Jorge H Calvo

• Araid Researcher at CITA
• Researcher at Agrifood Research and Technology Centre of Aragon

The success rate of artificial insemination in sheep remains suboptimal, which has led to an emerging interest in the impact of the reproductive tract microbiome on this process. This research aims to identify the ewes’ vaginal core bacterial community, examine the factors influencing bacterial composition, and to determine the association between...

The aim of this study was to characterise the effect of water restriction on ewes. Two hundred and two Rasa Aragonesa ewes were subjected to total water restriction for 5 days. Intake, body weight (BW) and body condition score (BCS) were measured daily during the 5 days of restriction, as well as temperature and percent humidity. Blood samples were...

Heat stress and scarcity of drinking water for animals is a characteristic feature in the semi-arid region where the Rasa Aragonesa sheep breed is reared, especially during summer months with high temperatures. The aim of this study was to estimate the number, length, and frequency of runs of homozygosity (ROH) in Rasa Aragonesa ewes and identified...

Los sistemas ganaderos semiáridos de la cuenca Mediterránea se enfrentan a desafíos considerables debido al estrés hídrico y térmico durante los meses de verano. En Aragón, la raza predominante es la Rasa Aragonesa, que destaca por su rusticidad y su adaptación al entorno. El objetivo de este estudio es entender la base genética de la respuesta al...

Abstract The aim of this study is to identify candidate genes or genomic regions associated with ovine water stress biomarkers through genome-wide association analysis (GWAS). Two-hundred and one ewes from the Rasa Aragonesa breed were challenged with total water restriction for 5 days. Temperature and percentage of humidity was also measured, as w...

Introduction The low pregnancy rate by artificial insemination in sheep represents a fundamental challenge for breeding programs. In this species, oestrus synchronization is carried out by manipulating hormonal regimens through the insertion of progestogen intravaginal devices. This reproductive strategy may alter the vaginal microbiota affecting t...

For understanding the molecular events underlying the follicular (F) and luteal (L) phases of estrous cycle, and anestrous (A) phase, the pars tuberalis (PT), and hypothalamus (HT) transcriptomes of 21 ewes were studied. In HT, 72 and 3 differential expression genes (DEGs) were found when comparing F vs. A and L vs. A, respectively. In PT, 6 and 4...

Reproductive seasonality is a limiting factor in sheep production. Sexual behavior is a key element in reproductive efficiency, and this function is regulated by the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis. To understand the mechanisms of sexual behavior, transcriptomic sequencing technology was used to identify differentially expressed genes (DE...

The vomeronasal organ (VNO) has long been of interest regarding the sensory control of social and sexual behaviour. In this study, high-throughput RNA sequencing was utilized to investigate transcriptional changes in the VNO between rams of Rasa Aragonesa with different sexual behaviour (active and not active). The RNA-Seq analysis generated 812,06...

Resumen La baja tasa de fertilidad por inseminación artificial (IA) en el ganado ovino representa un importante reto para los programas de mejora genética de esta especie. Aunque se han descrito causas morfológicas y fisiológicas asociadas, el conocimiento de otros factores potencialmente involucrados, como el efecto de la microbiota vaginal, es to...

Understanding the cell molecular changes occurring as a results of climatic circumstances is crucial in the current days in which climate change and global warming are one of the most serious challenges that living organisms have to face. Sperm are one of the mammals’ cells most sensitive to heat, therefore evaluating the impact of seasonal changes...

European rabbits, Oryctolagus cuniculus, are affected by rabbit hemorrhagic disease (RHD), which is caused by a lagovirus responsible for significant mortality in European wild rabbit populations. Our study aimed to evaluate the potential for detecting viral RNA by duplex real-time PCR in rabbit fecal pellets collected in the field, as a noninvasiv...

European wild rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) populations are severely affected by rabbit haemorrhagic disease (RHD), currently aggravated by the spread of the new lagovirus serotype RHDV2 that replaced the classical RHDV strains (RHDV/RHDVa). This virus causes high mortality in both adult and young rabbits and to date, there is no management tool t...

Rabbit hemorrhagic disease (RHD) is caused by a lagovirus mainly affecting European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus), although other European and North American lagomorph species are also susceptible to fatal infection by the new viral variant RHDV2/b. In the present work, direct mechanical transmission of the rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV2...

Simple Summary Mastitis causes economic loss due to discarded milk and reduced milk production and quality, increased medical care costs and somatic cell count (SCC) penalties. The use of genetic markers associated with the variability of this trait through marker-assisted selection (MAS) could help traditional methods. Our objectives were to ident...

