Dr. Jesse

Dr. Barry Jesse

Associate Professor
Animal Science

Foran Hall, Room 108
59 Dudley Road
Cook College, Rutgers University
New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8520
Phone: 732-932-8165 x104
Fax: 732-932-6996
Email: jesse@aesop.rutgers.edu

Education
B.S. (Agricultural Science), University of Illinois, 1975
M.S. (Dairy Science), University of Illinois, 1977
Ph.D. (Dairy Science, Institute of Nutrition) Michigan State University, 1984

Research Interests
Mammalian digestive tracts do not possess the enzymes required to degrade cellulose. Consequently, mammals are unable to utilize forage crops such as grasses, hays, or silages. However, ruminants have evolved a multicompartmented stomach which allows them to use forages as a major dietary energy source. Microorganisms (primarily bacteria and protozoa) within the rumen, the largest stomach compartment, anaerobically ferment dietary carbohydrate, including cellulose and nearly all of the glucose and starch, producing short-chain volatile fatty acids (VFA). These VFA are absorbed and for used by the animal as an energy source (acetate and butyrate), or are used for hepatic gluconeogenesis (propionate). The newborn calf, lamb or other young ruminant possesses a nonfunctional rumen, both anatomically and metabolically, and resembles a nonruminant with respect to digestive function. At weaning, the rumen is fully functional and able to absorb sufficient amounts of VFA to meet the daily energy requirements of the newly weaned ruminant. Even in the adult ruminant, however, the rumen can still respond to alterations in dietary energy intake: greater feed intake resulting in a rumen with greater metabolic capacity. The mechanism(s) by which rumen growth and development is triggered is unknown, although the VFA appear to be involved. The long-term goal of the research in my laboratory is to determine in both the adult and newborn ruminant the mechanism(s) by which rumen development is promoted. Our objectives to reach this goal are first, to develop a culture system to study rumen epithelial cell differentiation in vitro, second, to develop an in vivo model for rumen development using milk-fed lambs receiving intraruminal VFA infusions, and third, to isolate cDNA clones of genes undergoing differential expression during rumen development, and to characterize the regulation of expression of these genes.

Recent Publications
Jesse, B.W. 1998. Nutrient regulation of gene expression. Symposium on Growth in Ruminants: Basic Aspects, Theory and Practice for the Future. pp. 43-44. J. Blum, ed. University of Bern Press. Bern.

Wang, L., R.L. Baldwin, VI, and B.W. Jesse. 1996. Isolation and characterization of a cDNA clone encoding ovine Type I carbonic anhydrase. J. Animal Sci., 74:345-353.

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Last update:02/15/99