Impacts of Epigenetic Processes on the Health and Productivity of Livestock

Abstract

The dynamic changes in the epigenome resulting from the intricate interactions of genetic and environmental factors play crucial roles in individual growth and development. Numerous studies in plants, rodents, and humans have provided evidence of the regulatory roles of epigenetic processes in health and disease. There is increasing pressure to increase livestock production in light of increasing food needs of an expanding human population and environment challenges, but there is limited related epigenetic data on livestock to complement genomic information and support advances in improvement breeding and health management. This review examines the recent discoveries on epigenetic processes due to DNA methylation, histone modification, and chromatin remodeling and their impacts on health and production traits in farm animals, including bovine, swine, sheep, goat, and poultry species. Most of the reports focused on epigenome profiling at the genome-wide or specific genic regions in response to developmental processes, environmental stressors, nutrition, and disease pathogens. The bulk of available data mainly characterized the epigenetic markers in tissues/organs or in relation to traits and detection of epigenetic regulatory mechanisms underlying livestock phenotype diversity. However, available data is inadequate to support gainful exploitation of epigenetic processes for improved animal health and productivity management. Increased research effort, which is vital to elucidate how epigenetic mechanisms affect the health and productivity of livestock, is currently limited due to several factors including lack of adequate analytical tools. In this review, we (1) summarize available evidence of the impacts of epigenetic processes on livestock production and health traits, (2) discuss the application of epigenetics data in livestock production, and (3) present gaps in livestock epigenetics research. Knowledge of the epigenetic factors influencing livestock health and productivity is vital for the management and improvement of livestock productivity.

Whole Genome DNA Methylation Variations in Mammary Gland Tissues from Holstein Cattle Producing Milk with Various Fat and Protein Contents

“…Recently, milk composition, especially protein and fat contents, is attracting increased attention due to consumer demands for healthier milk products. With the knowledge that epigenetic factors are important regulatory mechanisms of mammary gland productivity (reviewed by [15]), quantifying the associated epigenetic variations will provide additional information underlying phenotype diversity and will complement genomic information to drive-up improve gain in genetic selection for enhanced milk components [8,31]. In this study, we focused on quantifying the DNA methylation alterations in mammary gland tissues where milk components are synthesized and/or collated and secreted.…”

“…In this study, we focused on quantifying the DNA methylation alterations in mammary gland tissues where milk components are synthesized and/or collated and secreted. Understanding the DNA methylation variations across tissues, which is crucial for cell differentiation, is important for investigating the potential regulatory roles of epigenetic factors in complex traits, such as diseases and milk production [15,32]. Therefore, compared with other tissues, for example peripheral blood, quantifying DNA methylation marks in mammary gland is more direct and convincing to understand its roles in milk production.…”

“…Epigenetic mechanisms including DNA methylation alteration have been identified as important regulatory mechanisms of mammary gland development and health [10][11][12][13]. Associations between DNA methylation alterations and milk production in cattle have been reported [13][14][15] leading to the prediction of DNA methylation as an insightful molecular mechanism underlying the phenotypic changes of milk production traits [9,15]. Specifically, genome-wide DNA methylation changes were reported between dairy cattle with different milk yields, revealing potential association between DNA methylation and milk yield [16,17].…”

How Epigenetics Can Enhance Pig Welfare?

“…An important role of epigenetics in gene expression of productive [ 15 , 16 , 96 , 97 , 98 ] and reproductive traits of pigs [ 99 , 100 , 101 ] has been demonstrated. Moreover, recent work has demonstrated the impact of several factors on the epigenome of the domestic pig such as the influence of nutrition on the pregnant sow epigenome [ 93 , 94 , 102 ], the impact of exposure of pregnant sows to chemicals on its offspring’s epigenome [ 89 , 91 ], and the influence of the year´s season on the epigenome of the boars’ ejaculate and its fertility [ 95 , 103 , 104 , 105 ].…”

Whole Genome Methylation Analysis Reveals Role of DNA Methylation in Cow’s Ileal and Ileal Lymph Node Responses to Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis Infection

“…Several recent reviews have documented the contribution of epigenetic regulation (DNA methylation, histone modifications and miRNA and lncRNA expression) to economically important livestock traits, including disease susceptibility and the immune response (Doherty et al, 2014;Ibeagha-Awemu and Zhao, 2015;Triantaphyllopoulos et al, 2016;Thompson et al, 2020;Wang and Ibeagha-Awemu, 2021). For instance, miRNAs have been found to regulate the autophagic response to eliminate intracellular Mycobacterium (Wang et al, 2013;Wang et al, 2020), modulate inflammatory signaling and to control pathogen survival and replication including Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Sharbati et al, 2011;Mehta and Liu, 2014).…”