Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: M. Blecha Author-Workplace-Name: South Bohemian Research Center of Aquaculture and Biodiversity of Hydrocenoses, Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Vodňany, Czech Republic Author-Name: A.M. Samarin Author-Workplace-Name: South Bohemian Research Center of Aquaculture and Biodiversity of Hydrocenoses, Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Vodňany, Czech Republic Author-Name: J. Křišťan Author-Workplace-Name: South Bohemian Research Center of Aquaculture and Biodiversity of Hydrocenoses, Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Vodňany, Czech Republic Author-Name: T. Policar Author-Workplace-Name: South Bohemian Research Center of Aquaculture and Biodiversity of Hydrocenoses, Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Vodňany, Czech Republic Title: Benefits of hormone treatment of both sexes in semi-artificial reproduction of pikeperch (Sander lucioperca L.) Abstract: Propagation of pikeperch Sander lucioperca by semi-artificial management was investigated using hormonal induction to better understand the effect of hormonal treatment of both sexes. Fourteen pairs of pikeperch brood fish were divided into two groups (seven pairs in each group). Seven females in Group A and both sexes in Group B were hormonally injected with 500 IU of hCG per kg. Each pair of brood fish was held separately in a 300-l circular tank with an added spawning material on the bottom. Brood fish were removed from the tanks on the day after spawning; three-hundred randomly selected eggs were removed from the spawning nests and transferred to 250 ml plastic incubators. Sperm samples were collected from males in individual 1-ml syringes. Significant differences in fertilization rate (Group A 59.5%, Group B 80.4%), hatching rate (Group A 51.2%, Group B 71.6%), and number of larvae produced per female (Group A 49 429, Group B 122 000) were observed. Differences were attributable to sperm quality, primarily volume (Group A 0.16 ml, Group B 0.64 ml), and duration of spermatozoa motility (Group A 59.5 s, Group B 97.7 s). Hormone treatment of both sexes is beneficial for pikeperch semi-artificial reproduction by inducing ovulation and improving milt production and spermatozoa quality, fertilization and hatching rate, all contributing to a higher number of produced larvae. Keywords: hCG, spermatozoa, fertilization, hatching, spawning nest, larvae Journal: Czech Journal of Animal Science Pages: 203-208 Volume: 61 Issue: 5 Year: 2016 DOI: 10.17221/60/2015-CJAS File-URL: http://cjas.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/60/2015-CJAS.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/cjs-201605-0001.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlcjs:v:61:y:2016:i:5:id:60-2015-CJAS Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: T. Shi Author-Workplace-Name: Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology for Agriculture, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, P.R. China Author-Name: Y. Xu Author-Workplace-Name: Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology for Agriculture, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, P.R. China Author-Name: M.-J. Yang Author-Workplace-Name: Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology for Agriculture, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, P.R. China Author-Name: Y. Zhou Author-Workplace-Name: Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology for Agriculture, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, P.R. China Author-Name: M. Liu Author-Workplace-Name: Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology for Agriculture, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, P.R. China Author-Name: X.-Y. Lan Author-Workplace-Name: Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology for Agriculture, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, P.R. China Author-Name: C.-Z. Lei Author-Workplace-Name: Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology for Agriculture, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, P.R. China Author-Name: X.-L. Qi Author-Workplace-Name: Bureau of Animal Husbandry of Biyang County, Biyang, P.R. China Author-Name: F.-P. Lin Author-Workplace-Name: Bureau of Animal Husbandry of Biyang County, Biyang, P.R. China Author-Name: Y.