Hasan Khatib, professor in the Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences, received $650,000 for his project “The effects of paternal nutrition on early embryonic development and reproductive performance of offspring,” through NIFA’s Animal Reproduction program within the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative. It is among 17 projects sharing $9.5 million in funding.

Project summary (from CRIS website): The paternal origins of health and diseases have been substantially explored in rodent models, but little is known about how paternal diet influences early embryonic development and fertility across multiple generations in livestock. The ultimate goal of this proposal is to evaluate paternal environmental effects on embryo development and fertility of the offspring. In specific objective 1, we will supplement methionine (a methyl donor) to rams from weaning to puberty. At puberty, rams will be used for breeding synchronized ewes. Embryos will be flushed and investigated for the effects of paternal diet on embryo development, gene expression, and DNA methylation patterns. In specific objective 2, we will determine the effects of paternal nutrition on the reproductive performance of the offspring using 20 twin pairs of rams. One member of each of the 20 twin pairs will be randomly selected for methionine supplementation from weaning until puberty. The other 20 rams will be used as controls. F1 and F2 generations will be produced from the two groups of rams. Reproductive performance traits and sperm quality traits will be collected from F1 and F2 generations for association analysis with the methionine supplementation to the F0 generation. The molecular characterization of the paternal genomic and epigenetic signatures contributing to embryo development and reproductive performance may lead to the development of biomarkers of improved reproductive efficiency. We believe this work is relevant to the area priorities of “Embryonic and fetal development” and “Effects of nutritional plane on reproductive performance.” The study will also look at the effect of the father’s diet on the reproductive performance of their offspring, up to two generations. The results of the study may lead to the discovery of biomarkers for improved reproductive efficiency in livestock.