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- Brunberg, Emma, et al.
(författare)
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Behavioural and Brain Gene Expression Profiling in Pigs during Tail Biting Outbreaks – Evidence of a Tail Biting Resistant Phenotype
- 2013
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science. - 1932-6203. ; 8:6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Abnormal tail biting behaviour is a major welfare problem for pigs receiving the behaviour, as well as an indication of decreased welfare in the pigs performing it. However, not all pigs in a pen perform or receive tail biting behaviour and it has recently been shown that these ‘neutral’ pigs not only differ in their behaviour, but also in their gene expression compared to performers and receivers of tail biting in the same pen. To investigate whether this difference was linked to the cause or a consequence of them not being involved in the outbreak of tail biting, behaviour and brain gene expression was compared with ‘control’ pigs housed in pens with no tail biting. It was shown that the pigs housed in control pens performed a wider variety of pig-directed abnormal behaviour (belly nosing 0.95±1.59, tail in mouth 0.31±0.60 and ‘other‘ abnormal 1.53±4.26; mean±S.D) compared to the neutral pigs (belly nosing 0.30±0.62, tail in mouth 0.13±0.50 and “other“ abnormal 0.42±1.06). With Affymetrix gene expression arrays, 107 transcripts were identified as differently expressed (p<0.05) between these two categories of pigs. Several of these transcripts had already been shown to be differently expressed in the neutral pigs when they were compared to performers and receivers of tail biting in the same pen in an earlier study. Hence, the different expression of these genes cannot be a consequence of the neutral pigs not being involved in tail biting behaviour, but rather linked to the cause contributing to why they were not involved in tail biting interactions. These neutral pigs seem to have a genetic and behavioural profile that somehow contributes to them being resistant to performing or receiving pig-directed abnormal behaviour, such as tail biting, even when housed in an environment that elicits that behaviour in other pigs.
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| 2. |
- Brunberg, Emma, et al.
(författare)
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Brain gene expression differences are associated with abnormal tail biting behavior in pigs
- 2013
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Ingår i: Genes, Brain and Behavior. - : Wiley. - 1601-1848 .- 1601-183X. ; 12:2, s. 275-281
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Knowledge about gene expression in animals involved in abnormal behaviors can contribute to the understanding of underlying biological mechanisms. This study aimed to explore the motivational background to tail biting, an abnormal injurious behavior and severe welfare problem in pig production. Affymetrix microarrays were used to investigate gene expression differences in the hypothalamus and prefrontal cortex of pigs performing tail biting, pigs receiving bites to the tail and neutral pigs who were not involved in the behavior. In the hypothalamus, 32 transcripts were differentially expressed (P<0.05) when tail biters were compared with neutral pigs, 130 when comparing receiver pigs with neutrals, and two when tail biters were compared with receivers. In the prefrontal cortex, seven transcripts were differently expressed in tail biters when compared with neutrals, seven in receivers vs. neutrals and none in the tail biters vs. receivers. In total, 19 genes showed a different expression pattern in neutral pigs when compared with both performers and receivers. This implies that the functions of these may provide knowledge about why the neutral pigs are not involved in tail biting behavior as performers or receivers. Among these 19 transcripts were genes associated with production traits in pigs (PDK4), sociality in humans and mice (GTF2I) and novelty seeking in humans (EGF). These are in line with hypotheses linking tail biting with reduced back fat thickness and explorative behavior.
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| 5. |
- Brunberg, Emma, et al.
(författare)
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Feather pecking behavior in laying hens : Hypothalamic gene expression in birds performing and receiving pecks
- 2011
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Ingår i: Poultry Science. - : Elsevier BV. - 0032-5791 .- 1525-3171. ; 90:6, s. 1145-1152
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Feather pecking (FP) is a welfare and economic problem in the egg production sector. Beak trimming, the current method used to reduce FP, is also criticized. The present study used gene expression to explore the biological mechanisms underlying this behavior, which could lead to a greater understanding of the cause and a tool to mitigate the problem. White Leghorn hens performing and receiving FP, as well as neutral control birds, were identified on a commercial farm. Hypothalamic RNA from 11 peckers, 10 victims, and 10 controls was hybridized onto GeneChip Chicken Genome Arrays (Affymetrix Inc., Santa Clara, CA) to compare gene expression profiles in the different groups. Eleven transcripts corresponding to 10 genes differed significantly between the 3 groups (adjusted P < 0.05). Eight of these transcripts differed in the peckers compared with the controls, 1 was upregulated in the victims compared with the controls, and 6 differed significantly in the peckers compared with the victims. Additionally, 5 transcripts showed a trend (adjusted P < 0.1) to differ in the pecker-victim comparison. Some of the products of the differently expressed genes are involved in disorders, such as intestinal inflammation and insulin resistance, which fit well with the previously proposed hypothesis that FP is an abnormal foraging behavior. Other findings may also support the proposal that FP is linked to immune mechanisms and may serve as an animal model for obsessive compulsive disorder in humans. In conclusion, this study provides a gene list that may be useful in further research on the mechanisms behind FP.
