NCCC210: Regulation of Adipose Tissue Accretion in Meat-Producing Animals (NCR97)
Statement of Issues and Justification
NeedsNCCC097, Regulation of Adipose Tissue Growth in Meat Animals, a multi-State project, has been established to meet needs of stakeholders including consumers, food animal producers, and scientists. The Project Committee is composed of scientists with broad interests and expertise of factors affecting development and composition of adipose tissue in meat-producing animals. The need to control excessive adipose tissue growth, as well as modify fatty acid composition of tissue, provides consumers with meat and meat products with the greatest quality and/or nutritional value possible with correlated enhanced efficiencies of conversion of feed to food and ultimately economic profitability. Importantly, scientists will benefit from advances in techniques and methodology that arise from the Project Committees efforts to move forward in their quest for advanced knowledge in the field of adipose biology. Indeed, adipose tissue provides a dynamic metabolic paradigm as knowledge of its composition, biochemistry, molecular biology, endocrinology, and morphology steadily advances.
Importance of work
The Project Committee meets annually to report on research conducted by individual members and there are significant collaborations among Project Committee members throughout the year. The primary importance of activities of Project Committee members is development of ideas and strategies, and critique of planned studies so subsequent research is conducted in a manner that provides data worthy of interpretation and importance to advancement of adipose tissue biology. If these activities are not accomplished, or if the Project Committee does not meet to participate in these activities and develop camaraderie, scientific knowledge from individual scientist research projects and interactions with collaborative scientists on these projects are stifled and ultimately progress in addressing needs of consumers and food animal producers is hampered.
Members of NCCC097 continue to be dedicated to understanding regulation and mechanisms for control of adipose tissue (fat) deposition in animals raised for meat production. Adipose tissue is necessary for survival to supply and store energy and as an endocrine organ. Excess fat is costly from a fiscal perspective to produce and is unwanted by consumers of lean meat. However, the deposition of intramuscular (marbling) adipose tissue must be promoted to achieve maximum carcass/product quality (for the producer) as well as often times a desired eating experience (for consumers). Animal growth can be modified to decrease fat production by nutritional, pharmacological, and physiological control of intrinsic or extrinsic processes, but this must be balanced with maintaining marbling deposition. Project Committee members have been the primary multistate and Land Grant University contributors in the area of adipose tissue biology for over 30 years. The present scope of NCCC097 Project Committee members is national and includes academic participants from throughout the USA and USDA/ARS. Different industry representatives are invited to each meeting to provide a unique perspective on adipose tissue biology. Dr. Shih-Torng Ding, of National Taiwan University and former postdoctoral research associate of Dr. Harry Mersmann (retired NCCC-097 member), continues to provide the committee with an international perspective through his guest participation. Dr. Ding is a highly prolific publisher with considerable use of modern techniques and his expertise always adds to the quality of the annual Project Committee meeting. Project Committee members represent most of active researchers focusing on regulation of fat accretion in meat-producing animals in the USA. This inclusiveness provides for great awareness of and supports integration of research. No other multi-state project includes the objectives/goals of those proposed for NCCC097 providing for the true uniqueness and justification of this project.
Thirty-five years ago, members of NCCC097 were major publishers of papers related to carcass composition, adipocyte anabolic and catabolic lipid metabolism, and fatty acid composition. A landmark publication at the time was Biology of Fat in Meat Animals, published by the Project Committee members in 1976 (College of Agriculture, University of Wisconsin). Twenty-five years ago, members focused on nutritional/pharmacological treatment to change body composition, and 15 years ago, mechanisms controlling adipocyte hyperplasia, differentiation, and growth (hypertrophy) and effects of somatotropin and beta-adrenergic agonists were emphasized. An important outcome of the latter research was publication of The Biology of Fat in Meat Animals: Current Advances, by Project Committee members in 1995 (ASAS Press). Currently, members address problems in adipose tissue biology by using modern techniques in molecular biology and immunology.
For example, project objectives are achieved through members studying control of adipocyte differentiation by using DNA and immunological technologies to probe chronology of adipocyte gene expression. Project Committee members made additional contributions to objectives through cloning full or partial sequences for many porcine and bovine genes associated with adipocyte differentiation. Effect of various hormones, growth factors and nutrients on differentiation continues to be of primary focus of several project members in contributing to project objectives. Project Committee members cloned the porcine beta-adrenergic receptors (BAR) and found that porcine adipocytes have mostly B1AR and not B3AR, as in rodents. Cloned receptors allow researchers to understand unique adrenergic biology of porcine adipocytes. Other Project member contributions have been the role of adenosine receptors in modulating catabolic porcine adipocyte lipid metabolism. Members continue to delve into signal transduction mechanisms for regulation of adipocyte lipid metabolism and growth. The role of fatty acid oxidation in young pigs and development and function of brown adipose tissue in newborn cattle and sheep are ongoing interests of other members of the committee. Seven Project Committee members study mechanisms for conjugated linoleic acid modification of growth, and another member studies development of omega-3 fatty acids in adipocytes of grass-fed beef, and yet another member provides scientific knowledge in satisfying program objectives through studying promotion of enrichment of monounsaturated fatty acids in differentiating adipose tissue, as regulated by expression of the stearoyl-CoA desaturase gene with all of these contributing in significant ways to satisfying the objectives of our multistate project. Recently, nine members of the Project Committee have shared authorship of a review article, The Biology and Regulation of Preadipocytes and Adipocytes in Meat Animals, to appear in the Journal of Animal Science.