Simple Summary To elucidate the genetic basis of reproductive seasonality in Rasa Aragonesa sheep breed, we performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) in order to detect single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) or regions associated with traits related to ovarian function and behavioural signs of estrous. The GWAS included 205 ewes with genotyp...

Rabbit haemorrhagic disease (RHD) is caused by a lagovirus affecting European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus). Viral RNA is detected in tissues or faeces of convalescent rabbits, suggesting persistent infections; however, this RNA has not been shown to be related to infective viruses to date. In the present work, seven laboratory rabbits were chall...

Aim of study: To validate two existing single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) panels for parentage assignment in sheep, and develop a cost effective genotyping system to use in some North-Eastern Spanish meat sheep populations for accurate pedigree assignment. Area of study: Spain Material and methods: Nine sheep breeds were sampled: Rasa Aragonesa...

Simple Summary Seasonality of reproduction is one of the limiting factor of sheep production, with the leptin receptor (LEPR) gene associated with some reproductive traits in different species. Thereby, we searched for polymorphisms in the ovine LEPR gene and associated them with three reproductive seasonality traits: the total days of anoestrous (...

Abstract: The archaeological research at Els Trocs cave is a good example of a successful transdisciplinary project. Together with a great team of specialists in different areas of knowledge, we present an update of our research process. The site is a cave that was occupied for more than two millennia, from the Early Neolithic (the end of the 6th m...

Sperm quality traits routinely collected by artificial insemination (AI) center for rams progeny test are related with the capacity to produce sperm doses for AI and, in more or less grade, with males' fertility. Low-quality ejaculates are unuseful to perform AI sperm doses, which suppose high economic loses for the AI center. Moreover, sperm quali...

To date, there is a lack of research into the vaginal and sperm microbiome and its bearing on artificial insemination (AI) success in the ovine species. Using hypervariable regions V3–V4 of the 16S rRNA, we describe, for the first time, the combined effect of the ovine microbiome of both females (50 ewes belonging to five herds) and males (five AI...

A FecX-mutated allele called FecXR in the BMP15 gene has been described in Rasa aragonesa sheep. FecXR causes increased prolificacy when heterozygous and sterility when homozygous in ewes. However, highly prolific ewes without the FecXR allele have been found in this breed. Therefore, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) was performed in 158 ewes...

A better understanding of gene expression and metabolic pathways in response to a feeding system is critical for identifying key physiological processes and genes associated with polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) content in lamb meat. The main objective of this study was to investigate transcriptional changes in L. thoracis (LT) muscle, liver, and...

Accurate pedigree information is an essential tool in genetic breeding programs to ensure the highest rate of genetic gain and allows management of inbreeding. In this sense, a panel of 192 SNPs, that included 153 SNPs for parentage assignment and 39 functional SNPs, is being used in the selection program for prolificacy of the Cooperative Oviarago...

The objective of this study was to validate the effect of the SNPs rs210072660 and rs109221039 of the calpastatin (CAST) gene on meat toughness in Longissimus thoracis muscle aged for 1 d (±0; short-term ageing), 8 d (±1; medium-term ageing) and 15 d (±2; long-term ageing). The samples were obtained in experiments with different management strategi...

The nutritional quality of lambs may be improved with increased stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD) gene expression, which increases the desaturation of stearic acid to oleic acid. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the rs412429481 (FJ513370: g.31C > A) SNP located at the SCD gene on the functionality of the gene in lambs reared under di...

Accurate pedigree information is an essential tool in genetic breeding programs to ensure the highest rate of genetic gain and in conservation programs to avoid inbreeding. The objective of this study was to develop a SNP assay to use in some North-Eastern Spanish meat sheep populations for accurate pedigree assignment. Two hundred and sixty animal...

The results obtained, the tools used and the most important milestones achieved in the Genetic Selection Program to increase the prolificacy in the UPRA-Grupo Pastores Rasa Aragonesa sheep breed population are analysed after twenty years of running. It should be highlighted the detection of the FecXR (ROA) allele and its association with the increa...

The European wild rabbit ( Oryctolagus cuniculus) is a key prey species on the Iberian Peninsula, and several predator species that are at risk of extinction are dependent on them as prey. A new rabbit hemorrhagic disease (RHD) virus genotype (GI.2/RHDV2/b) emerged in 2010 and posed a threat to wild rabbit populations. During a survey aimed at inve...

