DNA research key for Irish agriculture

INNOVATION PROFILE:Teagasc's Animal Bioscience facility, Grange, Co Meath

TEAGASC’S NEWLY opened Animal Bioscience Facility in Grange, Co Meath, will use the latest DNA-based approaches to assist Irish farmers produce better quality and healthier livestock and ultimately improve Irish food production.

“The publication of the genome sequence for cattle in 2009 has opened up the possibility to use these approaches to study commercially important traits. These include milk and meat production, immunity and disease, nutrition and reproduction,” explains Teagasc director Prof Gerry Boyle.

The new facility was developed as part of the Teagasc vision programme which was initiated in 2006 with the objective of establishing centres of excellence in the key sciences that underpin Irish agriculture. Animal bioscience is a key component of the organisation’s Animal and Grassland, Research and Innovation Programme which integrates applied and strategic research across the main livestock species in Ireland namely dairy cattle, beef cattle and sheep.

The Animal and Bioscience Department carries out research in the areas of animal breeding and genomics, animal health and welfare, infection and disease, computational and systems biology, fertility and reproduction, feed efficiency and product quality. The new technologies being developed have the potential to accelerate the rate of gain in efficiency and quality.

“Using the new areas of science such as genomics, proteomics, and systems biology, we are seeking to develop tools to more accurately identify the most profitable animals for current and future production systems,” says Dr Richard Dewhurst, head of the Teagasc animal and bioscience department.

“We are developing the optimal breeding programmes to maximise genetic gain in the long term. Our main research activities include the development of multi-breed genetic and genomic evaluations, breeding objectives and breeding programmes for dairy cattle, beef cattle and sheep. We also aim to identify genes, pathways and biological processes mediating resistance to infectious diseases in cattle and sheep and how these genes interact with pathogens and the environment.”

While we are not quite at the stage of “designer animals” the use of these new DNA techniques could have a dramatic impact on Irish agriculture. “If we take the DNA sequence of a bull, for example, we can use that to more accurately predict the characteristics that will be passed on to his progeny,” Dewhurst explains. “And the rate at which we can get the information is accelerating so we will soon be able to get the DNA sequence for individual animals. It’s all about analysing the data and relating it to the traits we want to predict.”

This highly scientific data led approach is a revolution in terms of the practices which obtained just 25 years ago. “Over the past 25 years genetics has become much more statistics-based, before that it was an art,” says Dewhurst. “We have been using statistical models to predict traits in animals for the past while but now with the genome we will be able to identify good quality animals with the desired traits even before they reach maturity.”

The main area of activity for the new facility is animal breeding and genetics research. This will be carried out in collaboration with other research departments at Teagasc and will develop tools to more accurately identify the most profitable animal for current and future production systems.

National breeding objectives have been developed for dairy cattle, beef cattle and sheep and the primary focus is to continually develop, refine and disseminate tools for breeding more profitable animals for the entire Irish agri-food industry.

“We are developing the optimal breeding programmes to maximise genetic gain in the long term,” Dewhurst adds. “Validation of genetic evaluations and ongoing testing of national breeding objectives is being carried out through both controlled experiments with dairy cattle and sheep as well as on-farm studies.”

And the type of traits being studied could have far-reaching impacts. “We are looking at the quality of the meat produced and the amount of fat in it. We are also looking at things like the amount of methane produced by animals. This is a big environmental factor and is responsible for a large amount of the greenhouse gases produced in Ireland. The new tools we are developing will allow us to have an influence on that.”

Animal health and welfare is another key focus for the centre. This research addresses new and improved management practices and their associated support tools. “Our work encompasses the whole production process along with consideration of animal health and welfare in farming systems, product safety and quality. If animal production is to be successful in the future, it has also to respond to the increasing questions about environmental and ethical concerns as well as address the needs of society and meet consumer requirements.”

Specific areas of this research activity include verification of the welfare advantages experienced by animals in our grassland production systems; determining the conditions at pasture which optimise animal welfare; investigating the housing parameters which improve animal welfare; examining novel biotechnological approaches for vaccine delivery to the lung; specifying the mechanisms by which bacterial and viral pathogens affect the immune system; determining the distribution of E.coli in cattle production systems; and assessing the biological impact of short and long distance transport on the welfare of animals.

“One of the things we are trying to select for is animals with reduced susceptibility for disease,” Dewhurst points out. “If you are targeting increased production there is always a potential for increased disease susceptibility. If you just breed for production you put more stress on the animal and increase this potential. Therefore, one aspect of our work is to breed for healthier animals while another is to identify the biomarkers which will in turn help us identify sick animals at an early stage.”

This latter aspect is particularly interesting as it opens the way to diagnosing sick animals before they even display symptoms or experience discomfort.

This will allow for more effective treatment and potentially reduce the amount of medicines used to treat them. “In the longer term, we will also be looking at the pathways for diseases in the animals and this could possibly assist in the development of new therapies.”

Much of this work would not be possible without the assistance of computational and systems biology. “The genome is so large we need scientists who understand both biology and computers to work with us on it. Molecular biology is really about the DNA telling the cell how to make RNA and the RNA then controlling the manufacture of the proteins which run the whole machinery of the cell. We need a lot of storage capacity and processing power to deal with all of this data.”

Of particular interest to many farmers will be the centre’s work on feed efficiency and the related area of product quality. The research aims to understand the mechanisms underpinning the efficient conversion of nutrients to quality animal products using a variety of animal models including animals selected for enhanced efficiency and management models of efficiency.

Data from this work will contribute to the identification of potential molecular biomarkers for the genetic selection of cattle with greater feed efficiency and provide insight into opportunities and consequences of modification of future production systems. Researchers are also applying a suite of molecular technologies including metagenomics to characterise and gain a greater understanding of the rumen microbiome and its role in the efficiency of nutrient utilisation and methane production.

Dewhurst explains that pigs and poultry are more efficient at gaining weight than cattle or sheep and this will be one aspect of the research pursued in this area. “We are looking at this and seeing if there is an impact on product quality as a result of increased efficiency. If there is a trade off between quality and productivity a better understanding of it will enable us to make the right choices and select the traits we are looking for.”

INNOVATION PROFILE

Teagasc’s Animal Bioscience facility, Grange, Co Meath