22 results on '"Gorssen W"'
Search Results
2. The forgotten variable? Does the euthanasia method and sample storage condition influence an organisms transcriptome – a gene expression analysis on multiple tissues in pigs
- Author
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Chakkingal Bhaskaran, B., Meyermans, R., Gorssen, W., Maes, G. E., Buyse, J., Janssens, S., and Buys, N.
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
3. How to study runs of homozygosity using PLINK? A guide for analyzing medium density SNP data in livestock and pet species
- Author
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Meyermans, R., Gorssen, W., Buys, N., and Janssens, S.
- Published
- 2020
- Full Text
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4. Myostatin mutation causing double muscling could affect increased psoroptic mange sensitivity in dual purpose Belgian Blue cattle
- Author
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Meyermans, R., primary, Janssens, S., additional, Coussé, A., additional, Gorssen, W., additional, Hubin, X., additional, Mayeres, P., additional, Veulemans, W., additional, Claerebout, E., additional, Charlier, C., additional, and Buys, N., additional
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- 2022
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
5. Unraveling the genetic diversity of Belgian Milk Sheep using medium‐density SNP genotypes
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Meyermans, R, Gorssen, W, Wijnrocx, K, Lenstra, J A, Vellema, P, Buys, N, Janssens, S, One Health Toxicologie, LS IRAS Tox Algemeen, dIRAS RA-1, Sub Analysis begr. 01-01-2014, One Health Toxicologie, LS IRAS Tox Algemeen, dIRAS RA-1, and Sub Analysis begr. 01-01-2014
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0301 basic medicine ,Veterinary medicine ,animal diseases ,Runs of Homozygosity ,fluids and secretions ,Belgium ,single nucleotide polymorphism ,HOMOZYGOSITY ,health care economics and organizations ,Genetics & Heredity ,education.field_of_study ,Full Paper ,biology ,ROH ,food and beverages ,East Friesian sheep ,Agriculture ,RUNS ,Articles ,04 agricultural and veterinary sciences ,General Medicine ,Breed ,Pedigree ,Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science ,admixture ,Livestock ,Life Sciences & Biomedicine ,Inbreeding ,Flemish Sheep ,Genotype ,biology.animal_breed ,Population ,inbreeding ,Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ,Crossbreed ,03 medical and health sciences ,otorhinolaryngologic diseases ,Genetics ,Animals ,Friesian Milk Sheep ,education ,Sheep, Domestic ,runs of homozygosity ,Genetic diversity ,Science & Technology ,business.industry ,0402 animal and dairy science ,040201 dairy & animal science ,030104 developmental biology ,Sheep HapMap ,Animal Science and Zoology ,business ,effective population size - Abstract
The present study focuses on the Belgian Milk Sheep in Flanders (Belgium) and compares its genetic diversity and relationship with the Flemish Sheep, the Friesian Milk Sheep, the French Lacaune dairy sheep and other Northern European breeds. For this study, 94 Belgian Milk Sheep, 23 Flemish Sheep and 22 Friesian Milk Sheep were genotyped with the OvineSNP50 array. In addition, 29 unregistered animals phenotypically similar to Belgian Milk Sheep were genotyped using the 15K ISGC chip. Both Belgian and Friesian Milk Sheep as well as the East Friesian Sheep were found to be less diverse than the other seven breeds included in this study. Genomic inbreeding coefficients based on runs of homozygosity (ROH) were estimated at 14.5, 12.4 and 10.2% for Belgian Milk Sheep, Flemish Sheep and Friesian Milk Sheep respectively. Out of 29 unregistered Belgian Milk Sheep, 28 mapped in the registered Belgian Milk Sheep population. Ancestry analysis, PCA and FST calculations showed that Belgian Milk Sheep are more related to Friesian Milk Sheep than to Flemish Sheep, which was contrary to the breeders' expectations. Consequently, breeders may prefer to crossbreed Belgian Milk Sheep with Friesian sheep populations (Friesian Milk Sheep or East Friesian Sheep) in order to increase diversity. This research underlines the usefulness of SNP chip genotyping and ROH analyses for monitoring genetic diversity and studying genetic links in small livestock populations, profiting from internationally available genotypes. As assessment of genetic diversity is vital for long-term breed survival, these results will aid flockbooks to preserve genetic diversity. ispartof: ANIMAL GENETICS vol:51 issue:2 pages:258-265 ispartof: location:England status: published
- Published
- 2019
6. Selectie op voederconversie via voerstations in zuivere Piétrainfokkerij ondermaats : in vergelijking met nakomelingenonderzoek
- Author
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Gorssen, W., Janssens, S., Depuydt, J., Dhondt, Ch., Gorssen, W., Janssens, S., Depuydt, J., and Dhondt, Ch.
