Animal-based Systems Research Articles

410 Preparing yourself, or your students, for a career in the animal science industries

Abstract Preparing yourself, or your students, for a career in Animal Science related industries may seem to require a crystal ball. As important as the specific knowledge might seem, the animal science students of tomorrow will need skills, perspective, an open mindset, the ability to think critically and a desire to be a problem solver. Careers going forward will reward the polymaths who are adaptable and resilient. Experiential training, a hallmark of animal science teaching in recent decades, should, in future, cross three domains: research, animal management and work. Experience in identifying pertinent research questions, forming hypotheses, a plan to test them and skills to analyze the results will be crucial to solving livestock-related challenges of the future. Living the day-to-day experience of a livestock producer will create graduates who are better grounded in and empathetic to the reality of livestock management. And lastly, internships can provide great insight into the demands of, and varied skills required to succeed in, the workplace. Our curricula for the animal science employee of the future should have depth and a great deal of breadth. Excellent understanding of the basic sciences: chemistry, biology, physiology, microbiology, is a given in order that employees can grasp the ever-deeper level of knowledge we have of animal-based systems. In our view, careers of the future will also require working knowledge of a wide swath of disciplines. Students should recognize the increasing likelihood that they may work in a small, entrepreneurial business at some point in their career. In addition to their animal science expertise, they may be called upon to contribute to initiatives in marketing, finance, innovation, global trade, data analytics, communications, One Health, compliance, sustainability or business ethics, to name a few. At the risk of being labeled as a “jack of all trades and master of none”, the animal science employee of the future will need multiple skillsets, the flexibility to draw on all of them and the willingness to step up and contribute to the success of their employer.

Overall and individual associations between per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and liver function indices and the metabolic mechanism

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) can disrupt liver homeostasis. Studies have shown that a single exposure to PFAS may provoke abnormal liver function; however, few studies have investigated the overall effect of PFAS mixtures. We aimed to investigate associations between exposure to PFAS mixtures and liver function indices and explore the relevant mechanisms. This study included 278 adult males from Guangzhou, China. Serum metabolite profiles were analyzed using untargeted metabolomics. We applied weighted quantile sum (WQS) regression as well as Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) to analyze the association of nine PFAS mixtures with 14 liver function indices. PFAS mixtures were positively associated with apolipoprotein B (APOB) and gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) and negatively associated with direct bilirubin (DBIL) and total bilirubin (TBIL) in both the WQS and BKMR analyses. In addition, Spearman’s correlation test showed individual PFAS correlated with APOB, GGT, TBIL, and DBIL, while there’s little correlation between individual PFAS and other liver function indices. In linear regression analysis, PFHxS, PFOS, PFHpS, PFNA, PFDA, and PFUdA were associated with APOB; PFOA, PFDA, PFOS, PFNA, and PFUdA were associated with GGT. Subsequently, a metabolome-wide association study and mediation analysis were combined to explore metabolites that mediate these associations. The mechanisms linking PFAS to APOB and GGT are mainly related with amino acid and glycerophospholipid metabolism. High-dimensional mediation analysis showed that glycerophospholipids are the main markers of the association between PFAS and APOB, and that (R)-dihydromaleimide, Ile Leu, (R)-(+)-2-pyrrolidone-5-carboxylic acid, and L-glutamate are the main markers of the association between PFAS and GGT. In summary, overall associations between PFAS and specific indices of liver function were found using two statistical methods; the metabolic pathways and markers identified here may serve to prompt more detailed study in animal-based systems, as well as a similar detailed analysis in other populations.

Identification, Characterization and Down-Regulation of Cysteine Protease Genes in Tobacco for Use in Recombinant Protein Production.

Plants are an attractive host system for pharmaceutical protein production. Many therapeutic proteins have been produced and scaled up in plants at a low cost compared to the conventional microbial and animal-based systems. The main technical challenge during this process is to produce sufficient levels of recombinant proteins in plants. Low yield is generally caused by proteolytic degradation during expression and downstream processing of recombinant proteins. The yield of human therapeutic interleukin (IL)-10 produced in transgenic tobacco leaves was found to be below the critical level, and may be due to degradation by tobacco proteases. Here, we identified a total of 60 putative cysteine protease genes (CysP) in tobacco. Based on their predicted expression in leaf tissue, 10 candidate CysPs (CysP1-CysP10) were selected for further characterization. The effect of CysP gene silencing on IL-10 accumulation was examined in tobacco. It was found that the recombinant protein yield in tobacco could be increased by silencing CysP6. Transient expression of CysP6 silencing construct also showed an increase in IL-10 accumulation in comparison to the control. Moreover, CysP6 localizes to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), suggesting that ER may be the site of IL-10 degradation. Overall results suggest that CysP6 is important in determining the yield of recombinant IL-10 in tobacco leaves.

