The genetic variability of Pantesco and other two Sicilian autochthonous donkey breeds (Ragusano and Grigio Siciliano) was assessed using a set of 14 microsatellites. The main goals were to describe ...the current differentiation among the breeds and to provide genetic information useful to safeguard the Pantesco breed as well as to manage Ragusano and Grigio Siciliano. In the whole sample, that included 108 donkeys representative of the three populations, a total of 85 alleles were detected. The mean number of alleles was lower in Pantesco (3.7), than in Grigio Siciliano and Ragusano (4.4 and 5.9, resp.). The three breeds showed a quite low level of gene diversity (He) ranging from 0.471 in Pantesco to 0.589 in Grigio. The overall genetic differentiation index (Fst) was quite high; more than 10% of the diversity was found among breeds. Reynolds’ (DR) genetic distances, correspondence, and population structure analysis reproduced the same picture, revealing that, (a) Pantesco breed is the most differentiated in the context of the Sicilian indigenous breeds, (b) within Ragusano breed, two well-defined subgroups were observed. This information is worth of further investigation in order to provide suitable data for conservation strategies.
Bioactive peptides in dairy products Tidona, Flavio; Criscione, Andrea; Guastella, Anna Maria ...
Italian journal of animal science,
20/1/1/, Volume:
8, Issue:
3
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Bioactive peptides are specific protein fragments that have a positive impact on body functions and conditions and may ultimately influence health. Most of the biological activities are encrypted ...within the primary sequence of the native protein and can be released by enzymatic hydrolysis and proteolysis or by food processing. Milk is a rich source of bioactive peptides which may contribute to regulate the nervous, gastrointestinal and cardiovascular systems as well as the immune system, confirming the added value of dairy products that, in certain cases, can be considered functional foods. The main biological activities of these peptides and their bioavailability in dairy products are reviewed. The natural concentration of these biomolecules is quite low and, to date one of the main goals has been to realize products enriched with bioactive peptides that have beneficial effects on human health and proven safety. Even though several health-enhancing products have already been launched and their integration in the diet could help in the prevention of chronic diseases such as hypertension, cancer and osteoporosis, more clinical trials are required in order to develop a deeper understanding of the activity of biopeptides on the human physiological mechanisms and also to assess the efficacy of their effects in a long term view. New scientific data are also needed to support their commercialisation in compliance with current regulations.
Nero Siciliano is an autochthonous pig breed that is reared mainly in semi-extensive systems in northeastern Sicily. Despite its economic importance and well-appreciated meat products, this breed is ...currently endangered. Consequently, an analysis of intra-breed variability is a fundamental step in preserving this genetic resource and its breeding system. In this work, we used 25 microsatellite markers to examine the genetic composition of 147 unrelated Nero Siciliano pigs. The total number of alleles detected (249, 9.96 per locus) and the expected heterozygosity (0.708) indicated that this breed had a high level of genetic variability. Bayesian cluster analysis showed that the most likely number of groups into which the sample could be partitioned was nine. Based on the proportion of each individuals genome derived from ancestry, pigs with at least 70% of their genome belonging to one cluster were assigned to that cluster. The cluster size ranged from 7 to 17 (n = 108). Genetic variability in this sub-population was slightly lower than in the whole sample, genetic differentiation among clusters was moderate (F(ST) 0.125) and the F(IS) value was 0.011. NeighborNet and correspondence analysis revealed two clusters as the most divergent. Molecular coancestry analysis confirmed the good within-breed variability and highlighted the clusters that retained the highest genetic diversity.
Donkeys' milk has attracted a growing interest in human nutrition, particularly in the dietotherapy of patients affected by cows' milk protein allergy. In this paper, donkeys' milk protein fractions ...were analysed by isoelectric focusing (IEF) and sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Four different IEF patterns were observed out of 51 individual milk samples. Thirty-six samples presented a common pattern, used as a reference, whereas 15 were characterized by the presence or absence of protein bands. A single sample, lacking two bands of the casein fraction, showed an apparent reduced amount of caseins, by SDS-PAGE as well as by chromatographic analysis. Mass spectrometry and high-performance liquid chromatography were used to characterize the IEF patterns. Compared with the reference, one pattern lacked two α
s1-casein bands, another lacked two β-lactoglobulin II bands and one accounted for a different β-lactoglobulin II variant. No signals related to putative α
s2- and κ-casein were observed.
Mitochondrial D-loop hypervariable region was analysed in 20 Sanfratellano and two other Sicilian autochthonous horse breeds (20 Sicilian Oriental Purebred and 20 Sicilian Indigenous) in order to ...investigate matrilineal genetic diversity. A total of 20 different haplotypes were identified sequencing a fragment of 397 bp; overall, haplotypes showed 31 polymorphic sites (7.8%). High diversity was detected in Sanfratellano (11 haplotypes) and Sicilian Indigenous (13 haplotypes), whereas only one haplotype was found in Sicilian Oriental Purebred. Sanfratellano sequences were compared with those belonging to the other Sicilian autochthonous horses and 118 sequences selected from the GenBank database in order to calculate the statistics of molecular diversity. Six haplotypes were exclusive of Sanfratellano which shares haplotype C, D, H, and O with the Sicilian Indigenous and haplotype U with the Sicilian Oriental Purebred; not significant differentiation was found between Sanfratellano and Sicilian Indigenous. BLAST search showed Sicilian haplotypes overlap with the database sequences but for three. Phylogenetic analysis did not show monophyletic group for Sanfratellano samples or the other breeds included in this analysis.
