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Convergence of Genetic and Environmental Factors on Epigenome to Regulate Animal Growth and Development
Past efforts to improve animal performance have been mainly focused on genetic selections and a number of markers have been identified to be important for production traits. In addition to genetics, recent studies found that environmental factors affect animal development, especially during the embryonic and fetal stages, when all major organs and tissues are formed. Because all fetal nutrients are derived from their mothers, maternal nutrition is the major environmental factor affecting fetal development, which sets the developmental trajectory and has long-term impacts on livestock performance. Stem cells are sources of progenitor cells for the growth and development of adult animals, epigenetic changes during fetal development shape the epigenome of fetal progenitor cells and their derived adult stem cells, which alter stem cell function, providing a key mechanism linking environmental factors during early development to the long-term performance of animals.
Keywords:
beef cattle
epigenetics
fetus
marbling