- Abstract
Voederkosten zijn de grootste uitgavenpost voor de (Vlaamse) varkenshouder. Het reduceren van deze kosten is dus cruciaal. Bijgevolg is de voeropname een van de belangrijkste economische kenmerken binnen de varkensfokkerij, zeker in combinatie met de groei van varkens, zodat voederefficiëntie kan worden bepaald. De Vlaamse Piétrain staat hierbij bekend als een eindbeer die zorgt voor nakomelingen met een gunstige voederefficiëntie. In het project Vlevavlees, uitgevoerd door ILVO, werden enkele rassen van eindberen vergeleken.
- Published
- 2021
7. Genetic parameters for psoroptic mange sensitivity in Belgian Blue cattle
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Meyermans, Roel, Gorssen, W., Janssens, S., Hubin, X., Mayeres, P., Veulemans, W., Beek, S., Edwin Claerebout, Georges, M., Charlier, C., and Buys, N.
- Subjects
Veterinary Sciences - Published
- 2020
8. Unraveling the genetic diversity of Belgian Milk Sheep using medium-density SNP genotypes
- Author
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One Health Toxicologie, LS IRAS Tox Algemeen, dIRAS RA-1, Sub Analysis begr. 01-01-2014, Meyermans, R, Gorssen, W, Wijnrocx, K, Lenstra, J A, Vellema, P, Buys, N, Janssens, S, One Health Toxicologie, LS IRAS Tox Algemeen, dIRAS RA-1, Sub Analysis begr. 01-01-2014, Meyermans, R, Gorssen, W, Wijnrocx, K, Lenstra, J A, Vellema, P, Buys, N, and Janssens, S
- Published
- 2019
9. Selectie op uniformiteit, sommige varkens zijn meer gelijk dan andere
- Author
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Gorssen, W. and Gorssen, W.
- Abstract
Selectie op de productiekenmerken van varkens is een proces dat heeft geleid tot een stijging van de gemiddelde productiviteit en (voeder)efficiëntie. Het selectieproces is gericht op een stijging van de gemiddelde productiviteit in de volgende generaties. De voorbije decennia is de focus op het gemiddelde echter deels verschoven naar het beperken van de variatie tussen varkens. Selectie op een hogere uniformiteit, dus een kleinere variatie, biedt in dit verband nieuwe perspectieven.
- Published
- 2018
10. VPF onderzoekt genetische diversiteit Piétrain
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Gorssen, W. and Gorssen, W.
- Abstract
De Piétrain is de bodybuilder onder de varkensrassen en alle huidige Piétrains vinden hun oorsprong in België. Het waren voornamelijk mensen met een niet-landbouwersprofiel die kort voor en na de Tweede Wereldoorlog aan de doopvont stonden bij de creatie van dit zwart gevlekte ras. Dit gebeurde in het gelijknamige Waalse dorpje tegen de taalgrens, niet ver van Geldenaken. De Piétrain veroverde al snel België als meest populaire eindbeer vanwege zijn superieure bespiering, uitmuntende karkaskwaliteit en de opkomst van kunstmatige inseminatie.
