Influence of the At-Arrival Host Transcriptome on Bovine Respiratory Disease Incidence during Backgrounding
by
,
Mollie M. Green
1, 
Amelia R. Woolums
2,
Brandi B. Karisch
3,
Kelsey M. Harvey
4,
Sarah F. Capik
5,† and
Matthew A. Scott
6,*,† 1
Department of Agricultural Sciences, West Texas A&M University, Canyon, TX 79016, USA
2
Department of Pathobiology and Population Medicine, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA
3
Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences, Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS 39762, USA
4
Prairie Research Unit, Mississippi State University, Prairie, MS 39756, USA
5
Tumbleweed Veterinary Services, PLLC, Amarillo, TX 79159, USA
6
Veterinary Education, Research, and Outreach Center, Texas A&M University, Canyon, TX 79016, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
These authors contributed equally to this work.
Vet. Sci. 2023, 10(3), 211; https://doi.org/10.3390/vetsci10030211
Submission received: 2 February 2023
/
Revised: 6 March 2023
/
Accepted: 9 March 2023
/
Published: 10 March 2023
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Prevention, Diagnosis, and Management of Bovine Respiratory Diseases)
Simple Summary
Bovine respiratory disease is the leading cause of antibiotic use in beef cattle. While several management strategies exist to help prevent bovine respiratory disease, rates of disease remain high, and we do not understand how management decisions, such as marketing decisions, influence the immune and metabolic systems of cattle, especially those related to the development of bovine respiratory disease. Therefore, we evaluated the influence of two different marketing decisions, namely commercial auctioning and direct transportation, and the relationship these decisions have with bovine respiratory disease development on the animal’s immune and metabolic responses, measured through blood RNA sequencing on arrival at a backgrounding operation. We found that cattle that experienced a commercial auction setting prior to arrival displayed gene expression related to increased viral defense, decreased cellular growth and metabolism, and increased innate immunity compared to directly shipped cattle. Individuals who remained clinically healthy during the backgrounding phase after experiencing an auction setting demonstrated increased gene expression related to collagen formation and platelet activity compared with cattle that eventually developed bovine respiratory disease. These results improve our understanding regarding why some cattle develop bovine respiratory disease and establish a basis for future research to maximize beneficial responses in cattle at risk for bovine respiratory disease.
Abstract
Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) remains the leading disease within the U.S. beef cattle industry. Marketing decisions made prior to backgrounding may shift BRD incidence into a different phase of production, and the importance of host gene expression on BRD incidence as it relates to marketing strategy is poorly understood. Our objective was to compare the influence of marketing on host transcriptomes measured on arrival at a backgrounding facility on the subsequent probability of being treated for BRD during a 45-day backgrounding phase. This study, through RNA-Seq analysis of blood samples collected on arrival, evaluated gene expression differences between cattle which experienced a commercial auction setting (AUCTION) versus cattle directly shipped to backgrounding from the cow–calf phase (DIRECT); further analyses were conducted to determine differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between cattle which remained clinically healthy during backgrounding (HEALTHY) versus those that required treatment for clinical BRD within 45 days of arrival (BRD). A profound difference in DEGs (n = 2961) was identified between AUCTION cattle compared to DIRECT cattle, regardless of BRD development; these DEGs encoded for proteins involved in antiviral defense (increased in AUCTION), cell growth regulation (decreased in AUCTION), and inflammatory mediation (decreased in AUCTION). Nine and four DEGs were identified between BRD and HEALTHY cohorts in the AUCTION and DIRECT groups, respectively; DEGs between disease cohorts in the AUCTION group encoded for proteins involved in collagen synthesis and platelet aggregation (increased in HEALTHY). Our work demonstrates the clear influence marketing has on host expression and identified genes and mechanisms which may predict BRD risk.
Keywords:
bovine respiratory disease; cattle; collagen; cytokine; management; marketing; platelet; RNA; transcriptome; virus
