NUTRIGENOMICS, A NEW DIRECTION FOR DAIRY COWS: A REVIEW

Bianca-Maria Mădescu, A.C. Matei, Elena Ruginosu, Mădălina-Alexandra Davidescu, V. Vintilă, M. Amarandei, Şt. Creangă

Abstract
   A fairly fresh area of studies is nutrigenomics in dairy cows. It is described as the research of nutritional genome-wide factors that alter gene expression. The capacity of nutrients to communicate with genes and modulate molecular processes that impact physiological functions is well recognized nowadays. This has resulted in increasing interest among researchers in exploring nutrition at a molecular level and developing two fields of study: nutrigenomics (evaluates the influence of nutrients on gene expression) and nutrigenetics (evaluates the heterogeneous individual nutrient response due to genetic variation). Due to their biologically significant positions during early postnatal life, fatty acids are one of the nutrients most studied. Fatty acids modulate transcription factors engaged in lipid metabolism regulation. The use of various sources of polyunsaturated fatty acids, starch concentrations, forage ratios and vitamins stands out among the options for dietary manipulation with the aim of modulating lipogenesis. Retinoic acid activates both receptors of retinoic acid (RAR) and receptors of retinoid X (RXR), causing epigenetic modifications in important adipogenesis regulatory genes. We are at the frontier of the nutrigenomics era in ruminants and original information firmly suggest that this science branch can play a critical part in future actions to feed better dairy cattle.

Key words: Fatty acids, Metabolism, Milk, Nutrients