Dawson Karl A
Alltech North American Bioscience Center, Nicholasville, KY 40356, United States.
Anim Reprod Sci. 2006 Dec;96(3-4):312-22. doi: 10.1016/j.anireprosci.2006.08.009. Epub 2006 Aug 3.
The post genomic era will result in many new molecular tools for evaluating the factors influencing fertility and reproductive performance in domestic livestock and poultry. There is currently considerable interest and practical merit in examining the regulatory steps involved in the process of gene transcription. Currently, oligo-based and cDNA microarray techniques make it possible to understand many of the factors controlling the regulation of gene transcription and globally evaluate gene expression profiles by looking at the relative abundance of gene-specific mRNA in tissues. These techniques provide an unprecedented amount of information and are only now being used to examine key reproductive, developmental, and performance characteristics in cattle. They also promise to provide a tremendous amount of new information that can be used to understand and diagnose key issues that limit reproductive performance. The science of nutrigenomics has begun to use information obtained from basic studies of the genome to evaluate the effects of diet and nutrient management schemes on gene expression. Preliminary studies have shown the value of such techniques and suggest that it will be possible to use specific gene expression patterns to evaluate the effects of nutrition on key metabolic processes relating to reproductive performance. While the effects of nutrition on fertility are only partially understood, modern nutrigenomics will undoubtedly play a key role in developing strategies for addressing some of the limitations in reproductive performance.
后基因组时代将产生许多新的分子工具，用于评估影响家畜和家禽繁殖力及生殖性能的因素。目前，研究基因转录过程中涉及的调控步骤具有相当大的吸引力和实际价值。目前，基于寡核苷酸和cDNA微阵列技术使得人们能够了解许多控制基因转录调控的因素，并通过观察组织中基因特异性mRNA的相对丰度来全面评估基因表达谱。这些技术提供了前所未有的信息量，目前才开始用于研究牛的关键生殖、发育和性能特征。它们还有望提供大量新信息，可用于理解和诊断限制生殖性能的关键问题。营养基因组学这门科学已开始利用从基因组基础研究中获得的信息来评估饮食和营养管理方案对基因表达的影响。初步研究已显示出此类技术的价值，并表明有可能利用特定的基因表达模式来评估营养对与生殖性能相关的关键代谢过程的影响。虽然营养对繁殖力的影响只是部分为人所知，但现代营养基因组学无疑将在制定应对生殖性能方面一些限制因素的策略中发挥关键作用。
