Graziella Bongioni

Istituto Sperimentale Italiano Lazzaro Spallanzani · Molecular Genetics Laboratory

The aim of this study was to evaluate the ability of DNA metabarcoding, by rbcl as barcode marker, to identify and classify the small traces of plant DNA isolated from raw milk used to produce Grana Padano (GP) cheese. GP is one of the most popular Italian PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) produced in Italy in accordance with the GP PDO specifi...

Sperm motility is directly related to the ability of sperm to move through the female reproductive tract to reach the ovum. Sperm motility is a complex trait that is influenced by environmental and genetic factors and is associated with male fertility, oocyte penetration rate, and reproductive success of cattle. In this study we carried out a GWAS...

Background: Assessment of genetic diversity and population structure provides important control metrics to avoid genetic erosion, inbreeding depression and crossbreeding between exotic and locally-adapted cattle breeds since these events can have deleterious consequences and eventually lead to extinction. Historically, the Alpine Arc represents an...

This study aimed at examining and comparing the nutrient removal efficiency, biomass productivity and microbial community structure of two outdoor pilot-scale photobioreactors, namely a bubble column and a raceway pond, treating the liquid fraction of an agricultural digestate. Bacterial and eukaryotic communities were characterized using a metabar...

The Bolognese is an ancient breed originating from the North of Italy belonging to the Bichon family group. In 2017, the Italian Bolognese population counted 3291 males and 3305 females for a total of 6596 living animals, while the subpopulation that generated offspring was composed of 1022 living animals. The Bolognese is a rather healthy breed wi...

https://secure.viewer.zmags.com/publication/d944c3b8#/d944c3b8/116

In order to implement effective use of microalgae as an innovative biological process for bioremediation, the most accurate characterization and monitoring of biocenosis is fundamental to define the most interesting options. Accordingly, metagenome sequencing currently is the method of choice to obtain insights into community composition. Here, we...

In the last years the concern of consumer about food safety is increased, so in the European Union great value is placed on accurate and safe animal identification; breeding plan, disease monitoring, and food safety depend heavily on conventional animal identification. For this reason, the protection of the integrity of these programs from fraud or...

https://www.isag.us/Docs/Proceedings/ISAG2017_Proceedings.pdf?v3

The number of selective breeding programs has increased over the years for all major European aquaculture fish species. This trend is supported by an increase in the number of selected traits and by the use of molecular tools in a larger number of selective programs. The management of modern selective breeding programs in aquaculture requires the u...

http://www.aspa2017.it/ZeusInc/PageDesigner/Documents/Book%20of%20Abstracts.pdf

http://www.aspa2017.it/ZeusInc/PageDesigner/Documents/Book%20of%20Abstracts.pdf

The in vitro assessments of sperm quality represent an important, but limited, approach to evaluate ejaculated fecundant capacity. To date, the most popular method worldwide for fertility estimation is related to non-return (NR) rate which makes it possible to estimate fertility in vivo only after the widespread use of a bull. This work is aimed at...

The in vitro assessments of sperm quality represent an important, but limited, approach to evaluate ejaculated fecundant capacity. To date the most popular method worldwide for fertility estimation is related to non-return (NR) rate which makes it possible to estimate fertility in vivo only after the widespread use of a bull. This work is aimed at...

The objectives of the present work were to compare the primary sex ratio in sperm with the secondary sex ratio recorded in the offspring produced by AI with the same sperm, and to assess whether the primary sex ratio is influenced by sperm survival and motility after thawing. Calving data of 98 Holstein Frisian bulls used in AI were collected durin...

The objectives of the present work were to verify whether simultaneous exposure to Hoechst 33342 and UV irradiation during sorting by flow cytometry may induce gene point mutations in bovine sperm and to assess whether the dye incorporated in the sperm may imply a mutagenic effect during the embryonic development. To this aim, high-resolution melt...

