677. Searching for genes involved in heat stress response in lactating cows through transcriptomics

Understanding the genetic mechanisms that regulate the response of animals to heat stress (HS) events is of interest when developing selection strategies towards more thermotolerant animals. In this study, we have addressed, in dairy cattle, the study of genes that are differentially expressed (DE) under heat stress compared to a comfort situation. A total of 407 genes DE between heat stress and comfort conditions were found, many of them being upregulated (230) under HS conditions. The study of the biological processes to which these genes are associated has shown processes associated with response to external aggressors, immune response or cellular repair.