Title
Systems biology understanding of pathways and genes involved in immunometabolism: towards the joint improvement of immunocompetence and production efficiency in swine (METAPIGEN).
Subproject 1 (PID2020-112677RB-C21): Molecular physiology of immunometabolism in pigs: genetic bases for the selection of more robust populations (IRTA, Spain).
Subproject 2 ( PID2020-112677RB-C22): Molecular physiology of energy metabolism in pigs: genetic bases for the selection of production efficiency and meat quality (UAB and CRAG, Spain).
Main objective
The main objective is to study the crosstalk between immunity and energy metabolism aiming at identifying regulatory networks, candidate genes and causal genetic variants that influence the phenotypic diversity of both immunocompetence and production-quality traits.
In a medium-term perspective, the aim of the present project includes validating functionally and genetically the identified polymorphisms, as well as characterizing molecular biomarkers that may predict the capacity of immune response in front of pathogen infections.
Finally, a long-term perspective is to introduce a panel of the most suitable genetic variants (i.e. custom designed SNP chips) in porcine selection programs to improve animal robustness and resistance to pathogens while maintaining high production efficiency and product quality.
Funding and Approval Timeline
Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Spain); from 2021 to 2024.
211,750€ (Subproject 1).
193,600€ (Subproject 2).
Research Institutions
The project is developed by the Animal Breeding and Genetics Program of the Institute for Research and Technology in Food and Agriculture (IRTA subproject and coordinator) and the Animal Genomics group of the Center for Research in Agrigenomics (CRAG subproject).
Project Staff
Research Team Subproject 1: IP 1 (Coordinator): Dr. Maria Ballester Devis (IRTA, Spain), IP 2: Dr. Raquel Quintanilla Aguado (IRTA, Spain), Dr. Mariam Pascual (IRTA, Spain).
Working Team Subproject 1: Dr. Fany Blanc (INRAE, France), Dr. Antonio Reverter (CSIRO, Australia), Olga González (IRTA, Spain), Neus Torrentó (IRTA, Spain).
External collaborators: Dr. Llilianne Ganges (IRTA-CRESA, Spain), Dr. Ayub Darji (IRTA-CRESA, Spain).
Research Team Subproject 2: IP 1: Dr. Josep Maria Folch Albareda (UAB and CRAG, Spain), Dr. Armand Sanchez Bonastre (UAB and CRAG, Spain), Dr. Anna Castelló Farré (CRAG, Spain)
Working Team Subproject 2: Dr. Jordi Estellé (INRAE, France), Dr. Anna Mercadé (UAB, Spain).