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Promogen Testing - Contributing to your Bottom Line
SCIENCE
“Defensins: Their Impact on How Genomics and EPD Projections Can Make a Serious Positive Contribution to Your Operation’s Bottom Line”
by W.E. Julien, PhD, DVM. CEO of Anova BioSciences
Over the last few years, several articles have been published in “American Beef Producer’ that have focused on the creation of an operation’s positive bottom line through the strategic use of EPD and Genomics projections in cow/calf management. Two such articles, (Expected Progeny Differences by Randie Cuthbertson-Aug.‘21,p.36; and Time to Implement Single Trait Selection by Chip Kemp-May/June ‘21,p.8) are well worth your time to read again, and if you happened to have missed them, please do yourself a favor, take the time and look them up. In the August 2021 issue, Dr. Cuthbertson, has put together a tutorial on the hows, whys and what for‘s of EPD predictions and the role genomics testing plays in those predictions. Every calf has the genetic propensity to express a performance trait. However, expression of that trait is dependent not only on the presence of that trait but the environment that will impact the success or failure of its expression. Genomics testing provides the basis for a scientific best guess of how an individual will succeed (or fail) to meet life’s challenges.
However, as a selection tool, genomics does have some limitations. One example is the already mentioned impact of environment on gene expression. As the environment is not something that is inherent, genomics really defines the success (or failure) of that one individual, not his or her offspring. The most accurate interpretation of genomics testing results may come through the simultaneous calculation and application of EPDs. As genomics testing is driven by algorithms and mathematical models that arrive at a result, so too do EPDs, the difference being that the EPD models were developed to focus on the minimalization of variables that could impact interpretation of the genomic data (the environment is one excellent example). With EPDs, one individual can be compared to many others of similar age, sex, and under a variety of conditions, both good and bad, that could impact performance. This and its variants (predicted difference in dairy for example) have proven themselves over the years to be valuable tools in making progress, but EPDs also have their limitations. Chip Kemp points
out that by selecting for a few traits (such as yield and grade for example), which in recent years have driven EPD based animal evaluation, you can find oneself bleeding money trying to artificially compensate in management strategies (vet bills, culling, exaggerated herd turnover rates) that resulted because of the loss of other equally biologically valuable, but not necessarily obvious traits (bull and cow longevity in a cow/calf operation being one example) that are also linked to the bottom line. Kemp suggests that one trait selection can be done successfully if that one trait is named Profitability! The question becomes are their tools readily available to make one trait selection possible? The answer is yes, but what are these tools?
In 2002, researchers at the University of Nebraska Medical Center isolated and characterized a series of proteins called Defensins produced by specific types of cells that make up the mammary gland, reproductive, respiratory, and digestive systems. That early research demonstrated that these proteins had strong antibacterial and antiviral activity, and in 2010, $100,000.00 was awarded to this project by the Gates Foundation to study them as treatments for enteric disease. One outcome of that work, was the development of a test, given the name Promogen, to easily quantify the presence or absence of the Defensins in individuals. Over the last 10 years the Promogen test has been used to measure Defensins in colostrum, semen, uterine fluid, nasal mucus, ruminal and intestinal fluid, and saliva. Although these proteins function as natural antibiotics, continued research demonstrated that they did much more than fight infection. In a three-year study involving thousands of dairy cows of various breeds on farms both in the US and Europe, it was found that milk production, dis ease resistance, even behavior, were linked to elevated concentrations of Defensins in any of the fluids evaluated. The greater the concentration of Defensins, the better the biological performance as measured by productivity, fertility, and longevity. The ability to produce Defensins was found to be linked to maternal inheritance (hence the importance of cow families). This work was extended to include beef breeds in 2020, and not surprisingly, comparable results were reported. An individual’s Defensin concentration as reflected in the Promogen score is like a fingerprint; concentration (and activity) does not change with age; a calf at one month has the same concentration at three years; at six years and so on.
Defensin concentration reflected in the Promogen test score has been linked to a number of economically important performance traits in both beef and dairy cattle, but can we use these data to maximize the accuracy of our current genomics and EPD projections and does it make the goal of successful single trail selection for profitability possible?
High scoring Promogen evaluated cows have objectively and subjectively demonstrated a high degree of stress resistance; they perform well regardless of their environment. Physiologically the likelihood of genetically superior animals demonstrating that superiority increases when a key modifier, the environment is buffered against, which is the case in high scoring Promogen animals. By Promogen testing calves at a week or two post-partum, it becomes possible to identify those individuals who have what it takes physiologically to achieve the projections made about them by genomics. Of equal importance the single trait selection objective, Profitability, is no longer an objective that is just on everyone’s wish list. High scoring Promogen individuals, because of the accumulated positive net effect of maximal Defensin activity on “stress resistance”, are better able to succeed in the expression of all the traits we currently value in the EPD calculation with the added benefit of beginning to recover those traits which got lost in our current selection process.
The biology of what the Promogen research has uncovered as well as its other applications in animal management and health, is a work in progress. We are confident that today,
Promogen is a valuable tool in modern and future beef and dairy production, which can only underscore that the single trait selection for Profitability in beef and dairy production is an achievable goal.
Immunologically superior animals are proven to return higher significant gains across all traits: overall wellness, fertility, and feed efficiency.
