USPOULTRY and the USPOULTRY Foundation announce the completion of a funded research project at the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland, in which researchers identified the contribution of broiler genetics on gut health and immune response when challenged with Salmonella Typhimurium.

The research was made possible in part by an endowing Foundation gift from Ingram Farms and is part of the Associations comprehensive research program encompassing all phases of poultry and egg production and processing. A summary of the completed project is as follows.

(Dr Shawna Weimer, Department of Animal and Avian Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland)

Dr Shawna Weimer and colleagues at the University of Maryland recently completed a research project that evaluated the differences in immune response, gut morphology and microbiome, and behavior of fast- and slow-growing broiler chickens challenged with Salmonella typhimurium.

The results showed that Salmonella did induce a small variety of responses, including impaired intestinal morphology in fast-growing birds at 24 days and elevated IgA concentrations at 21 days in the slow-growing birds. The fast-growing birds were heavier, had greater jejunum gut integrity, and greater concentrations of immunoglobulins IgA and IgG in blood plasma by 24 days.

Slow-growing birds had greater IgG concentrations at 7 days and their gut integrity was more resilient to challenge by 24 days. Behaviorally, fast-growing broilers were less exploratory, social and aggressive than slow growing. Birds from both breeds and challenge treatments sat more and stood less on days 16 and 20 after challenge, which the researchers hypothesize could have been due to the stress of subjection to oral gavage.

The results of this study indicate that meaningful genotypic and phenotypic differences exist between fast- and slow-growing broiler body weight, immune response, gut morphology and microbial communities, and behavior when challenged with Salmonella typhimurium. Delineating the differences in basal and Salmonella-challenged phenotypes of broilers with divergent growth rates provides useful information for genetic, nutritional and management decisions.

Overall findings showed that breed had a much stronger effect than Salmonella challenge, indicating that meaningful genotypic and phenotypic differences exist between fast- and slow-growing broiler body weight, immune response, gut morphology and microbial communities, and behavior when challenged with Salmonella typhimurium.

The research summary can be found on the USPOULTRY website.

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Link between broiler genetics, gut health and immune response becomes clearer in University of Maryland study - The Poultry Site

Every two weeks, members of the Yale Genetics Diversity Advisory Committee (DAC) come together to discuss ways to address equity and inclusion across all underrepresented memberships within the department. These discussions are centered around four major areas: i) understanding the challenges that members of our community from underrepresented backgrounds face, ii) scrutinizing and formalizing a more equitable approach to hiring, iii) educating members of the community at all career stages and job functions in how to eliminate current exclusionary practices, and iv) investing in the support and retention of underrepresented minorities within the department. The committee operates within a network of Yale-wide diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts led by Deputy Dean and Chief Diversity Officer Dr. Darin Latimore together with Associate Dean of Diversity and Inclusion & Associate Chief Diversity Officer Rochelle Smith, both from the Yale School of Medicines Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

DAC was formed in October 2020 and is led by the Vice Chair of Diversity in the department, Dr. Valentina Greco. The overarching goal of DAC is to provide a lens through which to scrutinize and improve all departmental practices to embrace, enrich, and support a greater diversity within the departmental membership. The committee members partner closely with departmental members and leadership to achieve this. DAC members also act as representatives for other community members at their professional level undergraduate, post-graduate, graduate students, post-doc, administrative staff and lab professionals, clinical staff, and junior and senior faculty updating their peers on DAC efforts and bringing forth the concerns of their circles to the committee. Committee members communicate regularly with each other through a Slack platform, educating themselves and supporting each other in this critical work. The committee members are individuals with diverse backgrounds and different lived experiences who must be brave, vulnerable, and open with each other as they discuss the resistance within and outside the community to implement cultural change.