- Published
- 2018
11. Genetic and genomic analysis of Belgian Blue's susceptibility for psoroptic mange.
- Author
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Meyermans R, Janssens S, Coussé A, Tinel S, Gorssen W, Lepot F, Hubin X, Mayeres P, Veulemans W, De Wilde N, Druet T, Georges M, Charlier C, Claerebout E, and Buys N
- Subjects
- Animals, Cattle genetics, Phenotype, Mite Infestations veterinary, Mite Infestations genetics, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Genomics methods, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome-Wide Association Study methods, Genome-Wide Association Study veterinary, Psoroptidae genetics, Cattle Diseases genetics
- Abstract
Background: Psoroptic mange, caused by Psoroptes ovis mites, is affecting Belgian Blue cattle's welfare and production potential. The Belgian Blue cattle-known for its high degree of muscling, low feed conversion ratio and high beef quality-is highly susceptible for this disease., Results: In this study, we phenotyped 1975 Belgian Blue cattle from more than 100 different groups on commercial beef farms for their psoroptic mange susceptibility. Substantial individual differences were observed within these management groups, with lesion extent differences up to ± 15%. Animal models showed that estimated heritabilities were low for lesion extent and severe lesion extent (0.07 and 0.09, respectively) and 0.12 for the number of mites. A genome wide association study for mange susceptibility revealed signals on BTA6, BTA11, BTA15 and BTA24. In these regions, candidate genes GBA3, RAG2, and TRAF6 were identified., Conclusions: Despite the challenges in phenotyping for psoroptic mange due to the timing of screening, the continuous evolution of lesions and different management conditions, we successfully conducted a study on the genetic susceptibility to psoroptic mange in Belgian Blue cattle. Our results clearly indicate that psoroptic mange is under polygenic control and the underlying candidate genes should be studied more thoroughly. This is the first study providing candidate genes for this complex disease. These results are already valuable for Belgian Blue breeding, however, further research is needed to unravel the architecture of this disease and to identify causal mutations., (© 2024. The Author(s).)
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- 2024
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12. Breeding for resilience in finishing pigs can decrease tail biting, lameness and mortality.
- Author
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Gorssen W, Winters C, Meyermans R, Chapard L, Hooyberghs K, Depuydt J, Janssens S, Mulder H, and Buys N
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- Animals, Swine, Female, Male, Body Weight, Breeding methods, Quantitative Trait, Heritable, Phenotype, Swine Diseases genetics, Lameness, Animal, Tail injuries, Bites and Stings psychology
- Abstract
Background: Previous research showed that deviations in longitudinal data are heritable and can be used as a proxy for pigs' general resilience. However, only a few studies investigated the relationship between these resilience traits and other traits related to resilience and welfare. Therefore, this study investigated the relationship between resilience traits derived from deviations in longitudinal data and traits related to animal resilience, health and welfare, such as tail and ear biting wounds, lameness and mortality., Results: In our experiment, 1919 finishing pigs with known pedigree (133 Piétrain sires and 266 crossbred dams) were weighed every 2 weeks and scored for physical abnormalities, such as lameness and ear and tail biting wounds (17,066 records). Resilience was assessed via deviations in body weight, deviations in weighing order and deviations in observed activity during weighing. The association between these resilience traits and physical abnormality traits was investigated and genetic parameters were estimated. Deviations in body weight had moderate heritability estimates (h
2 = 25.2 to 36.3%), whereas deviations in weighing order (h2 = 4.2%) and deviations in activity during weighing (h2 = 12.0%) had low heritability estimates. Moreover, deviations in body weight were positively associated and genetically correlated with tail biting wounds (rg = 0.22 to 0.30), lameness (rg = 0.15 to 0.31) and mortality (rg = 0.19 to 0.33). These results indicate that events of tail biting, lameness and mortality are associated with deviations in pigs' body weight evolution. This relationship was not found for deviations in weighing order and activity during weighing. Furthermore, individual body weight deviations were positively correlated with uniformity at the pen level, providing evidence that breeding for these resilience traits might increase both pigs' resilience and within-family uniformity., Conclusions: In summary, our findings show that breeding for resilience traits based on deviations in longitudinal weight data can decrease pigs' tail biting wounds, lameness and mortality while improving uniformity at the pen level. These findings are valuable for pig breeders, as they offer evidence that these resilience traits are an indication of animals' general health, welfare and resilience. Moreover, these results will stimulate the quantification of resilience via longitudinal body weights in other species., (© 2024. The Author(s).)- Published
- 2024
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13. A promising resilience parameter for breeding: the use of weight and feed trajectories in growing pigs.
