This case study is part of a series focusing on the importance of sustained funding for fundamental and strategic research. The first in this series summarises the research behind Barbervax®: a vaccine for the Barber’s Pole Worm, Haemonchus contortus. Barbervax® is the first vaccine in the world for a worm parasite of sheep and for a gut-dwelling worm of any host, including man.
Mark leads studies in molecular physiology in potato at the James Hutton Institute. His main research has been on understanding the molecular basis of quality and development trains in potato tubers. For SEFARI, Mark is Work Package Coordinator for Crop and grassland production and disease control alongside Alison Lees. His work for SEFARI focuses on genetic diversity and improvement of crops.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have released a stark warning of the consequences of uncontrolled greenhouse gas emissions in a recent Special Report. We now recognise that to avoid dangerous climate change, it will be necessary to limit global temperature rises to no more than 1.5oC above preindustrial levels.
The dietary choices and habits of a person cannot be divorced from climate change, biodiversity and ecosystems, or the more common focus, the prevalence of diet-related diseases (e.g. obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer).
As regards climate change, it has been estimated that the food system (including e.g. agricultural production, processing, distribution, retail, cooking and waste) accounts for 20-30% of all UK greenhouse gas emissions (GHG).
This case study will summarise ongoing research on Teladorsagia circumcincta, one of the most common and economically important endemic parasites to control in sheep in the UK. SEFARI scientists have found that as temperatures gradually get warmer there could be a ‘tipping point’ where parasite burdens suddenly get a lot higher. Our scientists have also shown that climate change can increase parasite burdens, these parasite burdens can substantially drive-up greenhouse gas emissions, and ineffective parasite control can lead to further increases in emissions.
My long-standing interest in less-invasive techniques to study ruminant nutrition has developed into a range of projects looking at biomarkers in accessible samples - including milk, urine, faeces and breath. The work is highly relevant to two major technological developments in animal science (i) the need for cheap and high-throughput phenotyping to exploit new genomic information; and (ii) rapid advances in the use of monitoring and sensing equipment on-farm (precision livestock farming).
My overall research interest is to unravel the host animal genomic architecture affecting complex performance traits in livestock. At present my main research interest is to reveal the influence of the gut microbiome on methane emissions, feed conversion efficiency, meat quality, animal health and behavioural traits, and how the host animal shapes the microbiome associated with those traits.
New and emerging diseases of plants and animals are one of the greatest threats to food security and natural resources today. These emergences are accelerating, driven by the effects of climate change, trade and human movement of plant and animal material.