-Y. Bai Author-Workplace-Name: Animal Health Supervision in Henan Province, Zhengzhou, P.R. China Author-Name: H. Chen Author-Workplace-Name: Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology for Agriculture, College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, P.R. China Title: Genetic variation, association analysis, and expression pattern of SMAD3 gene in Chinese cattle Abstract: SMAD3, a member of SMAD transcription factors, plays a key role in transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) signalling pathway and regulation of muscle growth. However, there was no strong evidence of association between SMAD3 polymorphisms and body traits in animals. In this study, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in SMAD3 gene were detected in four Chinese cattle breeds (Qinchuan, Jiaxian, Nanyang, and Caoyuan) by using DNA pool sequencing and PCR-RFLP, and their effects on gene expression and growth traits were evaluated in Qinchuan cattle. The results showed that four novel SNPs (NC_007308.5 c.-2017A>G, g.101664C>G, g.105829A>G, and g.114523A>G) in promoter, intron 3, and intron 5 were found in four cattle breeds. NC_007308.5 c.-2017A>G and g.114523A>G were significantly (P < 0.05) associated with SMAD3 gene expression. Furthermore, the four SNPs were strikingly (P < 0.05) associated with rump length, chest girth, and body weight in two-year-old Qinchuan cattle. Our results provided the evidence that SNPs in SMAD3 were associated with cattle traits, which showed the possibility that the four SNPs could be novel molecular markers for beef cattle breeding and genetics. Keywords: SMAD3 polymorphisms, mRNA level, body traits, bovine Journal: Czech Journal of Animal Science Pages: 209-216 Volume: 61 Issue: 5 Year: 2016 DOI: 10.17221/34/2015-CJAS File-URL: http://cjas.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/34/2015-CJAS.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/cjs-201605-0002.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlcjs:v:61:y:2016:i:5:id:34-2015-CJAS Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: E. Tůmová Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Animal Husbandry, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic Author-Name: D. Chodová Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Animal Husbandry, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic Author-Name: L. Uhlířová Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Animal Husbandry, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic Author-Name: J. Vlčková Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Animal Husbandry, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic Author-Name: Z. Volek Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Physiology of Nutrition and Quality of Animal Products, Institute of Animal Science Prague-Uhříněves, Czech Republic Author-Name: V. Skřivanová Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Physiology of Nutrition and Quality of Animal Products, Institute of Animal Science Prague-Uhříněves, Czech Republic Title: Relationship between muscle fibre characteristics and meat sensory properties in three nutria (Myocastor coypus) colour types Abstract: The study determined the muscle fibre characteristics and sensory properties of the longissimus lumborum muscle (LL) of eight-month-old nutrias of three colour types and the correlations between meat histochemical measurements and eating quality. The following nutria colour types were used in the experiment: Standard (ST), Moravian Silver (MS), and Prestice Multicolour (PM). The nutria colour type significantly (P < 0.001) affected the number of type IIB fibres with the lowest number in ST (108 per mm2). The proportion of type I fibres varied between 10.6 and 14.2%; type IIA fibres varied between 6.1 and 7.8%; and type IIB fibres varied between 78.2 and 83.4% and it was not affected by colour type. The cross-sectional area (CSA) was 2.565-2.841 µm2 in type I, 2.867-3.010 µm2 in type IIA, and 4.698-5.517 µm2 in type IIB fibres. The CSA of type IIB fibres (P < 0.001) was the largest in ST. The sensory trait of tenderness (P < 0.05) was the lowest in MS. Correlations between the proportion of fibres and sensory traits were not observed. The CSA of type I fibres correlated with flavour (0.19) and the CSA of type IIB fibres with tenderness (0.10). Keywords: nutria, muscle histochemical measurements, sensory characteristics, correlation Journal: Czech Journal of Animal Science Pages: 217-222 Volume: 61 Issue: 5 Year: 2016 DOI: 10.17221/59/2015-CJAS File-URL: http://cjas.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/59/2015-CJAS.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/cjs-201605-0003.