- Author
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Gorssen W, Winters C, Meyermans R, Chapard L, Hooyberghs K, Janssens S, Huisman A, Peeters K, Mulder H, and Buys N
- Abstract
Background: Increasing resilience is a priority in modern pig breeding. Recent research shows that general resilience can be quantified via variability in longitudinal data. The collection of such longitudinal data on weight, feed intake and feeding behaviour in pigs has been facilitated by the development of technologies such as automated feeding stations. The goal of this study was to investigate resilience traits, which were estimated as deviations from longitudinal weight, feed intake and feeding behaviour data during the finishing phase. A dataset with 324,207 records between the age of 95 and 155 days on 5,939 Piétrain pigs with known pedigree and genomic information was used. We provided guidelines for a rigid quality control of longitudinal body weight data, as we found that outliers can significantly affect results. Gompertz growth curve analysis, linear modelling and trajectory analyses were used for quantifying resilience traits., Results: To our knowledge, this is the first study comparing resilience traits from longitudinal body weight, feed intake and feeding behaviour data in pigs. We demonstrated that the resilience traits are lowly to moderately heritable for deviations in body weight (h
2 = 2.9%-20.2%), in feed intake (9.4%-23.3%) and in feeding behaviour (16.2%-28.3%). Additionally, these traits have good predictive abilities in cross-validation analyses. Deviations in individual body weight and feed intake trajectories are highly correlated (rg = 0.78) with low to moderate favourable genetic correlations with feed conversion ratio (rg = 0.39-0.49). Lastly, we showed that some resilience traits, such as the natural logarithm of variances of observed versus predicted body weights (lnvarweight ), are more robust to lower observation frequencies and are repeatable over three different time periods of the finishing phase., Conclusions: Our results will help future studies investigating resilience traits and resilience-related traits. Moreover, our study provides first results on standardization of quality control and efficient data sampling from automated feeding station data. Our findings will be valuable for breeding organizations as they offer evidence that pigs' general resilience can be selected on with good accuracy. Moreover, this methodology might be extended to other species to quantify resilience based on longitudinal data., (© 2023. The Author(s).)- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
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14. BAMBI: A new method for automated assessment of bidirectional early-life interaction between maternal behavior and pup vocalization in mouse dam-pup dyads.
- Author
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Winters C, Gorssen W, Wöhr M, and D'Hooge R
- Abstract
Vital early-life dyadic interaction in mice requires a pup to signal its needs adequately, and a dam to recognize and respond to the pup's cues accurately and timely. Previous research might have missed important biological and/or environmental elements of this complex bidirectional interaction, because it often focused on one dyadic member only. In laboratory rodents, the Pup Retrieval Test (PRT) is the leading procedure to assess pup-directed maternal care. The present study describes BAMBI (Bidirectional Automated Mother-pup Behavioral Interaction test), a novel automated PRT methodology based on synchronous video recording of maternal behavior and audio recording of pup vocalizations, which allows to assess bidirectional dam-pup dyadic interaction. We were able to estimate pup retrieval and pup vocalization parameters accurately in 156 pups from 29 dams on postnatal days (PND) 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13. Moreover, we showed an association between number of emitted USVs and retrieval success, indicating dyadic interdependency and bidirectionality. BAMBI is a promising new automated home-cage behavioral method that can be applied to both basic and preclinical studies investigating complex phenotypes related to early-life social development., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Winters, Gorssen, Wöhr and D’Hooge.)