Objective: To investigate the telomere length in bovine offspring produced by a cloned and control bull, and the telomerase activity in embryos produced with the same technology. Methods: Five daughters of a control and five daughters of a bull cloned using a fibroblast of the control were produced by IVF using sperm of the two bulls. Blood samples...

The aim of this study was to establish whether perturbed gene expression during cumulus oocyte development causes repeat breeding in cattle. In this study, a repeat breeder was defined as a normal estrous cycling animal that did not become pregnant after three inseminations despite the absence of clinically detectable reproductive disorders. Transc...

In this study a field trial was conducted to evaluate the main factors affecting the fertility in Holstein Friesian cows (heifers and pluriparous) inseminated with sexed semen. Semen was collected from ten bulls housed in three semen production centers and the sex-sorting was carried out by two companies according to Belstville Sperm Sorting Techno...

In buffaloes, AI with sexed semen is not fully optimized, and the procedure has only been performed using the approach currently in use for cattle. The objective of the present work was to compare the pregnancy rates in Mediterranean Italian buffalo cows inseminated with sexed frozen-thawed semen at 2, 4, 6, and 8 million sperm per dose, using the...

Semen quality assurance in Italy is regulated by law governing animal selection and reproduction. The activity of “Official Semen Control” (OSC) has been assigned to the Spallanzani Institute with financial support of the Italian Ministry of Agriculture. The OSC supports the Italian animal breeding industry by ensuring that frozen semen supplied by...

To date, no single in vitro assessment can estimate bull fertility. This research was aimed at evaluating the ability of a series of laboratory assessments to assign 50 Holstein Friesian bulls grouped as low (ER-NRR<-1.5), medium (-0.5<ER-NRR<+0.5) and high (ER-NRR≥+1.5) fertility based on estimated relative non-return rates (ER-NRR), to the two ca...

The gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) is one of the main marine fish species cultured in Europe. In order to enhance the efficiency of aquaculture production, there is an increasing interest to develop selective breeding programs and molecular markers especially useful for tracing pedigrees without having to rear families separately. Here we descri...

In the dairy industry worldwide, reproductive disorders are a major cause of economic losses, whereas in recent decades a declined fertility associated with increased milk production have been widely reported. Fertility failures have multifactorial origin: environment, nutrition, management practices and pathologies. However, to some fertility prob...

Scrapie is a fatal neurodegenerative brain disease affecting sheep and goat and is one of the know n transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs).Genetic resistance to classical scrapie is associated with polymorphisms at three sites on the Pr ion Protein gene (PrP), at codon 136, 154 and 171. This implies the possibility to select animals with...

The aim of this study was to observe sperm utilization in Apis mellifera ligustica naturally mated honeybee queens over a two year period. The study was conducted by microsatellite analysis of the progenies of 6 honeybee queens sampled during two consecutive egg-laying seasons (from June to October in the first year and from March to June in the se...

Gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) represents one of the most important species for aquaculture in the Mediterranean region and its interest in selective breeding programs is increasing, given the evidence of large potential gains for selective improvement of economical traits. DNA molecular markers are especially useful in selective breeding progra...

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have recently been proposed as an alternative to microsatellites for genotyping individuals. SNPs occur frequently in the genome and, respect to other polymorphisms commonly used in genetic analysis, can be assayed with high-throughput technologies. The aim of this study was to characterize 31 SNPs markers tha...

Despite many recent advances in single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping technologies, there is still the need for methodologies with a reasonable throughput. In this study, we compared three PCR-based methods for SNP detection: (1) a conventional PCR-based allele detection system with fluorescent genotyping technology, (2) a SNaPshot method...

Recent studies have demonstrated the relevance of a gene expression profile as a clinically important key feature determining embryo quality during the in vitro preimplantation period. Although the oocyte origin can play a crucial role in blastocyst yield, the postfertilization culture period has a profound effect in determining the blastocyst qual...

A novel panel of 76 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) was detected in seabream. These SNPs can be used to establish pedigrees in selection programmes and to assign progeny to parents in breeding studies. This panel represents the first description of nuclear SNPs in seabream.