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlcjs:v:61:y:2016:i:5:id:59-2015-CJAS Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: M. Alhussien Author-Workplace-Name: Animal Production Division, Aleppo University, Aleppo, Syria Author-Name: P. Manjari Author-Workplace-Name: Lactation and Immuno-Physiology Laboratory, ICAR, National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, India Author-Name: A.A. Sheikh Author-Workplace-Name: Lactation and Immuno-Physiology Laboratory, ICAR, National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, India Author-Name: S. Mohammed Seman Author-Workplace-Name: Lactation and Immuno-Physiology Laboratory, ICAR, National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, India Author-Name: S. Reddi Author-Workplace-Name: Lactation and Immuno-Physiology Laboratory, ICAR, National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, India Author-Name: A.K. Mohanty Author-Workplace-Name: Animal Biotechnology Centre, ICAR, National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, India Author-Name: J. Mukherjee Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Veterinary Physiology, Faculty of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences, Kolkata, India Author-Name: A.K. Dang Author-Workplace-Name: Lactation and Immuno-Physiology Laboratory, ICAR, National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, India Title: Immunological attributes of blood and milk neutrophils isolated from crossbred cows during different physiological conditions Abstract: The goal of this work was to understand how polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN), the first line of cellular defence, integrate and prioritize multiple chemotactic signals to navigate during periods of demand like subclinical mastitis (SCM), clinical mastitis (CM), pregnancy (P), and calving (C). For this, blood and milk samples were collected from five groups of crossbred cows (healthy, with SCM, CM, pregnant, and newly calved). Maximum viability was seen in the PMN of healthy cows, whereas minimum viability was observed in CM cows. Phagocytic activity (PA) of blood and milk PMN decreased significantly (P < 0.05) at C and in CM cows. Chemotactic activity of blood PMN was minimum in C followed by CM, SCM, and P cows. PA was found to be negatively correlated with the plasma cortisol levels and inverse relationship was observed between the plasma interleukin-8 (IL-8) levels and the chemotactic activity of neutrophils. There was a significantly (P < 0.05) higher expression of CXCR1 and IL-8 on both blood and milk PMN of CM cows followed by C and SCM cows. Minimum expression of selectin (CD-62L) was seen on blood PMN isolated around calving, whereas maximum expression of integrin (CD-11b) was in CM cows. Healthy and P cows showed the highest expression of CD-62L on blood PMN but its expression remained unaltered in milk PMN. Irrespective of physiological stage of the cows, immune suppression was found to be always cortisol dependent. Observing the neutrophil activity and mRNA expression of genes isolated from cow neutrophils can be used as indicators to assess the health/physiological status promptly for immediate therapeutic or management-related actions. Keywords: phagocytic, chemotactic activity, cortisol, IL-8, CXCR1, selectin, integrin Journal: Czech Journal of Animal Science Pages: 223-231 Volume: 61 Issue: 5 Year: 2016 DOI: 10.17221/63/2015-CJAS File-URL: http://cjas.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/63/2015-CJAS.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/cjs-201605-0004.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlcjs:v:61:y:2016:i:5:id:63-2015-CJAS Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: D. Robakowska-Hyżorek Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Neuroendocrinology, The Kielanowski Institute of Animal Physiology and Nutrition, Polish Academy of Sciences, Jablonna, Poland Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Molecular Biology, Institute of Genetics and Animal Breeding, Polish Academy of Sciences, Jastrzebiec, Poland Author-Name: R.R. Starzyński Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Molecular Biology, Institute of Genetics and Animal Breeding, Polish Academy of Sciences, Jastrzebiec, Poland Author-Name: B. Żelazowska Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Molecular Biology, Institute of Genetics and Animal Breeding, Polish Academy of Sciences, Jastrzebiec, Poland Author-Name: J. Oprządek Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Animal Improvement, Institute of Genetics and Animal Breeding, Polish Academy of Sciences, Jastrzebiec, Poland Author-Name: T. Sadkowski Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Physiological Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Warsaw, Poland Author-Name: L. Zwierzchowski Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Molecular Biology, Institute of Genetics and Animal Breeding, Polish Academy of Sciences, Jastrzebiec, Poland Title: Effects of polymorphism in the bovine PTPRQ gene on the expression of MYF6 and MYF5 genes in skeletal muscle and on meat production traits in beef bulls Abstract: The aim of the study was to characterize nucleotide sequence polymorphisms in the bovine PTPRQ gene, to search