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
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15. Adjusted fence height: an improved phenotype for the genetic evaluation of show jumping performance in Warmblood horses.
- Author
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Chapard L, Van Thillo A, Meyermans R, Gorssen W, Buys N, and Janssens S
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- Horses genetics, Animals, Male, Phenotype, Sports
- Abstract
Background: Show jumping is one of the most popular disciplines in the horse sector, which makes success in show jumping competitions an important breeding goal for many studbooks. Therefore, the genetic evaluation of show jumping performance is of major interest and this is the case for two Belgian Warmblood studbooks: the Belgian Warmblood horse and Zangersheide. In this study, first an improved phenotype for show jumping performance was developed, i.e. adjusted fence height based on a new non-arbitrary method to scale ranking and competition level, which are two major components of success in competitions. Second, we assessed the importance of including a rider effect in genetic models for show jumping performance, this effect being under debate in sport horse breeding. Third, genetic models based on elementary performances and one model based on a summarized performance were compared in terms of model fit, heritabilities and the stability of estimated breeding values to define the most suitable one for the genetic evaluation of show jumping performance., Results: In this study, more than 600,000 Belgian competition records and almost 81,000 horses were used. Genetic evaluations were developed based on elementary performances (Blom-transformed ranking and adjusted fence height) and on a summarized performance (highest level achieved). Estimated heritabilities of Blom-transformed ranking, adjusted fence height and highest level achieved were 0.09, 0.12 and 0.39, respectively. Including a rider effect improved the models for genetic evaluations. Estimated genetic correlations between the studied models were moderate to high (r
g = 0.60-0.99). With the best fit model, the accuracy of the estimated breeding value (EBV) for adjusted fence height reached 0.70 for a larger number of stallions and for stallions that tended to be younger., Conclusions: We recommend breeders to implement this new phenotype 'adjusted fence height' in breeding programs. It is moderately to highly correlated with Blom-transformed ranking and highest level achieved, a proxy for lifetime success, and is available for selection candidates from an early age onwards., (© 2023. The Author(s).)- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
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16. A Comparative Study on the Effect of Euthanasia Methods and Sample Storage Conditions on RNA Yield and Quality in Porcine Tissues.
- Author
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Chakkingal Bhaskaran B, Meyermans R, Gorssen W, Maes GE, Janssens S, and Buys N
- Abstract
Animals used in research often have to be euthanised, especially when tissue sampling is essential. Recently, a euthanasia method, utilizing an inhalant anaesthetic 'nitrogen gas in foam' in an anoxia box (ANOXIA
TM ), has gained considerable interest as it claimed to be more animal-friendly. However, it is not clear whether the use of this euthanasia method has an influence on RNA measurements. Moreover, there are no studies on the interaction effect of different euthanasia methods on the tissue sample storage conditions. The current study compared RNA measurements from two euthanasia methods (ANOXIATM vs. T-61® injection) and two storage conditions (RNA later ™ vs. snap freezing) in 12 male piglets. The nitrogen anoxia method had a significantly higher RNA yield ( p < 0.01) compared to the T-61® method. However, no effect of the euthanasia methods on the A260/230 ratio and RIN value was observed. Tissues stored in RNA later ™ had significantly higher RIN values ( p < 0.001) compared to snap frozen samples. The present study could not find a significant difference between the two euthanasia methods in piglets, with regard to RNA quality measurements. Hence, the nitrogen anoxia technique (ANOXIATM ) might be considered as a suitable alternative to T-61® for euthanasia of piglets used in research.- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
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17. Estimating genetics of body dimensions and activity levels in pigs using automated pose estimation.