One of the areas where DAC is currently focusing its efforts on is the departments hiring practices, closely collaborating with faculty members and departmental leadership to develop an approach that both attracts and enriches for diverse memberships. To this end, DAC has recently provided extensive review and feedback of departmental guidelines for the recruitment of new junior faculty. These guidelines span from the initial wording of the advertisement to procedures detailing best practices for scoring applications, conducting interviews, and advancing candidates at each stage of review. Once approved, the guidelines will help to ensure that diversity is embedded in every faculty search going forward as a core value of the department, and that proactive steps to promote diversity in faculty hiring are consistently taken, regardless of who is directing the search.

Just as important as diversifying the candidate pool is ensuring that the department can support and retain its diverse faculty members. On its own, recruiting diverse candidates will not fix problems of equity and inclusion in the department this would only perpetuate such problems by creating a false sense that the culture has become more inclusive and supportive simply through diverse recruitment efforts, instead of addressing the underlying barriers that have traditionally excluded diverse members in the first place. To provide an authentically supportive environment for vulnerable memberships within the department, DAC is helping to implement an infrastructure for everyday processes, ranging from mentoring to promotion criteria, that continually scrutinizes and improves itself to be equitable for everyone.

DAC meetings create intentional spaces for scrutiny and to brainstorm solutions. However, it is also important to note that efforts to address inequity have been underway in the department even before the formation of DAC. In 2019, Dr. Caroline Hendry, Scientific Director and Advisor to the Chair of Genetics, spearheaded the Program to Support and Retain Women Faculty in Genetics, partnering with long-time advocate of gender equity Dr. Valentina Greco, as well as senior women faculty in the department Dr. Lynn Cooley, Dr. Valerie Reinke, and Dr. Hui Zhang. The program was designed in consultation with Dr. David Berg, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and an expert in organizational behavior and group and intergroup relations. The program takes a holistic approach to both support the professional advancement of women faculty in Genetics and to begin to break down the socio-cultural barriers that have impeded their advancement thus far. The Program to Support and Retain Women Faculty in Genetics has equipped me with tools to develop my managerial skills on a more personalized basis, says Dr. Kaelyn Sumigray, Assistant Professor of Genetics. She shares that the program provided a much-needed support system for developing my research program at a critical time in my career. The program spans four key areas: i) creating opportunities for women to become leaders, ii) scrutinizing and reassigning the distribution of burden and invisible labor in the department, iii) deconstructing gender stereotypes that limit career progression, and iv) establishing best practices for life-work integration. Importantly, the program includes men in the department insofar as they must be willing to take an active role in recognizing and addressing their privilege and role in perpetuating the structural, cultural and organizational barriers that have so far restricted womens careers in science from advancing on par with their male colleagues. Many aspects of the program can and are applied to other groups that are currently underrepresented in the department not just women in order to support and retain all vulnerable memberships.

More recently, the committee has expanded its efforts in training and educating the department on topics primarily at the intersection of race and genetics and issues of discrimination. The Equity Journal Club (EJC) was established by the departments trainees and staff in response to the social movement that came from the murder of George Floyd. It is another example of a diversity initiative that existed prior to DAC, and DAC is now working to expand the initiative and incorporate it into the more routine Research in Progress forum in the department as part of the departments ongoing educational mission. It is a sign of our commitment to learn and improve as a collective group," says Maria Benitez, a Genetics student and DAC representative. The DAC and EJC are in the midst of planning speaker events open to the Yale community to expand the conversation around the intersection of racism, genetic research, and health equity. DAC members also have a vision of putting together a library, compiling literature on anti-racism and systemic discrimination that anyone can access to educate themselves.

Dismantling structural bias and discrimination against people of diverse racial and ethnic groups, persons with disabilities, the LGBTQ+ community, people from low socioeconomic backgrounds, and other vulnerable memberships is a long-term project. It cannot be solved by one individual leader, but requires peers to unite as followers of a movement that collectively desires and is willing to make the effort for change. Dr. Greco emphasizes the need for each member in the Yale Genetics community to bring a dedicated and serious commitment to change ourselves in order to make space for others. The exceptionalism and individualism that academia is built on is antithetic to the notion that talent is widespread. Furthermore, consciously or unconsciously, we perpetuate with our actions the false belief that talent can only be found in the few memberships consistent with the appearances of those who currently hold the most power and privilege, Greco continues. DAC believes that this ideological disconnect is the biggest resistance that the department faces in moving forward with DEI initiatives. Members of the department must realize that talent is present in groups that have historically and continue to be only tolerated, suppressed, or entirely excluded at various levels on the academic ladder.

