West Lafayette, ind. – Our genome determines some of our individual physical features – such as the color of our eyes – but what can it tell us about our health as a population? How could we make the most of the exercise, react to meteorological stress or recover from the disease?
A new project at the Purdue University will examine whether the techniques developed to test these features in animal and vegetable genetics could be adapted to explore these questions in the human genome.
“This is a big idea: what did geneticians missed by working in separate fields?” What progress – algorithms, models, data collection strategies – is there in animal and plant genetics that humans could benefit from, and vice versa? »Say Robbee wedowassistant professor of sociology and data science in the Liberal Arts College. “Can we take advantage of the tools and methods to improve predictions and identify the risks for humans, the features that help animals to recover from diseases and other stressors, or improve the resilience of plants and animals?”
In a first example, a team led by Wedow examines how methods that examine large sets of data in animal science could be used with data from the human accelerometer (monitoring of movement over time) in concert with genomic data To predict the relationship between exercise and factors such as resilience, disease resistance or lifespan.
The project is based on the access of the Purdue team to phenotypic databases and large -scale genomes. Wedow’s work includes human genetic biobanks like 23andm and the British BiobankVegetable genetic biobanks such as sets of sets and the doe JGI Gene Gene Atlasand data sets on animal systems of breeding via the research data ecosystem on the Purdue Animal Sciences. The project, entitled “Use of methods through Phyla to increase the accuracy of genomic prediction to improve health and food security”, is part of the Purdue health initiative, a presidential research initiative which is subject to complex challenges With a real impact at the intersection of man, plant and animal health and well-being.
“This team largely examines how the variability of genetics and the environment leads to results for the population level,” said Kaethe Beck, deputy vice-president of Purdue for the strategic impact in the life and health sciences. “The tools and the technology they develop can be used to extract knowledge from any genetic data set, and their work has wide applications in all forms of life.”
The project is one of the four research projects funded by a seed subsidy awarded through a summit in life and health sciences on the level of the university which was held in November 2023 .
The study of genetics has existed for more than a century, but over time, research has diverged in paths separated from human, animal or vegetable genetics. Wedow said he felt the separation of the fields of his early years as a graduate student. As a human statistical geneticist, he examines how the factors of the real world interact with genetics to influence a wide strip of human behavior.
“Many models we use in the field of human statistical genetics – things like genomic association studies and polygenet scores – have been developed in animal models, but we did not work with animal and plant geneticians” said Wedow. “And often, I would say to myself,” Not it was cool if we could have this kind of data from humans. What are we lacking in not having this data and not working with these people? »»
In Purdue, Wedow has forged links with other geneticists on campus, including team members Luiz BritoAssociate Professor of Animal Sciences, and Mitch Tuintraprofessor of breeding and vegetable genetics – both in the Agricultural college and members of Purdue Institute for a sustainable future – And Matt Tegtmeyerassistant professor of organic sciences in the Science College.
The team sees similarities between the questions that Wedow poses on the human behavior and the research of Brito on the complex features associated with the behavior and well-being of animals. Animal geneticists like Brito have developed reproductive programs to improve several features in livestock, such as the yield of meat, milk, wool or fiber. But the landscape has changed, and with it, research methods and the need to select animals for more sophisticated reproductive objectives.
“In the case of cattle, we care about several features such as disease resistance, so we can reduce the use of antibiotics. We also care about reproductive animals which are more productive, effective, robust and resilients in stressors in a way that allowed sustainable food production to continue, “said Brito, a quantitative genetics and genomics expert Breeding. “We measure a much larger number of lines, using a lot of technologies such as sensors and cameras. And this means that we can make more precise predictions of the genetic merit of reproductive animals. »»
The abundance of data in animal genetics has fueled an increase in the growth of predictive techniques built on large data sets, in particular the use of AI in modeling and analyzes. Meanwhile, human geneticians, which face much more sensitive ethics considerations in the use and collection of data, have built models and tools that are more based on hypotheses. The project tests if the techniques developed in the various fields could be applicable to the data available in each field.
“Let us use the infrastructure that has been developed for one field in another so that we can take advantage of resources, methods and knowledge to advance genomic analyzes by emphasizing genomic predictions in all different species in The context of health, “said Brito.
A health series: dive more deeply
In a first step, the project leads to a crossing of two postdoctoral research assistants, one with more expertise on humans, one with more expertise on animals, so that they can learn more about data and methods of their inter-species partners. In addition to their training, research assistants began a review article that sums up the differences, similarities and the promise to work between species.
A first research question is based on the innovations developed in Purdue to collect major animal data sets such as dairy cows and pigs. By working with colleagues from the College of Engineering, Brito now collects several data points among dairy cows, allowing it to follow the result of the interaction between the genome of an animal and its daily stressors over time, known as its phenotype. In an application, Brito examines how the recovery of young animals from a respiratory disease has an impact on life performance.
These same techniques can be used to find information in similar -size accelerometer data available via British biobank.
“And so we ask: what can we get from this data?” Perhaps we see that the frequency at which people do exercise are really important for their health or how speed they recover from the disease; Perhaps we find the effects of a drop in exercise – we don’t know, “said Wedow. “These results – health behavior and exercise and deals – outside, these things seem radically different, but the methods we use to produce these rates are perhaps the thing that would allow us to know more.”
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