Multi-omics data integration towards sustainable bovine production, health and welfare: the case of painful foot lesions

Multi-omics data integration towards sustainable bovine production, health and welfare: the case of painful foot lesions | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Multi-omics data integration towards sustainable bovine production, health and welfare: the case of painful foot lesions Elizabeth Attree, Xiaoxia Dai, Bethany Griffiths, Alkiviadis Anagnostopoulos, and 8 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6000979/v2 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 2 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Show more versions Abstract Claw horn disruption lesions (CHDL) are painful non-infectious foot lesions of significant animal welfare and socioeconomic importance to the dairy industry. Lameness caused by CHDL is the main cause of involuntary culling, considerably reduces milk production, constitutes a major animal welfare concern and impacts directly on sustainability through increased costs, veterinary intervention and raising replacement cattle with environmental implications. As a complex heritable disease, better understanding of the genomic architecture of CHDL pathogenesis and development is essential for facilitating genetic improvement of hoof health. We have collected detailed longitudinal phenotypic, genetic data and metadata from 2,300 dairy cattle and performed an in-depth genetic characterisation integrating multi-omics data including: genome-wide association studies (GWAS), whole genome sequencing (WGS), mRNA-sequencing, lncRNA-sequencing, expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL), reduced representation bisulfide sequencing (RRBS) in foot tissue and peripheral blood lymphocytes. According to our results, pathways related to complement cascade, inflammation, neuronal signalling (specifically pain perception) and bone and cartilage development, play a key role in CHDL resistance. These findings highlight novel genetic targets for precise breeding strategies to reduce CHDL prevalence. Implementation could improve animal welfare, decrease involuntary culling, and enhance dairy sector sustainability by enabling smaller herds with reduced methane emissions and resource use. Biological sciences/Genetics/Agricultural genetics Biological sciences/Genetics/Functional genomics Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files CHDLsupplementarydata.xlsx Supplementary data CHDLspplementary.pdf Supplementary results and methods Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 2 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Show more versions Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6000979","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":577688523,"identity":"344eb338-4239-463e-9954-da1d10930005","order_by":0,"name":"Elizabeth 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According to our results, pathways related to complement cascade, inflammation, neuronal signalling (specifically pain perception) and bone and cartilage development, play a key role in CHDL resistance. These findings highlight novel genetic targets for precise breeding strategies to reduce CHDL prevalence. 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