Browsing by Autor "Olivia Marcuzzi"

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Detection of Bovine Leukemia Virus in Argentine, Bolivian, Paraguayan and Cuban Native Cattle Using a Quantitative Real-Time PCR Assay-BLV-CoCoMo-qPCR-2
(Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, 2025) Guillermo Giovambattista; Aronggaowa Bao; Olivia Marcuzzi; Ariel Loza Vega; J. A. C. Pereira; María Florencia Ortega Masagué; L Castro; Rubén D. Martínez; Odalys Uffo; Yoko Aida
Bovine leukemia virus (BLV), an oncogenic retrovirus of the genus Deltaretrovirus, causes enzootic bovine leukosis (EBL), the most prevalent neoplastic disease in cattle and a major source of economic loss. While BLV prevalence has been studied in commercial breeds, data on native Latin American cattle remain limited. This study assessed BLV infection and proviral load in 244 animals from six native breeds: Argentine Creole (CrAr), Patagonian Argentine Creole (CrArPat), Pampa Chaqueño Creole (CrPaCh), Bolivian Creole from Cochabamba (CrCoch), Saavedreño Creole (CrSaa), and Siboney (Sib), sampled across Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Cuba. BLV-CoCoMo-qPCR-2 assay detected BLV provirus in 76 animals (31.1%), with a mean load of 9923 copies per 105 cells (range: 1-79,740). Infection rates varied significantly by breed (9.8% in CrAr to 83.8% in CrPaCh) and country (15.6% in Argentina to 83.8% in Paraguay) (p = 9.999 × 10-5). Among positives, 57.9% exhibited low proviral load (≤1000 copies), and 13.2% showed moderate levels (1001-9999), suggesting potential resistance to EBL progression. This is the first comprehensive report of BLV proviral load in Creole cattle across Latin America, offering novel epidemiological insights and highlighting the importance of native breeds in BLV surveillance.
Divergent adaptation to highland and tropical environments in Bolivian Creole cattle
(Elsevier BV, 2025) Olivia Marcuzzi; Paulo Álvarez Cecco; Leónidas H. Olivera; J. A. C. Pereira; Francisco Calcaterra; Ariel Loza Vega; Pilar Peral García; María Elena Fernández; A. Rogberg‐Muñoz; Guillermo Giovambattista
Divergent adaptation to highland and tropical environments in Bolivian Creole cattle
(2024) Guillermo Giovambattista; Olivia Marcuzzi; Paulo Álvarez Cecco; Leónidas H. Olivera; Juan Pereira Rico; Francisco Calcaterra; Ariel Loza Vega; Pilar Peral García; María Baro Fernández; A. Rogberg‐Muñoz
<title>Abstract</title> Bolivian Creole cattle populations evolved under low levels of breeding management and, during more than 500 years of natural selection, became adapted to various environments such as the contrasting highland and subtropical environments. Recently, highland Creole cattle were crossbred with Holstein to improve dairy production. The aim of this research was to evaluate the divergent adaptation through selection footprints of Bolivian Creole cattle from Andean highland and tropical lowlands, and to evaluate the effect of Holstein introgression in highland Creole. For this purpose, 130 Creole cattle (75 highland, 55 lowland) and 88 Holstein were genotyped using a microarray. The database was used to determine population structure and admixture and detect selection sweeps using FST, Rsb, XP-EHH and ROH. Ancestry inference suggested that selection peaks were not due to Holstein introgression. The NCBI database was used to retrieve genes from the common regions and then perform gene ontology analysis. The most prominent selection peaks were on BTA20 and BTA23 and included the <italic>PRLR </italic>(slick phenotype) and<italic> Class I</italic> and <italic>IIa BoLA</italic> genes. Other windows contained candidate genes for hypoxia (<italic>ANXA2</italic>, <italic>NDUFA4L2</italic>), angiogenesis, immune response (<italic>IL7R</italic>, <italic>IL6ST</italic>, <italic>IL31RA</italic>, <italic>C6</italic>, <italic>C7,</italic> <italic>STAT6</italic>, <italic>NKG2A</italic>, <italic>IRAK4</italic>, <italic>KLR, CLEC</italic>), oxidative stress (<italic>GSTA, HSD17B6</italic>) and morphological traits (<italic>PLAG1, CHCHD7</italic>, <italic>CAP2,</italic> <italic>ARL15)</italic>. GO analysis revealed enrichment terms and pathways related to immune response, glutathione and retinol metabolism and reported QTLs for coat characteristics, immune response, and tick resistance. The results suggest the complex mechanism in the adaptation of Bolivian Creole cattle to the contrasting highland and subtropical environments.