Sex preselection of livestock offspring in cattle represents, nowadays, a big potential for genetic improvement and market demand satisfaction. Sperm sorting by flow cytometer provides a powerful tool for artificial insemination and production of predefined sexed embryos but, an accurate verification of the yield of sperm separation remains essenti...

The methodologies used for cytometric sorting of fresh spermatozoa never allowed a clear resolution of sexual chromosomes of frozen-thawed semen. To devise a novel method for the production of bovine predefined sexed embryos using frozen-thawed semen, sorting efficiency of different protocols was studied using a new quantitative real-time PCR metho...

Since January 2002, the European Union has adopted precise guidelines aimed at protecting the safety of meat and controlling the production chain. To this purpose, the conventional traceability of livestock and meat represents the main tool, but verification of traceability requires genetic support. At present, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs...

Abstract The methodologies used for cytometric sorting of fresh spermatozoa never allowed a clear resolution of sexual chromosomes of frozen–thawed semen. To devise a novel method for the production of bovine predefined sexed embryos using frozen–thawed semen, sorting efficiency of different protocols was studied using a new quantitative real-time...

The myostatin gene codes for the double muscling phenotype. Polymorphisms in this gene could be important on the pression selection finalized to a meat of certificated quality because produce carcasses of considerable value ranking in the highest categories of the EUROP-classification thanks to the meat potential and the low fat rates. For these ch...

The term arthrogryposis refers to a symptom complex that is characterised by congenital limb contractures. Arthrogryposis has been reported in man, in farm animals and in pets. Several forms have been reported to have a genetic origin in man. In Brown Swiss and Holstein Friesian cattle, congenital contractures have been recorded and classified as s...

Abstract The term arthrogryposis refers to a symptom complex that is characterised by congenital limb contractures. Arthrogryposis has been reported in man, in farm animals and in pets. Several forms have been reported to have a genetic origin in man. In Brown Swiss and Holstein Friesian cattle, congenital contractures have been recorded and classi...

A comparative fluorescence in situ mapping of the SMN gene was performed on R-banded chromosome preparations of cattle (Bos taurus, BTA, 2n = 60), river buffalo (Bubalus bubalis, BBU, 2n = 50), sheep (Ovis aries, OAR, 2n = 54) and goat (Capra hircus, CHI, 2n = 60), as well as on those of a calf from Piedmont breed affected by arthrogryposis. SMN wa...

Scrapie is a neurodegenerative disease of th e central nervous system mostly described in sheep and goats. It is characterised by an abnormal accumulation of the Prion Protein (PrP sc) in the central nervous system and lymphoid tissues of affected animals. The susceptibility of sheep to scrapie is ass ociated with polymorphisms in three different c...

Since January 2002, the European Union has adopted precise guidelines aimed to the safety of the meat and the control of the productive chain. To this purpose, the ordinary traceability represents the main tool but, in order to be verified, it requires a genetic support. In this paper it is proposed a new protocol based on Real-Time PCR for genotyp...

At present, SNPs (Single Nucleotide Polimorphisms) represent the most innovative molecular markers in genotyping studies. The aim of this work was to evaluate wich SNPs showed interesting allelic and genotype frequencies in order to estabilish a SNPs panel of high quality to be used in genotypizatio n pro grams on large scale. Hair samples were tak...

Achievement of genomic advances for covering the needs of animal breeding market remains a challenge. Sex determination of preimplantation embryos is an important request for embryo transfer industry. This study aimed to develop a novel, rapid and sensitive method for sexing of bovine embryo blastomeres and buffalo blastocysts using real time PCR....

Restrictions in the use of meat and bone meal (MBM) as ruminant feedstuffs were introduced by the European Commission as a response to the BSE spreading. The present paper describes an innovative protocol based on molecular techniques for the detection of animal contaminants using the Real-time PCR approach in "one step". Two sets of primers and pr...