Genomic and epigenomic signatures of climate-mediated selection in cattle

Project Information

AdaptClim

Grant agreement ID: 655100

DOI 10.3030/655100

Project closed

EC signature date 19 March 2015

Start date 1 May 2015

End date 30 April 2018

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost € 183 454,80

EU contribution € 183 454,80

Coordinated by

CARDIFF UNIVERSITY
United Kingdom

Objective

Official assessments of climate change impacts in Europe predict substantial economic losses due to the progressive upward trend in average temperatures over the next century, and the decrease in annual accumulated rainfall. Global warming will lead to a decreased forage production and quality, and an increased disease risk, which will significantly change conditions for livestock production. Therefore, increasing climate resilience and enhancing sustainable production for animals in harsh environments are important goals for the livestock industry. Fortunately, a natural experiment already exists where a rapid adaptation to extreme climatic conditions was imposed on a limited number of livestock, Columbus’ arrival in the Americas, which therefore provides a model system to study adaptive selection. Given the accumulating evidence that epigenetic processes may increase the evolutionary potential of organisms to respond to stress and other challenges, the aim of this project is to compare the genomes and methylomes of two tropical Creole bovine breeds, their main Spanish ancestors, and one taurine breed from Africa, to understand rapid adaptation to extreme climatic conditions and identifying biomarkers of resilience. The anticipated outcomes from this project will help in designing management systems to improve productivity, thermal and stress tolerance, and disease resistance in cattle.

Fields of science

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.

• natural sciences › earth and related environmental sciences › environmental sciences › sustainability sciences
• natural sciences › biological sciences › genetics › nucleotides
• agricultural sciences › animal and dairy science › domestic animals › animal husbandry
• natural sciences › earth and related environmental sciences › atmospheric sciences › climatology › climatic changes
• natural sciences › biological sciences › genetics › epigenetics

Programme(s)

• H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Main Programme
• H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility

Topic(s)

• MSCA-IF-2014-EF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF-EF)

Call for proposal

H2020-MSCA-IF-2014

Funding Scheme

MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EF

Coordinator

CARDIFF UNIVERSITY

• Net EU contribution: € 183 454,80
• Address: NEWPORT ROAD 30 36 ; CF24 0DE Cardiff ; United Kingdom
• Region: Wales › East Wales › Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan
• Activity type: Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
• Total cost: € 183 454,80