Genetic diversity of BoLA-DRB3 in Latin American Creole cattle: an update of the state of the art
(Springer Science+Business Media, 2025) Olivia Marcuzzi; Guillermo Giovambattista; Ariel Loza Vega; J. A. C. Pereira; María Florencia Ortega Masagué; L Castro; Rubén D. Martínez; Odalys Uffo Reinosa; Aronggaowa Bao; Sonoko Watanuki
Genetic diversity of the bovine leukocyte antigen BoLA-DRB3 gene has been reported in cattle breeds due to its central role in immune response. However, the gene has been characterized in only a few Latin American native cattle breeds. In this study, we aimed to investigate the genetic diversity of this gene in other native bovine breeds from Argentina, Bolivia, Cuba, and Paraguay, thereby contributing to the global knowledge regarding BoLA-DRB3 diversity. The gene was genotyped using PCR-sequence-based typing; 60 reported alleles and one novel variant were identified. The observed and expected heterozygosity values were higher than 0.81, and only two populations showed deviation from the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The Slatkin neutrality test indicated even allele distribution in one population. Nucleotide diversity and the number of pairwise differences ranged from 0.073 to 0.081 and 17.88 to 20.19, respectively. The mean number of non-synonymous and synonymous nucleotide substitutions was estimated for the entire sequence and the antigen-binding site (ABS), with higher values observed in the latter. Amino acid motifs varied in their frequencies, and the diversifying selection index (ω) at each amino acid was high in more than 25 sites, with the most prominent peaks located in the ABS. A distribution of native cattle according to their historical and geographical origin and degree of Zebu gene introgression demonstrated that the Latin American native populations exhibit high variability in the BoLA-DRB3 gene, including private alleles, and a distinct genetic profile, making them a valuable genetic resource and emphasizing the importance of their conservation.
Genomic analysis of inbreeding level, kinship and breed relationships in Creole cattle from South America
(Wiley, 2024) Olivia Marcuzzi; Francisco Calcaterra; Ariel Loza Vega; María Florencia Ortega Masagué; Eileen Armstrong; J. A. C. Pereira; Eugenio Jara; Leónidas H. Olivera; Pilar Peral García; Guillermo Giovambattista
The conservation of animal genetic resources refers to measures taken to prevent the loss of genetic diversity in livestock populations, including the protection of breeds from extinction. Creole cattle populations have suffered a drastic reduction in recent decades owing to absorbent crosses or replacement with commercial breeds of European or Indian origin. Genetic characterization can serve as a source of information for conservation strategies to maintain genetic variation. The objective of this work was to evaluate the levels of inbreeding and kinship through the use of genomic information. A total of 903 DNAs from 13 cattle populations from Argentina, Bolivia and Uruguay were genotyped using an SNP panel of 48 K. Also, a dataset of 76 K SNPs from Peruvian Creole was included. Two inbreeding indices (FROH and Fhat2) and kinship relationships were calculated. In addition, effective population size (Ne), linkage disequilibrium, population composition and phylogenetic relationships were estimated. In Creole cattle, FROH ranged from 0.14 to 0.03, and Fhat2 was close to zero. The inferred Ne trends exhibited a decline toward the present for all populations, whereas Creole cattle presented a lower magnitude of Ne than foreign breeds. Cluster analysis clearly differentiated the taurine and Zebu components (K2) and showed that Bolivian Creole cattle presented Zebu gene introgression. Despite the population reduction, Creole populations did not present extreme values of consanguinity and kinship and maintain high levels of genetic diversity. The information obtained in this work may be useful for planning conservation programmes for these valuable local animal genetic resources.