Accurate pedigree information is an essential tool in genetic breeding programs to ensure the highest rate of genetic gain and allows management of inbreeding. However, the proportion of known sires can be very low in Spanish meat sheep populations, particularly in breeds reared in high mountain areas as in the Pyrenees. Single nucleotide polymorph...

Accurate pedigree information is an essential tool in genetic breeding programs to ensure the highest rate of genetic gain and allows management of inbreeding. However, the proportion of known sires can be very low in Spanish meat sheep populations, particularly in breeds reared in high mountain areas as in the Pyrenees. Single nucleotide polymorph...

European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) are severely affected by rabbit haemorrhagic disease (RHD). Caused by a lagovirus, the disease leads to losses in the rabbit industry and has implications for wildlife conservation. Past RHD outbreaks have been caused by GI.1/RHDV genotype viruses. A new virus belonging to the GI.2/RHDV2/b genotype emerged i...

For the first time the vaginal and sperm microbiota of ewes and rams relative to artificial insemination (AI) success have been studied. Hypervariable regions V3 and V4 of the 16s ribosomal gene have been sequenced with a MiSeq Illumina platform in 50 ewes from 5 different herds and 5 AI rams. Microbiota differences at the phylum, family, genera an...

The aim of this study was to characterize and identify causative SNPs in the MTNR1A gene responsible for the reproductive seasonality traits in the Rasa aragonesa sheep breed. A total of 290 ewes (155, 84 and 51 mature, young and ewe lambs, respectively) from one flock were controlled from January to August. The following three reproductive seasona...

Sheep farming of local breeds in the Pyrenean region is of major significance from an economic, social and environmental viewpoint. However, this activity is in continuous recession. Common problems are found in both sides of the border, in France and in Spain: its scarce profitability and a lack of generational renewal, due in part to the lack of...

The Cooperative Oviaragon-Grupo Pastores carries out since 1994 a selection program for prolificacy in Rasa Aragonesa sheep, with 216.232 ewes at present. Sires of higher estimated breeding values are produced within the scheme by MOET, increasing the performance of this technology through the measurement of plasmatic Anti-Müllerian Hormone (AMH) i...

Accelerated growth programs during pre-pubertal periods have been promoted to advance the first calving of beef heifers. The objectives of the present study were to evaluate nutrition-induced changes on first lactation milk yield and composition and in gene expression of the mammary gland in Parda de Montaña primiparous cows. Female calves (n=16) w...

Meat is a source of proteins and minerals. However, red meats have high levels of saturated fatty acids (SFA) and a low proportion of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), a combination which has been linked to cancer and cardiovascular diseases. In ruminants, there are several genes that regulate the proportions of MUFA in tissues, but the most impo...

Meat is a source of proteins and minerals. However, red meats have high levels of saturated fatty acids (SFA) and a low proportion of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), a combination which has been linked to cancer and cardiovascular diseases. In ruminants, there are several genes that regulate the proportions of MUFA in tissues, but the most impo...

http://hdl.handle.net/10532/3749

Since the discovery in 2007 of the prolific FecXR polymorphism in the Rasa Aragonesa sheep breed, the number of carrier ewes (R+) in farms has significantly increased. These ewes present changes in their ovarian follicles which could lead to endocrine alterations and might affect the onset of puberty. The objective of the present work was to evalua...

In sheep, delays in the age at first lambing (AFL) give rise to unproductive periods and a decrease in productive life. Despite its proven influence on economic profitability, in the Rasa Aragonesa sheep breed the efforts in the last years to improve it have been scarce. The aim of this study was to analyze the evolution of the last years and the c...

Sheep breeds from Mediterranean area show reproductive seasonal patterns of oestrous behaviour and ovulatory activity, mainly regulated by variation in the photoperiod. Maximal reproductive activity is associated with short days from August to March. The aim of this study therefore was, to identify new SNPs and genes associated to reproductive seas...

Background The objective of this study was to acquire a broader, more comprehensive picture of the transcriptional changes in the L. Thoracis muscle (LT) and subcutaneous fat (SF) of lambs supplemented with vitamin E. Furthermore, we aimed to identify novel genes involved in the metabolism of vitamin E that might also be involved in meat quality. I...

In the present work we present the main productive studies carried out to characterize ROA sheep (R+, Rasa Oviaragón®), ewes of the Rasa Aragonesa breed carrying in heterozygosity a natural genetic prolific variant found in 2007 (FecXR allele, BMP15 gene). Its effect on prolificacy leads to an increase of 0.35 lambs/lambing ewe when compared with n...

