Short project description

Studies have established links between vitamin B12 deficiency and several disorders in humans. Milk and dairy product are some of the best sources for several minerals and vitamins, including riboflavin (vitamin B2) and cobalamin (vitamin B12). The primary origin of these water-soluble vitamins is the biosynthesis by the microorganisms in the rumen.

Recently, we have shown that the rumen microbial composition can be more predictive of the milk concentrations of acetate and beta-hydroxybutyric acid; the two major ketone bodies in dairy cow. Building up on these methodologies, this master’s project will investigate the proportion of variation in milk vitamin B2 and B12 content that can be explained by the cows’ genetics and the composition of the microbiome in its rumen.

Furthermore, prediction accuracies using genomic and microbial relationship matrices will be compared through cross validation. Genotype and phenotype data on cows and 16S rRNA sequence data are available for the rumen bacterial and archaeal community.

• Estimate proportion of variation in B2 and B12 content of bovine milk explained by host genetics and rumen microbiome
• Identify bacterial and archaeal OTUs significantly associated with B2 and B12 content of milk
• Assess prediction accuracy for B2 and B12 using genomic and microbial relationship matrices