Molecular biological and immunological methodologies are very important for the continued progress of Project Committee members such as array techniques for DNA or protein expression studies. For example, these approaches allow for studies of cytokine gene expression by adipose tissue. These approaches will extend the DNA expression results of previous studies of Project Committee members (Hausman, Odle, Adams, Smith, and Rule). An example of progress made with these approaches is the advanced understanding of the role of fatty acids such as CLA, omega-3 and monounsaturated fatty acids. Adiponectin receptors have been cloned and the biology of adiponectin and the receptors studied and reported by former committee members and associates (Dr. Michael Spurlock and Dr. Shih-Torng Ding, independently).Members provide expertise and major contributions to the knowledge base for regulation of adipocyte differentiation and growth, as well as metabolism and composition of lipid. Classical measurements of enzyme activities, fatty acid composition, as well as adipocyte size and number are used but are supplemented by new technologies such as immunological and nucleic acid methods, cellular signal transduction measurements, and microdialysis (to measure metabolites and blood flow in vivo). Molecular, cellular, tissue, organ, or whole animal experimental designs are used depending on the type of question being addressed. The group has a very strong publication record to disseminate results globally. Over the last 4 plus years, there have been hundreds journal articles and abstracts, along with several book chapters, books, and many technical reports resulting from contributions of Program Committee members many of which would not have occurred or that were enhanced as a consequence of committee member interactions, particularly at our annual meeting. A symposium, "Alternative Aspects of Adipocyte Function" was organized and presented by members of NCCC097 at ASAS-2003. Members have hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants each year from USDA/NRI, commodity groups, industry, and state funds. They serve on multiple journal editorial boards (J. Anim. Sci., J. Nutr., Dom. Anim. Endocrin., Exp. Biol. Med.), serve as Editor and section editors for J. Anim. Sci., review multiple grants, present numerous seminars and symposium talks, and organize and chair meeting sessions and symposia. With the greatly enhanced focus on obesity in humans from developed countries, research results from members impact the biology of adipose tissue growth with some results being extrapolated to humans or used as a foundation knowledge base for using the pig or other species as biomedical models.
Technical feasibility of the research The research of Committee individuals is greatly enhanced because of the interaction at the meeting with detailed discussion, critique and trouble-shooting of experimental design, methods, results and interpretation. Members with little expertise in a specific area or sub-discipline have access to input by other members with demonstrated expertise. Thus, detailed presentation and discussion of research design, methodologies and results at the meeting greatly increases the feasibility of the projects and the probability of success. As research approaches and methodologies continue to advance and evolve, Program Committee member contributions are markedly improved because of these interactions.
Advantages of doing the work as a multi-state effort Advantages of collaboration as a multistate effort are best defined as diversity of efforts emphasized by members from the individual states. The diversity includes species, discipline, and technical emphasis. This diversity allows the Committee to span needs of consumers and industry more completely. Species diversity is partially dictated by species concentration in specific regions. For example, faculty at the University of Wyoming focus on sheep and cattle, those in Texas focus primarily on beef cattle, and faculty working with swine are represented by a large number of Committee members. Moreover, other members of the Committee emphasize cell and tissue culture to accomplish goals consistent with those of NCCC-097.
Likely impacts of successful collaboration Outcomes of collaboration among Project Committee members are not limited to the confines of the annual meeting. Individuals and collaborators who are a part of this Project Committee have been and continue to be successful in obtaining extramural research grants because of the research conducted, in part, in conjunction with input and involvement of Project Committee members. The Project Committee members continue to conduct symposia focusing specifically on regulation of adipose tissue accretion in food producing animals at national scientific meetings, as well as to publish proceedings and books on this topic. Advancements realized by Project Committee members also positively impact the biomedical community because of the direct link to human nutrition and human adipose tissue biology that has relevance to disease states such as obesity, inflammation, and the metabolic syndrome. The greatest impacts of the NCCC097 multistate project are: 1) Enhanced quality of research in making the whole greater than the sum or the parts through collegial collaborations, particularly at the annual meeting that is held preceding the Experimental Biology meetings; 2) The broad utilization of the knowledge base that is communicated through Project Committee member publications that result under the auspices of the NCCC097 Multistate Project Committee; and 3) NCC097 Project Committee member stimulation of graduate student and postdoctoral fellow creativity as a result of their interactions through and often times collaborations with the leading adipose tissue biologists in the USA contributing to food animal production research.
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