Occurrence of fatal canine Angiostrongylus vasorum infection in Italy

A total of 469 fecal samples were collected from American minks (Mustela vison) on a farm in Hebei Province in China and examined for Cryptosporidium by Sheather's sugar flotation technique and 8 Cryptosporidim isolates were obtained. The partial 18S rRNA, 70 kDa heat shock protein (HSP70), Cryptosporidium oocyst wall protein (COWP) and actin genes of six isolates were sequenced. Sequence data were analyzed together with known Cryptosporidium spp. and genotypes. Results of this multi-locus genetic characterization indicated that the six Cryptosporidium isolates in this study shared the same sequences of the genes studied and were different from known Cryptosporidium species and genotypes. The closest relative was Cryptosporidium ferret genotype with 7, 22, 2 and 2 nucleotide differences in the 18S rRNA, HSP70, COWP and actin genes, respectively. The homology to ferret genotype at the 18S rRNA locus was 99.1%, which is comparable to that between C. parvum and C. hominis (99.2%), or between C. muris and C. andersoni (99.4%). Therefore, the Cryptosporidium in minks in this study is considered a new genotype, the Cryptosporidium mink genotype.     

Emerging issues in genomic selection

Genomic selection (GS) is now practiced successfully across many species. However, many questions remain, such as long-term effects, estimations of genomic parameters, robustness of genome-wide association study (GWAS) with small and large datasets, and stability of genomic predictions. This study summarizes presentations from the authors at the 2020 American Society of Animal Science (ASAS) symposium. The focus of many studies until now is on linkage disequilibrium between two loci. Ignoring higher-level equilibrium may lead to phantom dominance and epistasis. The Bulmer effect leads to a reduction of the additive variance; however, the selection for increased recombination rate can release anew genetic variance. With genomic information, estimates of genetic parameters may be biased by genomic preselection, but costs of estimation can increase drastically due to the dense form of the genomic information. To make the computation of estimates feasible, genotypes could be retained only for the most important animals, and methods of estimation should use algorithms that can recognize dense blocks in sparse matrices. GWASs using small genomic datasets frequently find many marker-trait associations, whereas studies using much bigger datasets find only a few. Most of the current tools use very simple models for GWAS, possibly causing artifacts. These models are adequate for large datasets where pseudo-phenotypes such as deregressed proofs indirectly account for important effects for traits of interest. Artifacts arising in GWAS with small datasets can be minimized by using data from all animals (whether genotyped or not), realistic models, and methods that account for population structure. Recent developments permit the computation of P-values from genomic best linear unbiased prediction (GBLUP), where models can be arbitrarily complex but restricted to genotyped animals only, and single-step GBLUP that also uses phenotypes from ungenotyped animals. Stability was an important part of nongenomic evaluations, where genetic predictions were stable in the absence of new data even with low prediction accuracies. Unfortunately, genomic evaluations for such animals change because all animals with genotypes are connected. A top-ranked animal can easily drop in the next evaluation, causing a crisis of confidence in genomic evaluations. While correlations between consecutive genomic evaluations are high, outliers can have differences as high as 1 SD. A solution to fluctuating genomic evaluations is to base selection decisions on groups of animals. Although many issues in GS have been solved, many new issues that require additional research continue to surface.     

Novel Natural Compounds and Their Anatomical Distribution in the Stinging Fireworm Hermodice carunculata (Annelida)

Increasing evidence in the field of bioprospection fosters the necessity of studying poorly investigated poisonous marine invertebrates to expand knowledge on animal venom biology. Among marine annelids, amphinomid fireworms are notorious for their bearded trunk equipped with a powerful stinging capacity. Here, a methodological workflow based on analytical chemistry techniques (compound isolation followed by mass spectrometry and spectroscopy analyses) was applied to gain new insights, leading to the identification and structural elucidation of an array of natural products from Mediterranean specimens of Hermodice carunculata. Eight betaine-derived unprecedented compounds, named “carunculines”, were detected, bearing two terminal ammonium groups tri-and disubstituted at the Cα (A, B) and a series of different alkyl chains (I–VIII). The mixture of chemicals was found in all the body parts of H. carunculata, supporting a mechanism of action triggered by their vehiculation inside the dorsal chaetae, and subsequent injection when chaetae break off on contact. Preliminary investigations to understand adaptive features were also performed, showing a trend in carunculine abundance that fits into the evolutionary history of these worms. These findings shed light on the chemical ecology of amphinomids, giving reasons for the success of H. carunculata in benthic environments and providing promising novel metabolites for biotechnological implications.     

Comparative efficacy of two single-dose bacterins in the control of Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae in swine raised under commercial conditions in Brazil

A field study was conducted in Brazil to evaluate the efficacy of single vaccination of pigs with two bacterins to prevent Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae lung lesions. The first (T1) treatment group (174 pigs) was injected with 2 mL of saline solution; group T2 (177 pigs) with 2 mL of bacterin A, and group T3 (174 pigs) with 2 mL of bacterin B. On days-on-test (DOT) 0, 35, 66, 97 and 125, blood samples and tonsil swabs were collected from selected pigs for antibody determination (indirect ELISA) and PCR assay for the presence of M. hyopneumoniae. Pigs were slaughtered on DOT 126-129 and lung lesions were scored blindly. Bacterin A vaccinated pigs had significantly (P < or = 0.05) lower lung lesion scores (0.2%) than bacterin B (0.4%) or saline-treated pigs (1.2%); there was also a significantly lower (P < or = 0.05) number of pigs with lung lesions (27.1%), than bacterin B (38.2%) or saline-treated (55.4%) pigs. The two vaccines had similar (P>0.05) results in terms of mean weight gain, average daily weight gain, feed efficiency, frequency of PCR positives, and there was similar antibody conversion (ELISA). It was concluded that although the productivity parameters and antibody conversions were similar, bacterin A was more effective in preventing and reducing the severity of lung lesions than bacterin B.     

Sperm production and quality in European eel (Anguilla anguilla) in relation to hormonal treatment

Aquaculture production relies on controlled management of gametogenesis, especially in species where assisted reproduction is needed for obtaining gametes in captivity. The present study used human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) treatments to induce and sustain spermatogenesis in European eel (Anguilla anguilla). The aim was to evaluate effects of strip-spawning timing (12 vs. 24 hr) after weekly administration of hCG and the necessity of a primer dose (in addition to weekly hormonal treatment) prior to strip spawning (primer vs. no-primer) on sperm quality parameters. Sperm parameters included milt production (weight), density and sperm kinematics at Week 9, 11 and 13 after onset of treatment. Spermiation commenced in 11.5% of males in Week 5 and by Week 9, and all males produced milt. Male weight, milt production, sperm density and spermatocrit did not differ among hormonal treatments during the experimental period. Overall, male weight decreased from 106.3 to 93.0 g, milt weight increased from 3.5 to 5.4 g, sperm density counts decreased from 11.7 × 10⁹ to 10.5 × 10⁹ cells/ml, and spermatocrit decreased from 46.5% to 40.5%. Furthermore, spermatocrit was positively related to haemocytometer counts (R² = .86, p < .001), providing a reliable indicator of sperm density. Differences in sperm kinematics were observed depending on strip-spawning timing after hormonal injection (12 vs. 24 hr) but with no consistent pattern. These sperm quality parameters also did not consistently differ between the no-primer and primer treatments. Considering that each male may be stripped 4–5 times over the 2–3 months spawning season, omitting the primer would reduce animal handling, material costs and labour intensity, while sustaining high-quality sperm production.