MATERNAL NUTRITION, EPIGENETIC MODIFIERS, AND PROGRAMMING OF FETAL ORGAN DEVELOPMENT IN BEEF CATTLE

Our long-term goals are to ascertain the underlying mechanisms regulating developmental programming in livestock species and to develop successful approaches to mitigate impacts of compromised fetal development. This will increase competitiveness of U.S. animal agriculture and ultimately contribute to meeting world food demands. Our short-term goals of this project are to determine the mechanisms associated with impacts of maternal nutrition and strategic supplementation of one-carbon metabolites on developmental programming events in fetal liver and muscle in female beef cattle.Specific Objectives: to assess the impacts of maternal nutrition and inclusion of OCM from breeding to d 63 of gestation on: 1) the transcriptome and identity of differentially expressed genes (and associated pathways) in fetal liver and muscle; 2) the metabolic phenotype of fetal liver and muscle, mitochondrial and glycolytic functionality, and cell fuel use; and 3) organ growth and morphology, as measured by mass and muscle fiber formation and size.