for their possible effect on the expression of myogenic factor 6 (MYF6; MRF4) and myogenic factor 5 (MYF5) genes in skeletal muscle and on meat production traits. Three novel SNPs were found in intron 35 of the bovine PTPRQ gene: g.200,451A>G, g.200,467T>C, g.200,480C>T (GenBank Acc. No. NW_001494990.2; counted from translation initiation site). These SNPs are placed very closely to each other (within 29 base pairs). The results showed that genotype influenced the expression of MYF6 and MYF5 genes in longissimus dorsi muscle of Limousine bulls both at the transcript and protein levels. Moreover, an association was found between the PTPRQ genotype and carcass traits in Limousine bulls. These findings suggest that bovine PTPRQ gene may contain regulatory sequences for MRF genes located 24 kb downstream. The results also showed that nucleotide sequence polymorphisms in the PTPRQ gene may influence meat production traits in beef cattle, possibly through the regulation of the MRF genes expression. Keywords: receptor-type III PTP with phosphatidylinositol phosphatase activity, genotype, muscle regulatory factors, bovine, meat traits Journal: Czech Journal of Animal Science Pages: 232-242 Volume: 61 Issue: 5 Year: 2016 DOI: 10.17221/118/2014-CJAS File-URL: http://cjas.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/118/2014-CJAS.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/cjs-201605-0005.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlcjs:v:61:y:2016:i:5:id:118-2014-CJAS Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: R. Lin Author-Workplace-Name: Key Laboratory of Agricultural Animal Genetics, Breeding, and Reproduction of Ministry of Education, The Cooperative Innovation Center for Sustainable Pig Production, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, P.R. China Author-Name: H. Jia Author-Workplace-Name: Key Laboratory of Agricultural Animal Genetics, Breeding, and Reproduction of Ministry of Education, The Cooperative Innovation Center for Sustainable Pig Production, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, P.R. China Author-Name: S. Chen Author-Workplace-Name: Key Laboratory of Agricultural Animal Genetics, Breeding, and Reproduction of Ministry of Education, The Cooperative Innovation Center for Sustainable Pig Production, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, P.R. China Author-Name: S. Zhao Author-Workplace-Name: Key Laboratory of Agricultural Animal Genetics, Breeding, and Reproduction of Ministry of Education, The Cooperative Innovation Center for Sustainable Pig Production, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, P.R. China Title: Expression analysis of the porcine Homeobox A11 gene and its association with litter size in Large White pigs Abstract: The homeobox A11 (HOXA11) gene, a well-known transcriptional regulator, plays a critical role in normal development of the uterus. In this study, the porcine HOXA11 gene, including its promoter region, was cloned and sequenced (GenBank Accession No. KF724933). Differential expression levels of HOXA11 in the endometrium at one stage of the estrous cycle and three stages of gestation for Meishan and Large White pigs were investigated. Association between the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and litter size was conducted. Results suggested that expression of the HOXA11 gene was the highest on day 15 and decreased on day 26 of gestation, reaching a minimum level of expression on day 50 of gestation in Large White pigs. Expression of the HOXA11 gene tended to be consistent between day 15 of the estrous cycle and day 26 of gestation, and decreased on day 50 of gestation in Meishan pigs. Series deletion analysis and reporter expression assays identified a promoter region of the HOXA11 gene which possessed a five times higher promoter activity than the pGL3-Basic vector. Using comparative sequencing, a candidate SNP (KF724933:g.2325C>A) was identified. In a Large White pig population, this polymorphism was associated with the number of piglets. In a combined analysis containing all parity groups, sows with the AC genotype had greater total number of born (1.80; P < 0.05) and number of born alive (1.82; P < 0.05) piglets compared with the CC genotype sows. These results indicate HOXA11 may play a role in the regulation of embryo implantation in pigs. Keywords: endometrium, HOXA11, qPCR, single nucleotide polymorphism, litter size Journal: Czech Journal of Animal Science Pages: 243-249 Volume: 61 Issue: 5 Year: 2016 DOI: 10.17221/127/2014-CJAS File-URL: http://cjas.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/127/2014-CJAS.html File-Format: text/html X-File-Ref: http://agriculturejournals.cz/RePEc/caa/references/cjs-201605-0006.txt Handle: RePEc:caa:jnlcjs:v:61:y:2016:i:5:id:127-2014-CJAS