PROTEO-GENOMIC APPROACH TO ELUCIDATE PRODUCTIVE AND REPRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE OF MALNAD GIDDA, DEONI, AND HALLIKAR BREEDS OF CATTLE

Bos indicus cattle survive and perform better under heat stress as compared to temperate breeds or their crossbreds. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms associated with these biological traits are ill understood. Milk production and reproductive performance are two most important traits affected by heat stress among cattle. It is proposed to take a systems biology approach to understand the molecular basis of uniqueness of indigenous cattle in the chosen breeds. As genome of zebu cattle is not yet sequenced, proteomic analysis of B. indicus provides a unique bioinformatics challenge. Targeted sequencing of transcriptome could provide much needed sequences of coding region in the genome of B. indicus cattle. Majority of the genes in lactating Deoni and Hallikar cows were linked to milk protein composition especially caseins, milk fat, lactose synthesis in milk and apoptosis activity in mammary glands. Our findings provide new insights into the understanding of molecular mechanism of differential milk yield among Bos indicus breeds. We believe that our study would be helpful in lactation biology and genetic selection.