Yale Genetics DAC and members of DEI committees across Yale continue to reflect on privilege and take action to make the department and the institution a more equitable place. Though there is still so much to be done, with the ongoing activism of DAC members and the collaboration of the entire department, Yale Genetics is determined to build a more inclusive environment for all.

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Collective Efforts to Increase Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Genetics Department Make Steady Progress - Yale School of Medicine

NEW YORK A suite of new studies has examined how one cell develops into all the tissues of the human body by tracing and investigating the mutations they acquire over time.

As cells divide, they acquire mutations that are then passed on to their daughter cells. The resulting patterns of mutations can be used to trace back a cell's family tree, possibly all the way to the first cell. In four new studies appearing Wednesday in Nature, teams of researchers from across the world used this approach to study the earliest stages of human development as well as the later accumulation of somatic mutations, including ones linked to cancer.

"Exploring the human body via the mutations cells acquire as we age is as close as we can get to studying human biology in vivo," Luiza Moore, a researcher at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and first author of one of the studies, said in a statement. "Our life history can be found in the history of our cells, but these studies show that this history is more complex than we might have assumed."

Tracing these mutations back in time revealed differences in mutation rates very early in embryonic development. Researchers led by the Sanger Institute's Michael Stratton uncovered a pattern of mutations that indicated a high initial mutation rate that then fell in a study that combined laser capture microdissections with whole-genome sequencing of samples from three individuals. A team led by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology's Young Seok Ju similarly found a high mutational rate during the early stages of development that then declined, using a capture-recapture approach.

The Stratton-led team estimated that the first two cell divisions had mutation rates of 2.4 per cell per generation, which then fell to 0.7 per cell per generation. This dip, they said, is likely due to the activation of the zygotic genome that increases the ability to repair DNA.

These early cells also contributed unequally to the development of subsequent lineages, though the degree of asymmetry varied from person to person. Ju and his colleagues reported, for instance, that for one individual in their analysis, 112 early lineages split at a ratio of 6.5:1, rather than the expected 1:1.

Stratton and his colleagues, meanwhile, reported that one individual in their study had a 69:31 contribution of the initial daughter cells to subsequent lineages, while another had a 93:7 ratio based on bulk brain samples, but an 81:19 ratio based on colon samples.

This, they said, indicates that the lineage commitment of cells is not fixed. Ju and his colleagues likewise said their finding suggested a stochasticity of clonal segregation in humans, unlike the deterministic embryogenesis observed in C. elegans.

These analyses also shed light on the development of somatic mutations later in life. KAIST's Ju and his colleagues, for instance, found most mutations are specific to certain clones, while in a separate study, the Sanger's Moore and her colleagues, who examined the mutational landscape of 29 cell types from three individuals through sequencing, found mutationrates varied by cell type and were very low in spermatogonia.

Ju and his colleagues also reported that normal tissues harbored known mutational signatures, including UV-mediated DNA damage and endogenous clock-like mutagenesis. Similarly, Moore and her colleagues noted known mutational signatures within normal tissues. They found, for instance, the aging-related SBS1 and SBS5 mutational signatures to be the most common signatures across all cell types, while other signatures were more prominent in certain cell types but not others. The SBS88 signature, which is due to a strain of E. coli, for example, was present among colorectal and appendiceal crypts.

Chen Wu, an investigator at the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, and her colleagues also found the aging-related SBS1 and SBS5 mutational signatures to be common among normal tissues, based on their sequencing analysis of microbiopsies from five individuals. Other tissues, like the liver and lung, also harbored other mutational signature like SBS4, which is associated with tobacco smoking.

