Concomitant turkey herpesvirus-infectious bursal disease vector vaccine and oil-adjuvanted inactivated Newcastle disease vaccine administration: consequences for vaccine intake and protection

Hatchery vaccination protocols in day-old chicks are designed to provide early priming and protection against several poultry diseases including, but not limited to, Marek's disease (MD), infectious bursal disease (IBD), and Newcastle disease (ND). The constraint of concomitant administration of live MD and IBD vaccines plus ND inactivated oil-adjuvanted vaccines (IOAVs) requires improvements in vaccine technology. Single-needle concomitant subcutaneous (SC) application of IBD/MDV and killed NDV vaccine and the use of viral vectors for expression of immunogenic proteins are a current trend in the industry. The objective of this work was to assess the compatibility of a turkey herpesvirus (HVT)-infectious bursal disease (vHVT-IBD) vector vaccine applied simultaneously with IOAV and to evaluate the consequences for vaccine intake, the need for additional immunizations with the respective vaccines, and protection. Five separate trials were performed using double- and/or single-needle injectors. The levels and persistence of vaccine intake, serologic response, vHVT-IBD virus combination with the MD Rispens strain, and/or live NDV vaccination were also assessed. Histopathology and PCR at injection sites showed adequate vaccine intake detected up to 44 days postvaccination. Serologic evidence of vaccine priming was observed, and all vaccinated groups differed (P < 0.05) from the control at different time points. MD, NDV, and IBD protection results after concomitant double-shot single-needle vaccination were near 85%, 95%, and 100%, respectively. Taken together the results indicate no deleterious effects on the efficacy of the vHVT-IBD vaccine monitored by vaccine intake, serologic and challenge results, and combinations after concomitant live/killed vaccination, suggesting the suitability of its use in hatchery vaccination. All types of injectors used as well as injection techniques, vaccines injected separately or together, gave the same results.     

五种市售鸡传染性鼻炎灭活疫苗免疫效力比较

本研究对国内市场上几个主要鸡传染性鼻炎灭活疫苗生产厂家生产的灭活疫苗免疫鸡只进行血清HI抗体水平测定和攻毒,比较不同公司所产疫苗效力的效力差异,并评估A、C型二价灭活疫苗两次免疫鸡群对国内B型分离株:DL-1株和最近从免疫失败鸡场分离到的SD-1株的交叉保护作用,分析免疫失败的原因.结果表明:A、D、E公司的疫苗免疫两次后,A型HI抗体阳性率分别为92.5%、100%和95%,滴度分别为33.9、55.1和59.9,攻毒保护率都是100%.C型HI抗体阳性率分别为72.5%、38.5%和77.5%,滴度分别为11.4、2.7和27,攻毒保护率分别为80%、70%和80%.而B和C公司的疫苗免疫两次后A型HI抗体阳性率分别为59.4%、77.1%,抗体滴度分别为5.4和21.8,攻毒保护率分别为50%和66.7%;C型HI抗体阳性率分别为54.1%和51.4%,抗体滴度分别为6.1和6.8,攻毒保护率分别为38.3%和50%.在五个疫苗产品中,以A、D、E的保护效力较好,B、C产品效力较差.另外,A、C型二价灭活疫苗免疫后不能对B型菌的攻击提供保护,其A、C型HI抗体阳性率、抗体滴度与对B型菌攻毒保护率无相关性.     

Elastic domains regulate growth and organogenesis in the plant shoot apical meristem

Although genetic control of morphogenesis is well established, elaboration of complex shapes requires changes in the mechanical properties of cells. In plants, the first visible sign of leaf formation is a bulge on the flank of the shoot apical meristem. Bulging results from local relaxation of cell walls, which causes them to yield to internal hydrostatic pressure. By manipulation of tissue tension in combination with quantitative live imaging and finite-element modeling, we found that the slow-growing area at the shoot tip is substantially strain-stiffened compared with surrounding fast-growing tissue. We propose that strain stiffening limits growth, restricts organ bulging, and contributes to the meristem's functional zonation. Thus, mechanical signals are not just passive readouts of gene action but feed back on morphogenesis.     

