gangwon East area, Korea. The average AI failure rate was 37.02% in the cows and the highest rate was 40.85% in Yangyang-city. Based on the parity in the cows, the AI failure rate was 49.14% and 29.91% in the first and fifth parity cows, respectively. Whereas cows until fifth parity were decreased in AI failure, cows with sixth or more parity showed an upturning AI failure trends with the increasing of parity number. AI failure rate incidence according to the rump fat thickness measured by ultrasound was 28.9% and 33.4% at 5 mm to 10 mm and over than 15 mm, respectively. There was a positive correlation (0.2186) between AI failure rate of mother and that of their offspring cows. That is, offspring of dams with high AI failure rate showed also higher AI failure than those of dams having lower AI failure rate. In conclusion, these results indicate that the AI failure rate was closely related to the rump fat thickness, parity number, and conception rate of mother cows. In addition, these results might strengthen the basis to improve the reproductive performance in Korean native cows.

Osteoarthritis is one of the commonest causes associated with age-related damage of articular cartilage. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are commonly used in osteoarthritic patient. However, long term administration of these drugs results gastrointestinal disorders. Though, most studies have demonstrated in the past that bee venom has therapeutic effect on diseases related to inflammation and pains, but its anti-inflammatory properties have not been so far studied on inflamed chondrocytes (LPS induced) invitro. For the purpose, the study was carried out to determine the effect of bee venom on porcine articular chondrocyte cell using microarray. In this study, we found that 2,235 significantly associated gene (1,404 up-regulated genes and 831 down-regulated genes) that were expressed on inflamed and non inflamed chondrocytes during proliferation. Among the 1,404 up-regulated genes and 831 down-regulated genes, known genes were 372 and 237, respectively. On the other hand, bee venom significantly reduced expression of fetuin involved in acute inflammatory reaction. Our results suggest that this study could be useful database in gene expression profiling of chondrocyte cell treated with bee venom.

Since the Bovine sequencing and HapMap projects, there have been millions of genetic variations particularly including single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) available throughout the cattle genome. While cataloguing substantial amounts of SNPs, copy number variation (CNV) has recently become getting great attention as an another form of genetic variation which is extensively distributed across the cattle genome. As it has been well known that CNVs can account for substantial proportions of phenotypic variance in other species including human, CNVs are highly expected to explain genetic variations of diverse economically important traits in cattle. Currently, two main approaches such as hybridization-based microarray and massively parallel sequencing-based method have been successfully applied to detect CNVs throughout the cattle genome. Although there is obvious difference of capabilities to detect genome-wide CNVs at fine scales between different platforms applied, all currently completed investigations exhibited that CNVs are extensively spread throughout the cattle genome as observed in other species. Despite these successes, there are still severe lacks of researches to identify multiple levels of CNVs from diverse cattle or multiple individuals, suggesting that there are a number of CNVs remained undiscovered. Furthermore, there are almost few investigations available to elucidate how each CNV is associated with traits of interest in cattle, so such functional study should be followed along with saturating most of potential CNVs on cattle genome.

This study was carried out to investigate the effect of wormwood meal addition on constituent of blood, and liver fatty acid in broiler chickens. Two-day old 25 male commercial broiler chicks were distributed to 5 treatments (wormwood meal levels ; T1 (1%), T2 (3%), T3 (5%), T4 (10%), and control (C)) for 5 weeks. Free fatty acids of liver were a little different among the treatments and the palmitic, stearic, oleic, and linoleic acids were occupied 92.5% of total free fatty acids. Hemoglobin and hematocrite concentration of blood were significantly decreased (p<0.05) as the levels of wormwood meal increased, and serum albumin concentration of broilers was little different between 0 week and 5 week experiments. Also serum cholesterol, phospholipid, total cholesterol, and triglyceride concentration of liver in broilers were little different during the 5 weeks experiment. Serum triglyceride concentration was significantly increased (p<0.05) as levels of wormwood meal increased. These results indicate that dietary wormwood meal addition has a little positive effect on increasing unsaturated fatty acid and decreasing saturated fatty acid.

Stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD1) gene plays important role in fatty acid composition. In order to find marker-assisted selection (MAS) for improving the economic trait, this study was performed to identify the 878T>C single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) on SCD1 gene. Three genotypes (CC, CT, and TT) were detected in 878T>C SNP of SCD1 gene from 103 Hanwoo population by polymorphism chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and economic traits were analyzed by general linear model. The frequency of allele C and T was 0.534 and 0.466, also the genotype frequency of CC, CT and TT was 0.252, 0.563, and 0.184, respectively in the Hanwoo population. The TT genotype of SCD1 gene showed a significantly higher measures (p<0.05) of carcass weight (CW) than CT, CC genotype. No significant association was detected between genotype and other economic trait (marbling, backfat thickness, and longissimus muscle area) in this study. The results revealed that SCD1 gene 878T>C SNP could be useful for effective MAS to increase the economic quality in Hanwoo population.

Antimicrobial peptides are widely found in living organisms and are known to play a critical role in innate immunity. Numerous antimicrobial peptides from diverse species appear to be effective against pathogenic microorganisms of bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and viruses. Because antibiotic resistance is a global health issue in the fight against pathogenic microorganisms, there has been an urgent need for development of new antibiotic substances. In the current study, we performed yeast two hybrid screening using Beclin1 bait in order to find new peptide antibiotics from a random peptide library. Two candidate peptides from the screening were expressed in a yeast secretory system of Pichia pastoris and tested for any antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, MRSA, MRSA2242, MRSA2250, Lactobacillus casei, and Lactobacillus acidophilus. Disc clear zone assay and spectrophotometric analysis revealed that the two peptides exert a decent activity against the pathogenic bacteria, in contrast to minimal effect on the commensal Lactobacillus strains. Taken together, this study presents novel peptides with antibacterial activity against the pathogenic forms of Staphylococcus aureus and suggests the possibility that these peptides, upon further characterization, may be developed as clinically useful antibiotics.

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) are the most important angiogenic molecules associated with tumor-induced neovascularization. This study was carried out to investigate inhibitory effect of extracts from root of Rehmannia glutinosa LIBOSCHITZ (Rehmannia Radix and Rehmannia Radix Preparata) on endothelial cell proliferation. The methanol extracts from the medicinal herb were fractionated into n-hexane, ethyl acetate, n-butanol and aqueous fractions. Among the four fractions, the n-butanol fraction from R. Radix on exhibited highly effective inhibition (≈79% inhibition) on the binding of KDR/Flk-1-Fc to immobilized VEGF165 and then ethyl acetate fraction from R. Radix (≈45% inhibition) at the concentration of 100 μg/ml. The n-butanol fraction efficiently blocked the VEGF- and bFGF-induced HUVEC proliferation in a dose-dependent manner, but did not affect the growth of HT1080 human fibrosarcoma cells. The n-butanol fraction more efficiently blocked the binding of KDR/Flk-1-Fc to immobilized VEGF165 and VEGF- and bFGF-induced human umbilical vein endothelial cell proliferation than the fraction from R. Radix Preparata. Our results suggest that Rehmannia Radix may be used as a candidate for developing anti-angiogenic agent.