The goals of the current work were to analyse the population structure of 11 Spanish ovine breeds and to detect genomic regions that may have been targeted by selection. A total of 141 individuals were genotyped with the Infinium 50 K Ovine SNP BeadChip (Illumina). We combined this dataset with Spanish ovine data previously reported by the Internat...

Gene promoters are essential regions of DNA where the transcriptional molecular machinery to produce RNA molecules is recruited. In this process, DNA epigenetic modifications can acquire a fundamental role in the regulation of gene expression. Recently, in a previous work of our group, functional features and DNA methylation involved in the ovine H...

When environmental temperatures exceed a certain threshold, the upregulation of the ovine HSP90AA1 gene is produced to cope with cellular injuries caused by heat stress. It has been previously pointed out that several polymorphisms located at the promoter region of this gene seem to be the main responsible for the differences in the heat stress res...

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of vitamin E (VE) supplementation and alfalfa grazing during fattening on fatty acid composition and mRNA expression of genes related to lipid metabolism in the LM of Rasa Aragonesa light lambs. After weaning, 48 lambs were kept indoors and fed a commercial concentrate and a VE supplemented conce...

ln the selection scheme to improve prolificacy in the Rasa Aragonesa sheep breed, the males to be tested are produced by a MOET programme, using the ewes of higher genetic value as donors ln the period 1998-2013 a total of 331 flushings have been performed in 213 donor ewes. Ewes were treated with FGA sponges and superovulated with 8.8 mg of OFSH (O...

This study aimed to investigate Y chromosomal haplotypes in the main Tunisian sheep breeds. For this purpose, we sequenced 2 regions of SRY (549-bp and 598-bp fragments) and 1 region in each of the AMELY and DBY genes in Barbarin, Western Thin Tail, Sicilo Sarde, and Black Thibar breeds. In addition, we analyzed the diversity at the SRYM18 microsat...

Heat shock (HS) is one of the best-studied exogenous cellular stresses. Almost all tissues, cell types, metabolic pathways and biochemical reactions are affected in greater or lesser extent by HS. However, there are some especially thermo sensible cellular types such as the mammalian male germ cells. The present study examined the role of three IND...

Background: Climatic factors play an important role in determining species distributions and phenotypic variation of populations over geographic space. Since domestic sheep is managed under low intensive systems animals could have retained some genome adaptive footprints. The gene encoding the Hsp90α has been extensively studied in sheep and some...

Background The use of concentrates supplemented with α-tocopherol in animals is an effective method to reduce the oxidative processes that occurs in meat products. The high cost of α-tocopherol requires accurate feeding, and it is necessary to define the minimum period of α-tocopherol concentrate supplementation that will ensure an acceptable meat...

A biopsy procedure causing minimal injury to embryos is essential to exploit the possibilities of the preimplantation genetic diagnosis in sheep biotechnologies. The effect of laser-assisted embryo biopsy on embryo survival at term was studied in ovine in vivo-derived embryos recovered at 2 different developmental stages. We used 294 embryos (quali...

We have analyzed the 5′cis-regulatory regions of four genes coding for key proteins involved in lipid metabolism and energy homeostasis in Rasa Aragonesa, Assaf and Roja Mallorquina sheep breeds. We identified 10 novel polymorphisms in the 5′regulatory regions in fatty acid synthase (FASN), glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase mitochondrial (GPAM),...

This work aimed to investigate Y chromosomal haplotypes in the two main Tunisian sheep breeds. For this purpose, we sequenced two regions of SRY and one region in each of AMELY and DBY genes in four breeds: Barbarin (n=23), Western Thin Tail (n=18). Moreover, the diversity at SRYM18 microsatellite locus was studied, finding four alleles: 139, 141,...

Brown Cattle. xixia huang (xinjiang agricultural university) PROP1 (prophet of Pit-1) has both DNA-binding and transcriptional activation ability. Its expres-sion leads to ontogenesis of pituitary gonado-tropes, as well as somatotropes, lactotropes, and caudomedial thyrotropes. In the present research, the genetic polymorphisms of exon1 of PROP1 ge...

Summary To date, investigations of genetic diversity and the origins of domestication in sheep have utilised autosomal microsatellites and variation in the mitochondrial genome. We present the first analysis of both domestic and wild sheep using genetic markers residing on the ovine Y chromosome. Analysis of a single nucleotide polymorphism (oY1) i...