- Author
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Gorssen W, Winters C, Meyermans R, D'Hooge R, Janssens S, and Buys N
- Subjects
- Animals, Phenotype, Swine genetics, Eating genetics
- Abstract
Pig breeding is changing rapidly due to technological progress and socio-ecological factors. New precision livestock farming technologies such as computer vision systems are crucial for automated phenotyping on a large scale for novel traits, as pigs' robustness and behavior are gaining importance in breeding goals. However, individual identification, data processing and the availability of adequate (open source) software currently pose the main hurdles. The overall goal of this study was to expand pig weighing with automated measurements of body dimensions and activity levels using an automated video-analytic system: DeepLabCut. Furthermore, these data were coupled with pedigree information to estimate genetic parameters for breeding programs. We analyzed 7428 recordings over the fattening period of 1556 finishing pigs (Piétrain sire x crossbred dam) with two-week intervals between recordings on the same pig. We were able to accurately estimate relevant body parts with an average tracking error of 3.3 cm. Body metrics extracted from video images were highly heritable (61-74%) and significantly genetically correlated with average daily gain (r
g = 0.81-0.92). Activity traits were low to moderately heritable (22-35%) and showed low genetic correlations with production traits and physical abnormalities. We demonstrated a simple and cost-efficient method to extract body dimension parameters and activity traits. These traits were estimated to be heritable, and hence, can be selected on. These findings are valuable for (pig) breeding organizations, as they offer a method to automatically phenotype new production and behavioral traits on an individual level., (© 2022. The Author(s).)- Published
- 2022
- Full Text
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18. Author Correction: Automated procedure to assess pup retrieval in laboratory mice.
- Author
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Winters C, Gorssen W, Ossorio-Salazar VA, Nilsson S, Golden S, and D'Hooge R
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- 2022
- Full Text
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19. Automated procedure to assess pup retrieval in laboratory mice.
- Author
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Winters C, Gorssen W, Ossorio-Salazar VA, Nilsson S, Golden S, and D'Hooge R
- Subjects
- Animals, Animals, Newborn, Automation, Laboratory, Behavior Rating Scale, Female, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Pregnancy, Reproducibility of Results, Mice, Behavior, Animal, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Machine Learning, Maternal Behavior, Video Recording
- Abstract
All mammalian mothers form some sort of caring bond with their infants that is crucial to the development of their offspring. The Pup Retrieval Test (PRT) is the leading procedure to assess pup-directed maternal care in laboratory rodents, used in a wide range of basic and preclinical research applications. Most PRT protocols require manual scoring, which is prone to bias and spatial and temporal inaccuracies. This study proposes a novel procedure using machine learning algorithms to enable reliable assessment of PRT performance. Automated tracking of a dam and one pup was established in DeepLabCut and was combined with automated behavioral classification of "maternal approach", "carrying" and "digging" in Simple Behavioral Analysis (SimBA). Our automated procedure estimated retrieval success with an accuracy of 86.7%, whereas accuracies of "approach", "carry" and "digging" were estimated at respectively 99.3%, 98.6% and 85.0%. We provide an open-source, step-by-step protocol for automated PRT assessment, which aims to increase reproducibility and reliability, and can be easily shared and distributed., (© 2022. The Author(s).)
- Published
- 2022
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20. Genomics Confirm an Alarming Status of the Genetic Diversity of Belgian Red and Belgian White Red Cattle.
