Abstract
Huge livestock population of India is under threat by a large number of endemic infectious (bacterial, viral, and parasitic) diseases. These diseases are associated with high rates of morbidity and mortality, particularly in exotic and crossbred cattle. Beside morbidity and mortality, economic losses by these diseases occur through reduced fertility, production losses, etc. Some of the major infectious diseases which have great economic impact on Indian dairy industries are tuberculosis (TB), Johne’s disease (JD), mastitis, tick and tick-borne diseases (TTBDs), foot and mouth disease, etc. The development of effective strategies for the assessment and control of infectious diseases requires a better understanding of pathogen biology, host immune response, and diseases pathogenesis as well as the identification of the associated biomarkers. Indigenous cattle (Bos indicus) are reported to be comparatively less affected than exotic and crossbred cattle. However, genetic basis of resistance in indigenous cattle is not well documented. The association studies of few of the genes associated with various diseases, namely, solute carrier family 11 member 1, Toll-like receptors 1, with TB; Caspase associated recruitment domain 15, SP110 with JD; CACNA2D1, CD14 with mastitis and interferon gamma, BoLA-DRB3.2 alleles with TTBDs, etc., are presented. Breeding for genetic resistance is one of the promising ways to control the infectious diseases. High host resistance is the most important method for controlling such diseases, but till today no breed is total immune. Therefore, work may be undertaken under the hypothesis that the different susceptibility to these diseases are exhibited by indigenous and crossbred cattle is due to breed-specific differences in the dealing of infected cells with other immune cells, which ultimately influence the immune response responded against infections. Achieving maximum resistance to these diseases is the ultimate goal, is technically possible to achieve, and is permanent. Progress could be enhanced through introgression of resistance genes to breeds with low resistance. The quest for knowledge of the genetic basis for infectious diseases in indigenous livestock is strongly warranted.
Highlights
The livestock sector plays an important role in supporting the livelihood of livestock keepers, consumers, traders, and laborers worldwide
The evidence presented above indicates a detectable genomic basis of the various infectious diseases of economic importance, and there is a strong case for the inclusion of genetic elements within disease control strategies, in the light of constraints to the sustainability of other classical methods
Disease resistance traits are among the most difficult to include in the classical “Biometrical” farm animal genetic programs
Summary
The livestock sector plays an important role in supporting the livelihood of livestock keepers, consumers, traders, and laborers worldwide. With the help of RT-PCR, Koets et al [75] reported that the TLR2-1903 T/C SNP was significantly associated with resistance to MAP in Holstein-Friesian cows They further reported that SNP c.1707T>C in a Dutch Holstein-Friesian population was highly suggestive of susceptibility to MAP infection in cattle. Recent years have witnessed an emergence of various dreaded TTBDs (CCHF, etc.) and lack of its effective control measures has compelled to look for certain markers to be included in selection programs for controlling the menace of TTBDs. IFN-γ is one such gene (chromosome 5) in which Maryam et al [82] with sequence analysis reported the SNP (2051C>A) and found that it was associated with tick resistance in Sahiwal cattle. In a study of global gene expression profile in PBMCs with the help of Microarray, NFKBID, BoLA-DQB, HOXA13, PAK1, TGFBR2, NFKBIA genes showed breed specific differences associated with T. annulata infection [86]
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