Differences in milk metabolites in Malnad Gidda (Bos indicus) cows reared under pasture-based feeding system.

The milk and milk products from cows reared under grazing system are believed to be healthier and hence have high demand compared to milk from cows reared in the non-grazing system. However, the effect of grazing on milk metabolites, specifically lipids has not been fully understood. In this study, we used acetonitrile precipitation and methanol:chloroform methods for extracting the milk metabolites followed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) run to identify the different metabolites between the milk of grazing and non-grazing early lactating Malnad Gidda cows. Various carbohydrates, amino acids, nucleosides and vitamin derivatives were found to be differentially abundant in grazing cows. A total of 35 metabolites were differentially regulated (fold change above 1.5) between the two groups. Tyrosyl-threonine, histidinyl-cysteine, 1-methyladenine, L-cysteine and selenocysteine showed fold change above 3 in grazing cows. The lipid profile of milk showed a lesser difference between grazing and non-grazing cows as compared to polar metabolites. To the best of our knowledge, this is the largest inventory of milk metabolomics data of an Indian cattle (Bos indicus) breed. We believe that our study would help to emerge a field of Nutri-metabolomics and veterinary omics research.

Differential expression of ISG 15 mRNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of nulliparous and multiparous pregnant versus non-pregnant Bos indicus cattle.

Embryonic mortality is found to be the main source of reproductive wastage in domestic ruminants. Many genes are involved in the growth and development of the embryo, and the interferon-stimulated gene 15 (ISG 15) is one of the major gene stimulated by interferon tau, the maternal recognition of pregnancy signal in ruminants. In this study, both genomic and cDNA sequences of ISG 15 from Bos indicus (Deoni breed) were amplified and characterized. The genomic sequence of Deoni ISG 15 exhibited 99% identity with Bos taurus and 97% identity with that of Bos mutus and Bubalus bubalis. Moreover qRT-PCR analysis revealed constitutive expression of the ISG 15 mRNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of Deoni heifers and multiparous cows during early pregnancy. Fourteen Deoni heifers and fifteen multiparous Deoni cows were synchronized for timed AI by CIDR-Ovsynch protocol, and six animals were kept as cyclic control in each group. Blood samples were collected on days 7, 14, 16, 18, 21, 30 and 45 from the day of AI. Pregnancy was confirmed by plasma progesterone level through ELISA. A significantly higher expression of ISG 15 mRNA was found on day 16 (p < .05) and day 18 (p < .05) of pregnancy in nulliparous heifers. Although in multiparous Deoni cows ISG 15 expression was greater in pregnant cows, difference was statistically non-significant. The result of this study indicates that ISG 15 gene expression is upregulated during 16-18 days of pregnancy and could be used as an early pregnancy marker in dairy cows especially in heifers.

Relations between coenzyme A and presumptive acyl carrier protein in different conditions of streptococcal growth.

Exploration of the specific role of cystine in the postexponential growth of Streptococcus faecalis led to an inquiry into the fate of cellular coenzyme A (CoA) and acyl carrier protein (ACP), both of which depend for their biosynthesis on cystine and pantothenate as precursors. In S. faecalis cells labeled by growth in the presence of (14)C-pantothenate, the label could be separated on the basis of solubility at pH 2.1 into two fractions of sharply differing metabolic characteristics. The fractions were not purified, but the soluble (14)C behaved analytically like CoA, and the insoluble (14)C was considered to represent an ACP-like entity on the basis of circumstantial evidence. The fate of these two fractions under various conditions of growth was studied. When the medium contained an excess of the needed precursors, the cellular content of CoA and ACP appeared to remain constant during exponential growth, and in a molar ratio of about 4 CoA to 1 ACP. Cellular ACP, once formed, appeared to be stable under these conditions, but CoA was degraded and replaced at the rate of approximately 20% per division period. With restrictive levels of pantothenate in the medium, initially formed CoA disappeared during growth, as a result, apparently of being converted to ACP. However, when the resulting CoA-depleted cells were returned to a medium containing enough pantothenate, resumption of normal growth was preceded by a lag period, during which rapid conversion of ACP to CoA appeared to take place.