Organic N and particulate organic matter fractions in organic and conventional farming systems with a history of manure application

Indicators of soil fertility are needed for the effective management of organic farming systems. Sustainable management hinges upon our gaining an improved understanding of C and N dynamics. The influence of cropping systems and amendments applied in the Lakeland Wisconsin Integrated Cropping Systems Trial on total hydrolyzable organic N (THN) fractions and particulate organic matter (POM) was investigated after a decade in a conventional cash grain system (Conv) of continuous maize amended with inorganic fertilizer, an organic cash-grain system (Org-CG) that relied on legume N, and an organic animal-based system (Org-AN) that included alfalfa and manure additions. Maize yields had consistently ranked Org-CG Org-CG > Conv. Amino sugar-N (AS-N) contents, which reflect microbially derived N, did not differ among systems and concentrations were quite high (346.5 mg AS-N/kg soil in the 0–50 cm depth). This, and soil variability were attributed to the sites’ history of manure application. The amount (1.3 g POM-C/kg soil) and proportion (≈7.5% of total SOC) of POM-C were quite low and did not differ among systems. Failure to accumulate SOC or POM in these soils, even under organic management, is attributed to rapid C decay and/or limited root growth. An N rate study was added the fall before samples were taken and N addition did increase yield in the Conv and Org-CG systems despite evidence of soil N surplus. This suggests that either amino N is unavailable to plants or that root N acquisition is limited by other constraints. Low POM-C contents accompanied by high AS-N and AA-N levels reveal an imbalance in these soils which are likely to be C limited. Based on this, we conclude excess N has prevented use of organic practices from enhancing soil quality at this site.

Plants as factories for production of biopharmaceutical and bioindustrial proteins: lessons from cell biologyThis review is one of a selection of papers published in the Special Issue on Plant Cell Biology.

Transgenic plants, seeds, and cultured plant cells are potentially one of the most economical systems for large-scale production of recombinant proteins for industrial and pharmaceutical uses. Biochemical, technical, and economic concerns with current production systems have generated enormous interest in developing plants as alternative production systems. However, various challenges must be met before plant systems can fully emerge as suitable, viable alternatives to current animal-based systems for large-scale production of biopharmaceuticals and other products. Aside from regulatory issues and developing efficient methods for downstream processing of recombinant proteins, there are at least two areas of challenge: (1) Can we engineer plant cells to accumulate recombinant proteins to sufficient levels? (2) Can we engineer plant cells to post-translationally modify recombinant proteins so that they are structurally and functionally similar to the native proteins? Attempts to improve the accumulation of a recombinant protein in plant cells require an appreciation of the processes of gene transcription, mRNA stability, processing, and export, and translation initiation and efficiency. Likewise, many post-translational factors must be considered, including protein stability, protein function and activity, and protein targeting. Moreover, we need to understand how the various processes leading from the gene to the functional protein are interdependent and functionally linked. Manipulation of the post-translational processing machinery of plant cells, especially that for N-linked glycosylation and glycan processing, is a challenging and exciting area. The functions of N-glycan heterogeneity and microheterogeneity, especially with respect to protein function, stability, and transport, are poorly understood and this represents an important area of cell biology.

Promise and Pitfalls in Animal-Based Asthma Research: Building a Better Mousetrap

Asthma is one of the leading chronic diseases in the world today. An essential component of the asthma research endeavor is the animal-based experimental disease system, which provides knowledge that is not attainable through study of patients alone. Animal research is especially valuable for elucidating pathophysiology, drug testing, and as an adjunct for interpreting the results of human clinical trials. However, controversies surrounding animal systems data and at the interface between animal and human studies raise questions regarding the true utility of experimental asthma research. We consider here the considerable promise and important limitations of animal-based systems and their prospects for the future study asthma.

The Relationships and Roles of Animals in Sustainable Agriculture and on Sustainable Farms

Sustainability of individual farms involves primarily resource-based, economic, environmental, and social issues of the farm families. Sustainability of the total agriculture and food system from the farm producers to ultimate consumers includes economic, environmental, ecologic, societal, and cultural aspects for communities and larger regions. Animals and their products are important in the American diet as sources of nutrients and on individual farms as major sources of income in more than 80% of the states.In the agroecosystems of farms there is competition for and synergism in the use of basic resources of land, water, energy, air, labor, technology, capital, and management. Ideally, a stable biotic community or balance among plants and animals is established. Livestock-based farming systems can have an important role in coping with environmental problems such as declining soil fertility, soil erosion, and water contamination.Economically, animals represent a value-adding phase of livestock-crop systems. Animals also play a major role in cushioning or buffering trade and market disruptions of total agriculture. Diversifications of enterprises on a farm is a consideration in risk control. Animal productive efficiency is important in sustainability of individual farms and agriculture in total. Sustainability of livestock-based systems may be significantly influenced by the use of energy or the type of energy used.Constraints to shifting future livestock production to more sustainable systems are: a) current agricultural policies and production practices, b) current technology developed for systems now in use, c) management skills and labor availability based on systems now in use, and d) risk control and financial practices oriented to the systems in use and to the short term rather than long term. Public concerns about animal-based systems are: a) diet and health concerns, b) land and resource availability, c) animal welfare, d) use of biotechnology and other scientific interventions, and 3) environmental impacts.