- Author
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Meyermans R, Gorssen W, Buys N, and Janssens S
- Abstract
Genetic diversity is increasingly important for researchers and society. Small and local populations deserve more attention especially, as they may harbor important characteristics. Moreover, small populations are at greater risk and their genetic management is often more challenging. Likewise, European red cattle populations are threatened, as they are outcompeted by more specialized cattle breeds. In this study, we investigate the genetic diversity of two local Belgian red cattle breeds: Belgian Red and Belgian White Red cattle. A total of 270 animals were genotyped via medium density SNP arrays. Genetic diversity was assessed using runs of homozygosity screening, effective population size estimation and F
st analyses. Genomic inbreeding coefficients based on runs of homozygosity were estimated at 7.0% for Belgian Red and 6.1% for Belgian White Red cattle, and both populations had a low effective population size (68 and 86, respectively). PCA, Fst and admixture analyses revealed the relationship to 52 other international breeds, where they were closest related to some Belgian, French, Scandinavian and Dutch breeds. Moreover, Fst analyses revealed for Belgian Red cattle a signature of selection on BTA6, adjacent to the KIT gene. This study gains important knowledge on the genetic diversity of these two small local red cattle breeds, and will aid in their (genetic) management.- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
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21. High Heritabilities for Antibiotic Usage Show Potential to Breed for Disease Resistance in Finishing Pigs.
- Author
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Gorssen W, Maes D, Meyermans R, Depuydt J, Janssens S, and Buys N
- Abstract
The use of antimicrobials in animal production is under public debate, mainly due to the risk of transfer of resistance to pathogenic bacteria in humans. Therefore, measures have been taken during the last few decades to reduce antibiotic usage in animals, for instance, by national monitoring programmes and by improving animal health management. Although some initiatives exist in molecular genetic selection, quantitative genetic selection of animals towards decreased antibiotic usage is an underexplored area to reduce antibiotic usage. However, this strategy could yield cumulative effects. In this study, we derived new phenotypes from on-farm parenteral antibiotic records from commercially grown crossbred finishing pigs used in the progeny test of Piétrain terminal sires to investigate the heritability of antibiotics usage. Parenteral antibiotic records, production parameters and pedigree records of 2238 full-sib pens from two experimental farms in Belgium between 2014 and 2020 were analysed. Heritability estimates were moderate (18-44%) for phenotypes derived from all antibiotic treatments, and low (1-15%) for phenotypes derived from treatments against respiratory diseases only. Moreover, genetic correlations between these new phenotypes and mortality were low to moderate (0.08-0.60) and no strong adverse genetic correlations with production traits were found. The high heritabilities and favourable genetic correlations suggest these new phenotypes, derived from on-farm antibiotics records, to be promising for inclusion in future pig breeding programs to breed for a decrease in antibiotics usage.
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
22. A publicly available repository of ROH islands reveals signatures of selection in different livestock and pet species.
- Author
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Gorssen W, Meyermans R, Janssens S, and Buys N
- Subjects
- Animals, Genome, Myostatin genetics, Selection, Genetic, Databases, Genetic, Homozygote, Livestock genetics, Pets genetics, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Selective Breeding
- Abstract
Background: Runs of homozygosity (ROH) have become the state-of-the-art method for analysis of inbreeding in animal populations. Moreover, ROH are suited to detect signatures of selection via ROH islands and are used in other applications, such as genomic prediction and genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Currently, a vast amount of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data is available online, but most of these data have never been used for ROH analysis. Therefore, we performed a ROH analysis on large medium-density SNP datasets in eight animal species (cat, cattle, dog, goat, horse, pig, sheep and water buffalo; 442 different populations) and make these results publicly available., Results: The results include an overview of ROH islands per population and a comparison of the incidence of these ROH islands among populations from the same species, which can assist researchers when studying other (livestock) populations or when looking for similar signatures of selection. We were able to confirm many known ROH islands, for example signatures of selection for the myostatin (MSTN) gene in sheep and horses. However, our results also included multiple other ROH islands, which are common to many populations and not identified to date (e.g. on chromosomes D4 and E2 in cats and on chromosome 6 in sheep)., Conclusions: We are confident that our repository of ROH islands is a valuable reference for future studies. The discovered ROH island regions represent a unique starting point for new studies or can be used as a reference for future studies. Furthermore, we encourage authors to add their population-specific ROH findings to our repository.
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
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