Related Experiment Video

Updated: Feb 7, 2026

Measuring Liver Mitochondrial Oxygen Consumption and Proton Leak Kinetics to Estimate Mitochondrial Respiration in Holstein Dairy Cattle
08:29

Measuring Liver Mitochondrial Oxygen Consumption and Proton Leak Kinetics to Estimate Mitochondrial Respiration in Holstein Dairy Cattle

Published on: November 30, 2018

11.9K

Dairy cows - an opportunity in the research field of non-genetic inheritance?

Olivia Engmann1

  • 1Brain Research Institute, Faculty of Medicine, University of Zurich, Winterthurer Strasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.

Environmental Epigenetics
|July 24, 2018
PubMed

More than 1 billion cattle are raised annually for meat and milk production. Dairy cows are repeatedly impregnated and separated from their calves, usually within the first 24 h after birth. Here, I suggest that dairy cows undergo a procedure comparable to the 'Maternal separation combined with unpredictable maternal stress' paradigm (MSUS), which is used to study the non-genetic inheritance (NGI) of phenotypes in rodents. I discuss what research on dairy cows may bring to the research field of NGI. The resulting research findings are likely to have benefits to our understanding of MSUS, NGI and consumer safety.

Keywords:
dairy cowsearly life stressepigeneticsmaternal separation and unpredictable maternal stressnon-genetic inheritance

More Related Videos

Evaluation of Microbial Safety of Dairies using Bacterial Proteomic Profiling via MALDI Approach09:31

Evaluation of Microbial Safety of Dairies using Bacterial Proteomic Profiling via MALDI Approach

Published on: October 7, 2025

554
Studying Inherited Immunity in a Caenorhabditis elegans Model of Microsporidia Infection09:24

Studying Inherited Immunity in a Caenorhabditis elegans Model of Microsporidia Infection

Published on: April 6, 2022

2.8K

Related Concept Videos

Chromosomal Theory of Inheritance01:39

Chromosomal Theory of Inheritance

In 1866, Gregor Mendel published the results of his pea plant breeding experiments, providing evidence for predictable patterns in the inheritance of physical characteristics. The significance of his findings was not immediately recognized. In fact, the existence of genes was unknown at the time. Mendel referred to hereditary units as “factors.”
60.3K
Inheritance of Chromatin Structures03:17

Inheritance of Chromatin Structures

Epigenetics is the study of inherited changes in a cell's phenotype without changing the DNA sequences. It provides a form of memory for the differential gene expression pattern to maintain cell lineage, position-effect variegation, dosage compensation, and maintenance of chromatin structures such as telomeres and centromeres. For example, the structure and location of the centromere on chromosomes are epigenetically inherited. Its functionality is not dictated or ensured by the underlying...
7.6K
Genomic Imprinting and Inheritance02:30

Genomic Imprinting and Inheritance

Diploid organisms inherit genetic material through chromosomes from both parents. Copies of the same gene are known as alleles. In most cases, both alleles are simultaneously expressed and allow various cellular processes to function optimally. If one of the alleles is missing or mutated, the expression of the other allele can compensate; however, this is not true for all genes.
The expression of some genes depends on which parent passed the gene to the offspring, through a phenomenon known as...
37.2K
Non-nuclear Inheritance01:29

Non-nuclear Inheritance

Most DNA resides in the nucleus of a cell. However, some organelles in the cell cytoplasm⁠—such as chloroplasts and mitochondria⁠—also have their own DNA. These organelles replicate their DNA independently of the nuclear DNA of the cell in which they reside. Non-nuclear inheritance describes the inheritance of genes from structures other than the nucleus.
23.3K
Inheritance01:25

Inheritance

Gregor Mendel's pioneering work on the principles of inheritance fundamentally transformed our understanding of how traits are transmitted from generation to generation. His experiments with pea plants laid the groundwork for the discovery of genes, discrete units within organisms that control heredity.
Each gene exists in pairs, and the combination of these genes from both parents forms an individual's genotype. This genotype is a blueprint of potential traits. Examples of genotype...
1.7K
Animal Mitochondrial Genetics02:59

Animal Mitochondrial Genetics

Among all the organelles in an animal cell, only mitochondria have their own independent genomes. Animal mitochondrial DNA is a double-stranded, closed-circular molecule with around 20,000 base pairs. Mitochondrial DNA is unique in that one of its two strands, the heavy, or H, -strand is guanine rich, whereas the complementary strand is cytosine rich and called the light, or L, -strand. Compared to nuclear DNA, mitochondrial DNA has a very low percentage of non-coding regions and is marked by...
9.3K