Some of the mutations present in normal somatic tissues are typically associated with cancer, Wu and her colleagues added. They found mutations in 32 cancer driver genes were widespread among their normal tissue samples, though varied by organ. For instance, driver mutations were present in 6.5 percent of pancreas parenchyma samples and in 73.8 percent of esophageal samples.

Additionally, many normal tissue samples harbored as many as three cancer driver mutations. This, Harvard Medical School's Kamila Naxerova noted in a related commentary in Nature, begins to blur the line between what is normal and what is cancer. "Indeed, if cells with three driver mutations can easily be found in a small tissue sample, cells with four or five drivers probably exist in that tissue as well without necessarily giving rise to cancer," she wrote. "These new insights invite us to reconsider how we genetically define cancer."

Overall, she added that "the four studies provide an impressive demonstration of the power of modern genetics to decode the cellular dynamics that unfold in our bodies over time."

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Genetic Analyses Trace How Mutations Accumulate in Cells of the Human Body Over Time - GenomeWeb

A bat in flight.

Bats have developed a pretty bad rap sheet in the last few years. First, pop culture painted these mammals as a form of the blood-sucking Dracula, and then they were villainised for allegedly triggering a pandemic. Indeed, these poor creatures can't seem to catch a break! Aside from being adorable, bats have several other redeeming qualities like being the only mammals capable of flying and finding food even in complete darkness.

Of late, experts in genetics have uncovered a few startling facts about these Chiropterans, which could imply that they may hold the secret to healthy ageing. With the COVID-19 pandemic turning the spotlight on bats, their unique ability to stay alive against unmatched odds has also come under scrutiny.

The relationship between the size of a mammal, its metabolism, and lifespan is relatively straightforward. The larger the mammal, the slower its metabolism is, and this means a longer lifespan. While we humans ourselves are an exception to this rule, these flying mammals also deviate from this trend.

Some bats are known to live for 40 yearsthat's eight times longer than the lifespan of other animals their size! This unusually long lifespan of bats has always aroused the curiosity of scientistsit prompted them to ask the question, what was it that made these bats live longer?

The gene expression pattern in bats is very unique and has been associated with DNA repair, autophagy, immunity and tumour suppression, ensuring an extended health span for bats. Now, scientists are wondering if we could replicate a few such attributes on humans as well!

There's a cap-like structure called the telomere present at the end of each chromosomea microscopic threadlike part of the cell that carries part or all of the genetic material. This unique structure protects your chromosomes from damage. Every time your cells replicate, the chromosome loses just a little bit of the telomere. As time passes, this telomere gets very short, and either rides the wave of ageing or causes the cell to self-destruct. To put it succinctly, the shortening of your telomeres is why you age.

While this seems inevitable, studies conducted in the last few years revealed that the telomeres do not shorten in long-lived species of batslike the Myotis genus. This means that these species can protect their DNA for an unusually long-time in their lifespan.

A bat pup.

It's common knowledge that in humans, the body's ability to heal and repair any damage decreases considerably as we age. But researchers studied the genome of young, middle-aged, and old bats and found that their ability to repair DNA and damage caused by age increased as they grew older.

Another quality that contributes to their longevity is their ability to control their immune responses. With an over-excited immune response, humans tend to succumb to infections like COVID-19 quicker. In COVID-19 patients with regulated immune responses, the risk of ending up on the ventilator is much lower, reveals research.

Similarly, a controlled immune response could be why bats are able to carry numerous deadly pathogens like the coronavirus without succumbing to them easily.

Humans and bats have many similar genes but with a tweak here and a nip there. So, if we could someday discover what factors elicit these controlled immune responses and telomere shortening avoidance in bats and replicate it in humans, it would be a massive leap towards the utopian dream of a healthy, long life!

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The Bat Elixir: Geneticists Suspect that the Flying Mammal Holds the Key to Extended Healthy Life | The Weather Channel - Articles from The Weather...