Annual dynamics of Zymoseptoria tritici populations in wheat cultivar mixtures: A compromise between the efficacy and durability of a recently broken-down resistance gene?

Cultivar mixtures slow polycyclic epidemics but may also affect the evolution of pathogen populations by diversifying the selection pressures exerted by their plant hosts at field scale. We compared the dynamics of natural populations of the fungal pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici in pure stands and in three binary mixtures of wheat cultivars (one susceptible cultivar and one cultivar carrying the recently broken-down Stb16q gene) over two annual field epidemics. We combined analyses of population “size” based on disease severity, and of population “composition” based on changes in the frequency of virulence against Stb16q in seedling assays with more than 3000 strains. Disease reductions were observed in mixtures late in the epidemic, at the whole-canopy scale and on both cultivars, suggesting the existence of a reciprocal protective effect. The three cultivar proportions in the mixtures (0.25, 0.5, and 0.75) modulated the decrease in (a) the size of the pathogen population relative to the two pure stands, (b) the size of the virulent subpopulation, and (c) the frequency of virulence relative to the pure stand of the cultivar carrying Stb16q. Our findings suggest that optimal proportions may differ slightly between the three indicators considered. We argue potential trade-offs that should be taken into account when deploying a resistance gene in cultivar mixtures: between the dual objectives “efficacy” and “durability,” and between the “size” and “frequency” of the virulent subpopulation. Based on current knowledge, it remains unclear whether virulent subpopulation size or frequency has the largest influence on interepidemic virulence transmission.     

Cultivar mixture effects on disease and yield remain despite diversity in wheat height and earliness

Cultivar mixtures can stabilize yield and reduce pathogen spread in plant populations. A field experiment was performed to determine (a) whether a large difference between the cultivars in the mixture (e.g., plant height or earliness) would have an impact on mixture performance, and (b) whether such differences would modify the classical rules for mixture design. Mixtures were constituted from wheat cultivars with diversity for many traits, including plant height, flowering date, disease resistance, and yield potential. The field experiment was conducted over 3 years, testing each year 72–90 mixtures of two, four, or eight cultivars, and their corresponding pure stands. Disease severity and yield of cultivar mixtures were strongly related to the mean values of the component cultivars in pure stands. Despite the considerable diversity of the mixtures tested, the classic rules (e.g., proportion of susceptible cultivars) already tested in mixtures with similar height and earliness were effective for decreasing disease severity. Agronomic heterogeneity for traits such as plant height, yield potential, or earliness of the cultivars in mixtures did not have a negative impact on disease severity and yield relative to pure stands. Increasing the number of cultivars in the mixture from two to eight had no impact on the mean disease severity and yield of the mixtures, but reduced the variability of disease severity and yield in the mixture relative to pure stands. These results suggest that it may be possible to increase within-field wheat diversity by combining more contrasting cultivars in mixtures than was previously thought.     

Success and failure of invasive races of plant pathogens: The case of Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici in France

Invasions of new races can have contrasting consequences on populations of Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici, causing yellow rust of wheat. For example, the emergence of PstS7 (Warrior race) had major impacts in Europe and in France. By contrast, PstS2 had no impact in France, while it significantly affected other parts of the world. The objective of this study was to better understand factors that govern the success of an invasive race, taking the contrasting history of PstS7 and PstS2 in France as a case study. We compared these two races for three key factors driving invasive potential: (a) virulence against local cultivars, (b) aggressiveness in local environmental conditions, and (c) competitiveness against local races. During the period when PstS2 was detected, 70% of the grown wheat area was protected against this race by at least one known Yr resistance gene. By contrast, we found that only 15% of the wheat area had a low risk of infection by PstS7. In planta competition experiments suggested a higher competitiveness of PstS7 against local isolates compared to PstS2 in optimal thermal conditions. In silico experiments, based on thermal performance curves, suggested a high competitiveness of PstS7 considering infection efficiency. PstS2 was extremely competitive against local races in all considered environments (20 French sites × 15 years) due to its short latency period. Our findings highlight the importance of considering adaptation to environmental conditions, particularly temperature, in addition to virulence spectrum, in order to understand the evolutionary trajectories of emerging strains in pathogen populations.