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| 6. |
- Brunberg, Emma, et al.
(författare)
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Icelandic horses with the Silver coat colour show altered behaviour in a fear reaction test
- 2013
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Ingår i: Applied Animal Behaviour Science. - : Elsevier BV. - 0168-1591 .- 1872-9045. ; 146, s. 72-78
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The colour of a horse's coat has long been discussed to reflect its temperament. One opinion is that Silver coloured horses are nervous, difficult to handle and react more strongly to different fear stimuli. The objective with the present study was to investigate if mutations associated with the Silver coat colour affect fear reactions in Icelandic horses. The hypothesis was that horses with the Silver mutation Arg618Cys in PMEL show stronger fear reactions than horses without the mutation (e.g. Black/Brown or Chestnut horses). Twenty-seven Icelandic horses (nine Silver, nine Chestnuts and nine Black/Brown) matched for sire, were exposed to the fear stimulus (a suddenly moving plastic bag) while feeding from a container. The test was repeated five times and behavioural responses and latency to return to the feed container were recorded. All horses were genotyped for the Silver mutation. The proportion of Silver horses that were hesitant to approach the test set-up before each trial was significantly higher (P < 0.05) than the proportion of non-Silver horses and this difference was most pronounced before the first two trials. No differences in reaction vigour or latency to resume feeding were found between the differently coloured horses. The results suggest that Silver horses are more cautious in novel situations rather than more reactive in fearful situations. One likely explanation for this difference is that the Silver mutation is associated with multiple congenital ocular anomalies (MCOA) syndrome and visual impairment. Furthermore, offspring (regardless of coat colour) from sires with a Best Linear Unbiased Prediction (BLUP, an index indicating which traits a horse will pass on to its offspring) value above 100 for the temperament trait 'Spirit', showed a greater fear reaction (P < 0.01) and reacted for a longer time (P < 0.01) than horses from sires with a lower (<100) index. These results indicate that horses with a high BLUP value for 'Spirit' seem to express stronger fear reactions. Breeding for Silver coat colour and the 'Spirit' trait, as it is currently defined, may need to be reconsidered if these results are confirmed in a larger cohort. (c) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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| 10. |
- Brunberg, Emma, et al.
(författare)
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Stress measures in tail biters and bitten pigs in a matched case-control study
- 2013
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Ingår i: Animal Welfare. - : Cambridge University Press (CUP). - 0962-7286 .- 2054-1538. ; 22, s. 331-338
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study aimed to identify differences in stress measures in pigs (Sus scrofa) with different roles during a tail-biting outbreak. Quartets (n = 16) of age- and gender-matched fattening pigs including a tail biter (TB; n = 16), a victim (V; n = 16), a control in the same pen (C-tb; n = 10), and one in a pen without tail biting (C-no; n = 14) were chosen by direct behavioural observation. Stress measures used were behaviour (dog-sitting, sniffing of pen-mates and aggression), thyroid hormone concentration, morphology of adrenal and thyroid glands and salivary cortisol concentration sampled at 0700, 1000, 1600 and 1900h. Category (TB, V, C-tb, C-no) effects were investigated using a mixed model with replicate as subject and category as repeated effect. Category had a significant effect on adrenal total (cortex + medulla) and cortical area, salivary cortisol at 1900h, serum triiodothyronine (T3) and the behaviours performing and receiving sniffing. Victims suffered from a triad of chronic stress, pathology and suppressed T3 secretion. Evidence for stress in tail biters, a possible cause of the behaviour, consisted of a slightly flattened day-time cortisol pattern and more performed sniffing than all other categories. Differences in evening cortisol concentration and T3 levels between the categories in the pen with ongoing tail biting emphasise the qualities of the control animal. It supports the view that neutral pigs represent a phenotype that adopts a coping strategy leading to lower stress levels than in tail biters and victims, despite being housed in the same pen.
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