Genetic diversity and relationship among 3 Sicilian horse breeds were investigated using 16 microsatellite markers and a 397-bp length mitochondrial D-loop sequence. The analysis of autosomal DNA was ...performed on 191 horses (80 Siciliano SIC, 61 Sanfratellano SAN, and 50 Sicilian Oriental Purebred SOP). SIC and SAN breeds were notably higher in genetic variability than the SOP. Genetic distances and cluster analysis showed a close relationship between SIC and SAN breeds, as expected according to the breeds' history. Sequencing of hypervariable mitochondrial DNA region was performed on a subset of 60 mares (20 for each breed). Overall, 20 haplotypes with 31 polymorphic sites were identified: A higher haplotype diversity was detected in SIC and SAN breeds, with 13 and 11 haplotypes respectively, whereas only one haplotype was found in SOP. These were compared with 118 sequences from GenBank. BLAST showed that 17 of the 20 haplotypes had been reported previously in other breeds. One haplotype, found in SIC, traces back to a Bronze Age archaeological site (Inner Mongolia). The 3 Sicilian breeds are now rare, and 2 of them are officially endangered. Our results represent a valuable tool for management strategies as well as for conservation purposes.
The asl(CSNlSl) and p (CSN2) casein loci were investigated in Rossa Mediterranea, a dairy goat population reared in Sicily, in order to identify the most important quantitative alleles. The study was ...carried out on 304 goats (244 females and 60 males) by means of different PCR and AS-PCR reactions. High frequency of the weak CSN1S1F allele (0.48) was observed in the whole population. At CSN1S1 locus, the null and intermediate alleles (CSN1S1" and CSNISI") were not identified. The rare CSN2" allele was found at good frequency (0.04). This preliminary survey made possible the assessment of individual genotypes at these two important loci in a large sample of the Rossa Mediterranea goat population reared in Sicily These findings will be useful in the Marker Assisted Selection to address milk production towards drinking milk or cheese-making.
Sicilian Oriental Purebred is a small breed considered at critical risk status. In order to evaluate the genetic diversity of the extant selection nucleus, two different molecular markers were used. ...Twelve microsatellite loci were characterized to assess autosomal variability of a dataset including two other Sicilian autochthonous horse breed for comparison. Sicilian Oriental Purebred showed lower levels of diversity when compared with Sanfratellano and Sicilian Indigenous and a definite distinctiveness as revealed by genetic distances. Mitochondrial D-loop region (397 bp) was analysed in 20 Sicilian Oriental Purebred and other autochthonous horses to investigate matrilineal genetic diversity. Only one haplotype was found in Sicilian Oriental Purebred whereas high diversity was noticed in the other breeds. The unique haplotype overlapped with many database sequences (Gen-Bank) including five Sanfratellano horses.
The identification of outlier loci in multilocus datasets is a critical step for reliably inferring population demographic histories and for detecting signatures of adaptive selection, since the ...presence of just a few of them can lead to a biased estimation of genetic parameters. Here, we show the effect of four outliers out of 30 microsatellites on phylogeography and relationship between eight native Italian goat breeds. The presence of the outliers influenced the relationships between individuals as estimated by factorial correspondence analysis, and between breeds as estimated by Reynolds’ distances. The outliers also affected the neighbour-joining (NJ) tree topology and the computation of the putative genetic barriers separating the populations. The complete dataset supported the existence of two significant barriers: the first isolates Orobica from the surrounding northern Alpine populations and the second separates Girgentana from the southern and Sarda breeds. After removing the outliers, a single and different barrier was significant. It separated the Sarda breed from the continental populations. Our results give new insights into the genetic structure of several native goat breeds across Italy and provide a clear example of the importance of testing for the occurrence of non-neutral loci in population genetics studies. Four outlier loci demonstrated the ability to blur the effect of geography, hiding the natural genetic barrier that separates the Sarda breed from the continental populations, while highlighting the peculiar demographic and selection history of Orobica and Girgentana.
The Melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R) is one of the main genes implicated in the determination of the coat colour in mammals. This locus showed a relevant genetic variation between breeds that can be ...exploited for breed traceability of the animal productions. Modicana, Cinisara and Sardo-Modicana are three Italian endangered cattle breeds. Genetic characterisation by molecular markers is a fundamental prerequisite for managing genetic resources and for developing potential genetic traceability protocols. In order to improve the knowledge on Modicana, Cinisara and Sardo-Modicana breeds and to evaluate the possibility to develop DNA-based protocols for their mono-breeds products traceability, the genetic structure of MC1R gene was analysed. Four main alleles were observed in a representative sample of 162 animals. In the black coated Cinisara breed (n = 42), the ED and E+ alleles segregated with a frequency of 0.93 for ED allele. In the red coated Modicana (n = 60) and Sardo-Modicana (n = 60) breeds the E+ and E1 alleles segregated with frequencies of 0.42, 0.57 and 0.52, 0.47, respectively. The recessive allele e showed a low frequency (0.01) in both breeds. Sequencing a subsample of 34 animals the rare E2 allele was found only in Modicana and Sardo-Modicana at a good frequency (0.50). A new PCR-RFLP test, based on BstOI restriction endonuclease, was devised to assay for this allele. Results of the work indicate that red coat in Modicana and Sardo-Modicana cattle is genetically determined by the E+ and E1 alleles instead of the e allele at homozygote status, as occurs in other red European breeds. In these three Italian breeds of local importance, MC1R polymorphisms can be used to discriminate Cinisara from Modicana and Sardo-Modicana, but it was not able to distinguish between the two red coat populations.