Suchergebnisse

The winter season 2008–2009 has been characterized by heavy snowfalls over the western Alps. The snowfalls have been exceptional because of their earliness, persistence, intensity and territorial spread. The impact on the regional environment and territory has been relevant, also from the economical point of view, as well as the effort of the people involved in the forecasting, prevention and fighting actions. The environmental induced effects have been shown until late spring. Several snowfall events affected also the plains and the main towns, causing social impacts. The purpose of this work is to describe the overall effects of the anomalous snowfalls and the emergency response by the local government and institutions to face the hazard scenario and mitigate the risk for people, properties and environment. Arpa Piemonte (Regional Agency for Environmental Protection) gave the technical support to the snow emergency management borrowing the expertise acquired during the heavy hydrological events occurred in the Piemonte region and contributing to minimize losses. A short list of recommendations came out from the experience, as well as the technical tools and products, all highlighting the emergency preparedness relevance.

The winter season 2008–2009 has been characterized by heavy snowfalls over the western Alps. The snowfalls have been exceptional because of their earliness, persistence, intensity and territorial spread. The impact on the regional environment and territory has been relevant, also from the economical point of view, as well as the effort of the people involved in the forecasting, prevention and fighting actions. The environmental induced effects have been shown until late spring. Several snowfall events affected also the plains and the main towns, causing social impacts. The purpose of this work is to describe the overall effects of the anomalous snowfalls and the emergency response by the local government and institutions to face the hazard scenario and mitigate the risk for people, properties and environment. Arpa Piemonte (Regional Agency for Environmental Protection) gave the technical support to the snow emergency management borrowing the expertise acquired during the heavy hydrological events occurred in the Piemonte region and contributing to minimize losses. A short list of recommendations came out from the experience, as well as the technical tools and products, all highlighting the emergency preparedness relevance.

Next generation sequencing applied in pigs have recently produced re-sequenced pig genome data from different individuals belonging to a large variety of breeds. The availability of these large datasets is opening new opportunities to mine public nucleotide archives and identify mutations that could putatively affect economic relevant traits. Moreover, resequencing data from pooled pig DNA could provide cost-effective whole genome information from a large number of animals. In this study, we mined 110 individual pig genomes retrieved from the European Nucleotide Archive and from proprietary datasets generated from pigs of 28 different breeds. This dataset was integrated from 8 pooled whole genome resequencing datasets generated from 35 individuals each from 8 distinct commercial or autochthonous breeds (Italian Large White, Italian Duroc, Italian Landrace, Apulo Calabrese, Cinta Senese, Casertana, Mora Romagnola, Nero Siciliano), respectively. Individual and pooled pig genome datasets were searched for polymorphisms in 135 annotated candidate genes, including 25 genes involved in androsterone and skatole biochemical related pathways. Short reads from these genomes were aligned using bowtie to a customized reference sequence generated from the reference pig genome, including sequence of selected genes (with depth ranging from 4 to 40X for each genome). A total of 100k variants were identified (2.3% in coding regions with about 500 missense mutations and a few other potential functional mutations). About 15% of these numbers refers to genes encoding enzymes involved in the androsterone and skatole biochemical pathways. This study provided an overview of the variability in targeted gene regions potentially involved in determining boar taint in pigs. Partially funded by European Union's H2020 RIA program (grant agreement no. 634476). Abstract reflects the authors' view. European Union Agency is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.

Animal genetic resources are important reservoirs of genetic diversity derived by distinct selection pressures or as result of adaptation to production conditions. The TREASURE project has investigated genetic variability in 20 European autochthonous pig breeds with the aim to describe their singularity, evaluate their adaptation, develop new methodologies for their management and identify DNA markers for breed allocation and meat authentication. Genomic data have been obtained by genotyping candidate gene markers and high density single nucleotide polymorphism arrays in ~48 animals from each breed and by whole genome resequencing. Description of genetic diversity has been obtained using several parameters. Runs of homozygosity and genomic inbreeding measures have been correlated with pedigree inbreeding coefficients. A few breed specific markers have been identified and applied. Genome wide association studies have identified genomic regions affecting unique phenotypes. This project represents one of the few examples of exploitation of genomic information that not only benefits the investigated animal genetic resources but also can provide useful information that could impact commercial populations. Funded by European Union's H2020 RIA program (grant agreement no. 634476).