Project Number: 6440-32630-001-01
Project Type: Nonfunded Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Oct 01, 2007
End Date: Sep 30, 2012

Objective:
Develop and validate a biomarker for the determination of susceptibility to “Fescue Toxicosis.”

Approach:
Various animal tissue samples (e.g., hair, blood, vascular tissue, muscle, liver, etc.) will be collected from animals exposed to toxic endophyte-infected tall fescue. These tissues will be subjected to genomic, proteomic, and metabolomic analysis to reveal the mechanistic effects of the toxicants of wild-type endophyte-infected tall fescue (toxic variety) on cellular health and function. In addition, animals consuming the toxic variety of tall fescue will be monitored for expression of “Fescue Toxicosis.” Animals receiving nontoxic tall fescue will serve as controls. The cellular and clinical effects of the toxic tall fescue will be used as screens for validating potential biomarkers of susceptibility to the intoxication syndrome (i.e., the presence/absence and severity of the intoxication effects will be compared to the presence/absence and/or expression of potential biomarkers to validate their usefulness as predictors of future intoxication). Biomarkers will be selected for investigation and potential commercial packaging for animal selection based on their correlation to the effects/symptoms of “Fescue Toxicosis.”