TY - JOUR
T1 - Impact of the rumen microbiome on milk fatty acid composition of Holstein cattle
AU - Buitenhuis, Bart
AU - Lassen, Jan
AU - Noel, Samantha Joan
AU - Plichta, Damian R.
AU - Sørensen, Peter
AU - Difford, Gareth F.
AU - Poulsen, Nina A.
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - Background: Fatty acids (FA) in bovine milk derive through body mobilization, de novo synthesis or from the feed via the blood stream. To be able to digest feedstuff, the cow depends on its rumen microbiome. The relative abundance of the microbes has been shown to differ between cows. To date, there is little information on the impact of the microbiome on the formation of specific milk FA. Therefore, in this study, our aim was to investigate the impact of the rumen bacterial microbiome on milk FA composition. Furthermore, we evaluated the predictive value of the rumen microbiome and the host genetics on the composition of individual FA in milk. Results: Our results show that the proportion of variance explained by the rumen bacteria composition (termed microbiability or hB2) was generally smaller than that of the genetic component (heritability), and that rumen bacteria influenced most C15:0, C17:0, C18:2 n-6, C18:3 n-3 and CLA cis-9, trans-11 with estimated hB2 ranging from 0.26 to 0.42. For C6:0, C8:0, C10:0, C12:0, C16:0, C16:1 cis-9 and C18:1 cis-9, the variance explained by the rumen bacteria component was close to 0. In general, both the rumen microbiome and the host genetics had little value for predicting FA phenotype. Compared to genetic information only, adding rumen bacteria information resulted in a significant improvement of the predictive value for C15:0 from 0.22 to 0.38 (P = 9.50e-07) and C18:3 n-3 from 0 to 0.29 (P = 8.81e-18). Conclusions: The rumen microbiome has a pronounced influence on the content of odd chain FA and polyunsaturated C18 FA, and to a lesser extent, on the content of the short- and medium-chain FA in the milk of Holstein cattle. The accuracy of prediction of FA phenotypes in milk based on information from either the animal's genotypes or rumen bacteria composition was very low.
AB - Background: Fatty acids (FA) in bovine milk derive through body mobilization, de novo synthesis or from the feed via the blood stream. To be able to digest feedstuff, the cow depends on its rumen microbiome. The relative abundance of the microbes has been shown to differ between cows. To date, there is little information on the impact of the microbiome on the formation of specific milk FA. Therefore, in this study, our aim was to investigate the impact of the rumen bacterial microbiome on milk FA composition. Furthermore, we evaluated the predictive value of the rumen microbiome and the host genetics on the composition of individual FA in milk. Results: Our results show that the proportion of variance explained by the rumen bacteria composition (termed microbiability or hB2) was generally smaller than that of the genetic component (heritability), and that rumen bacteria influenced most C15:0, C17:0, C18:2 n-6, C18:3 n-3 and CLA cis-9, trans-11 with estimated hB2 ranging from 0.26 to 0.42. For C6:0, C8:0, C10:0, C12:0, C16:0, C16:1 cis-9 and C18:1 cis-9, the variance explained by the rumen bacteria component was close to 0. In general, both the rumen microbiome and the host genetics had little value for predicting FA phenotype. Compared to genetic information only, adding rumen bacteria information resulted in a significant improvement of the predictive value for C15:0 from 0.22 to 0.38 (P = 9.50e-07) and C18:3 n-3 from 0 to 0.29 (P = 8.81e-18). Conclusions: The rumen microbiome has a pronounced influence on the content of odd chain FA and polyunsaturated C18 FA, and to a lesser extent, on the content of the short- and medium-chain FA in the milk of Holstein cattle. The accuracy of prediction of FA phenotypes in milk based on information from either the animal's genotypes or rumen bacteria composition was very low.
U2 - 10.1186/s12711-019-0464-8
DO - 10.1186/s12711-019-0464-8
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 31142263
AN - SCOPUS:85066945880
SN - 0999-193X
VL - 51
JO - Genetics Selection Evolution
JF - Genetics Selection Evolution
IS - 1
M1 - 23
ER -