Ciencia y tecnología veterinaria

Bovine Genetic Variability and Therapeutic Response: Potential Application of Pharmacogenetics in Cattle

Abstract

Jorge Luís de Figueiredo Salgado*, Raquel Lima de Figueiredo Teixeira, Márcia Quinhones Pires Lopes, Michel José Sales Abdalla Helayel, Harrison Magdinier Gomes, Philip Noel Suffys, Roberta Olmo Pinheiro and Adalberto Rezende Santos

Brazil has the world's largest commercial cattle herd. However, the production system faces challenges due to various diseases, which have led to an increased demand for effective prophylaxis and treatment, especially for conditions like bovine mastitis. Despite the predominant use of different medications in livestock farming, their effectiveness is often hampered by the variability of individual animal responses and genetic variations. Thus, we aimed to investigate the variability of the SLC15A2, SLC16A1 and SLC22A6 genes in cattle. In humans, these genes are linked to the metabolic pathways of commonly employed mastitis treatments by Cloxacillin (CLO) and Ampicillin (AMP). The study encompassed 50 Girolando breed cows from Fazenda Nossa Senhora de Fátima in the Municipality of Silva Jardim, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Genotyping was performed by direct PCR sequencing of DNA from whole blood and the investigated regions in the three genes covering all exons except exon 10 of the SLC22A6 gene. We identified 13 SNP including eight within SLC22A6 (c.248C>T, c.277G>T, c.292G>T, c.315T>C, c.50T>A, c.50C>T, c.37C>T and c.44C>T) and five within SLC16A1 (c.167G>A, c.242A>G, c.641C>T, c.644G>A and c.139C>T). Notably, no polymorphism was observed in SLC15A2. We here present a pilot that sheds some light on the potential of bovine pharmacogenetics and demonstrates a considerable variability in drug- metabolism associated genes in cattle.

Such studies pave the way for investigations of functionality of these SNPs and their potential associations with therapeutic responses in bovine mastitis treatment.