Search

The common management practices of dairy calves leads to increased starch concentration in feed, which subsequently may cause rumen acidosis while on milk and during weaning. Until recently, few attempts were undertaken to understand the health risks of prolonged ruminal acidosis in post weaning calves. Resultantly, the molecular changes in the digestive tracts in post-weaning calves with ruminal acidosis remain largely unexplored. In this study, we investigated the liver transcriptome changes along with its correlation with the rumen microbial rRNA expression changes in young calves using our model of feed induced ruminal acidosis. In this model, new born calves were fed a highly processed, starch-rich diet starting from one week of age through 16 weeks. A total of eight calves were involved in this study. Four of them were fed the acidosis-inducing diet (Treated) and the rest of the four were fed a standard starter diet (Control). Liver and rumen epithelial tissues were collected at necropsy at 17 weeks of age. Transcriptome analyses were carried out in the liver tissues and rRNA meta-transcriptome analysis were done using the rumen epithelial tissues. The correlation analysis was performed by comparing the liver mRNA expression with the rumen epithelial rRNA abundance at genus level. Calves with induced ruminal acidosis had significantly lower ruminal pH in comparison to the control group, in addition to significantly less weight-gain over the course of the experiment. In liver tissues, a total of 428 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) (fold-change, FC ≥ 1.5; adjusted P ≤ 0.1) were identified in treated group in comparison to control. Biological pathways enriched by these DEGs included cellular component organization, indicating the impact of ruminal acidosis on liver development in young calves. Specifically, the up-regulated genes were enriched in acute phase response (P < 0.01), pyruvate metabolic process (P < 0.01) and proton-acceptors (P ≪ 0.001), indicating the liver's response to feed induced acidosis at the transcriptome level. Twelve transferase activity related genes had significant correlation with rumen microbial rRNA expression changes. Among these genes, two up-regulated genes were reported with involvement in lipid metabolism in the liver, implying the direct effect of feed-induced acidosis on both the rumen microbial community and liver metabolism. Our study provides insight into the physiological remodeling in the liver resultant from the prolonged acidosis in post weaning calves, which may facilitate future RNA-seq based diagnosis and precision management of rumen acidosis in dairy calves.

Many common management practices used to raise dairy calves while on milk and during weaning can cause rumen acidosis. Ruminal pH has long been used to identify ruminal acidosis. However, few attempts were undertaken to understand the role of prolonged ruminal acidosis on rumen microbial community or host health in young calves long after weaning. Thus, the molecular changes associated with prolonged rumen acidosis in post weaning young calves are largely unknown. In this study, we induced ruminal acidosis by feeding a highly processed, starch-rich diet to calves starting from one week of age through 16 weeks. Rumen epithelial tissues were collected at necropsy at 17 weeks of age. Transcriptome analyses on the rumen epithelium and meta-transcriptome analysis of rumen epimural microbial communities were carried out. Calves with induced ruminal acidosis showed significantly less weight gain over the course of the experiment, in addition to substantially lower ruminal pH in comparison to the control group. For rumen epithelial transcriptome, a total of 672 genes (fold-change, FC ≥ 1.5; adjusted-p ≤ 0.05) showed significant differential expression in comparison to control. Biological pathways impacted by these differentially expressed genes included cell signaling and morphogenesis, indicating the impact of ruminal acidosis on rumen epithelium development. rRNA read-based microbial classification indicated significant increase in abundance of several genera in calves with induced acidosis. Our study provides insight into host rumen transcriptome changes associated with prolonged acidosis in post weaning calves. Shifts in microbial species abundance are promising for microbial species-based biomarker development and artificial manipulation. Such knowledge provides a foundation for future more precise diagnosis and preventative management of rumen acidosis in dairy calves.