Background Biting midges of the genus Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) are biological vectors of internationally important arboviruses. To understand the role of Culicoides in the transmission of these viruses, it is essential to correctly identify the species involved. Within the western Palaearctic region, the main suspected vector species,...

The present study addresses the effect of heat stress on males' reproduction ability. For that, we have evaluated the sperm DNA fragmentation (DFI) by SCSA of ejaculates incubated at 37°C during 0, 24 and 48 hours after its collection, as a way to mimic the temperature circumstances to which spermatozoa will be subject to in the ewe uterus. The eff...

Most published genomewide association studies (GWAS) in sheep have investigated recessively inherited monogenic traits. The objective here was to assess the feasibility of performing GWAS for a dominant trait for which the genetic basis was already known. A total of 42 Manchega and Rasa Aragonesa sheep that segregate solid black or white coat pigme...

First we looked for putative causative mutations in the CAST and CAPN1 genes associated with meat tenderness and found a total of 31 and 7 polymorphisms, respectively, in the Parda de Montaña and Pirenaica breeds. Tenderness was not affected by mutations in CAPN1. However, three SNPs located at intron 5 (BTA7: g.98533962C>G on UMD 3.0), exon 7 (g.9...

Two experiments were conducted to study the effect of feeding system and a polymorphism located at SCD promoter on the SCD gene expression. In the first experiment 44 Rasa Aragonesa male lambs were grouped according to the feeding system in grazing alfalfa (ALF, n=22) and indoor concentrate feeding (IND, n=22). In the second experiment 58 Rasa Arag...

The aim of this work was to investigate the association between polymorphisms located at the HSP90AA1 ovine gene promoter and gene expression rate under different environmental conditions, using a mixed model approach. Blood samples from 120 unrelated rams of the Manchega sheep breed were collected at three time points differing in environmental co...

Sequence and polymorphisms of the ovine HSP90AA1 gene promoter (DQ983231). Intron sequence in lower case and exons in capital letters. Primers sequences used to amplify the 499pb fragment are highlighted in dark. SNPs are in square brackets. The 7 SNPs of interest included in the 499pb amplicon sequenced (−660, −601, −528, −524, −522 and −444) are...

Fold change (FC) for the contrast among alternative genotypes G/C−660-G/A−522 of the HSP90AA1 promoter within each treatment (Control, July and August) normalized by HSP90AB1. Segments indicate the 95% confidence interval (FCup-FClow). In abscissa the FC, in ordinate genotype contrasts. Asterisk over each bar indicates the significance level of the...

Genotype contrasts of SNP G/C−660. Estimates, standard error (SE), t values and p values of significant contrasts among genotypes G/C−660 of the HSP90AA1 gene promoter normalized with HSP90AB1 in each treatment (Control, July and August). Also Fold change (FC) and the 95% FC confidence interval (FCup-FClow) are included. (XLSX)

Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium analysis of the 7SNPs of interest at HSP90AA1 gene promoter on trios population. (XLSX)

SNP frequencies of the polymorphisms found at the HSP90AA1 promoter as described in Marcos-Carcavilla’s work [24] . (XLSX)

Predicted transcription factor binding sites from ALGENN-PROMO software. (XLSX)

Genotype contrasts of A/C−601-A/G522-A/G−444. Estimates, standard error (SE), t values and p values of significant contrasts among genotypes A/C−601-A/G522-A/G−444 of the HSP90AA1 gene promoter normalized with HSP90AB1 in each treatment (Control, July and August). Also Fold change (FC) and the 95% FC confidence interval (FCup-FClow) are included. (...

LD analyses from trios population with PLINK software. Linkage disequilibrium values between each couple of SNPs are shown. The couples of SNPs in bold show a high degree of linkage disequilibrium between them. (XLSX)

Predicted transcription factor binding sites from TESS software. (XLSX)

Fold change (FC) for the contrast among alternative genotypes A/C−601-G/A−522 of the HSP90AA1 promoter within each treatment (Control, July and August) normalized by HSP90AB1. Segments indicate the 95% confidence interval (FCup-FClow). In abscissa the FC, in ordinate genotype contrasts. Asterisk over each bar indicates the significance level of the...

Genotype contrasts of G/C−660-A/C−601-A/G−522-A/G−444. Estimates, standard error (SE), t values and p values of significant contrasts among genotypes G/C−660-A/C−601-A/G−522-A/G−444 of the HSP90AA1 gene promoter normalized with HSP90AB1 in each treatment (Control, July and August). Also Fold change (FC) and the 95% FC confidence interval (FCup-FClo...