Efficacy of Elevated Dietary Fluoride for the Control of Renibacterium salmoninarum Infection in Rainbow Trout Salmo gairdneri

Laboratory studies were performed to evaluate the efficacy of dietary fluoride for the control of Renibacterium salmoninarum infection in rainbow trout and to determine potential dietary fluoride toxicity to the fish. Fish were fed diets containing fluoride (F), as NaF, to give doses of 0, 2, 4, 8, or 16 mg F/kg fish weight per day. Efficacy of fluoride for the control of bacterial kidney disease (BKD) was observed at 4, 8, and 16 mg/kg doses. No signs of toxicity due to dietary fluoride were observed in the fish.     

Initial Disease Report of Streptococcus iniae Infection in Hybrid Striped (Sunshine) Bass and Successful Therapeutic Intervention with the Fluoroquinolone Antibacterial Enrofloxacin

Streptococcal infection ( Streptococcus iniae ) was diagnosed sequentially in two tanks of hybrid striped bass Morone saxatilis male × M. chrysops female (Sunshine bass) grown in a commercial freshwater recirculation facility in western Massachusetts. The pathogen was isolated in the laboratory, biochemically and morphologically characterized, and antibacterial sensitivities determined. Streptococcus iniae -induced lesions in the Sunshine bass were character at the gross and histopathological levels. Initial treatment with oxytetracycline was unsuccessful. Based on sensitivity results, enrofloxacin-medicated feed was dosed at 10 mg/kg body weight for 10 d, while a subsequent trial was conducted at 5 mg/kg body weight for 10 d. Mortality of fish subsided promptly following initiation of enrofloxacin therapy, yielding a final mortality in the initial tank of 10.83% (control tank 55.5%) and in the second tank of 16.97% (control tank 39.8%). Tissue enrofloxacin residues, detected via a microbiologic bioassay, revealed greater quantities and longer duration of residues in various tissues from the 5-mg as compared to the 10-mg trial, potentially the result of adverse feed palatability. Enrofloxacin appears to have excellent potential as an antibacterial agent for treating susceptible bacterial diseases of Sunshine bass.     

Plasma Antimullerian Hormone as a Predictor of Ovarian Antral Follicular Population in Bos indicus (Nelore) and Bos taurus (Holstein) Heifers

In Bos taurus cattle, antimullerian hormone (AMH) has been demonstrated to have a high degree of correlation with ovarian antral follicle count and the number of healthy follicles and oocytes. To document the correlation between the plasma concentration of AMH and follicular number in Bos indicus and Bos taurus heifers, Nelore (Bos indicus, n = 16) and Holstein heifers (Bos taurus, n = 16) had their ovarian follicular waves synchronized. After synchronization, ovarian antral follicular population (AFP) was evaluated three times at 60‐day (d) intervals (T‐120 d, 120 days before plasma AMH determination; T‐60 d, 60 days before; and T0, at the time of plasma AMH determination). The plasma AMH concentration was positively correlated with the number of ovarian follicles on the day of the follicular wave emergence in Bos indicus (Nelore) and Bos taurus (Holstein) heifers at each evaluation time (p < 0.05). The AFP was higher in Bos indicus (Nelore) than in Bos taurus (Holstein) heifers (p < 0.05). Similarly, the AMH concentration was higher in Bos indicus (Nelore) than in Bos taurus (Holstein) heifers (p < 0.0001). When heifers were classified as to present high or low AFP according to the mean of the AFP within each genetic group, high‐AFP heifers presented a greater (p < 0.0001) AMH concentration than low‐AFP heifers, regardless of the genetic group. In conclusion, the AFP is positively correlated with plasma AMH concentration in both Bos indicus (Nelore) and Bos taurus (Holstein) heifers. Furthermore, Bos indicus (Nelore) heifers presented both greater plasma AMH concentrations and AFP than Bos taurus (Holstein) heifers.     

Scanning Single-Electron Transistor Microscopy: Imaging Individual Charges

A single-electron transistor scanning electrometer (SETSE)-a scanned probe microscope capable of mapping static electric fields and charges with 100-nanometer spatial resolution and a charge sensitivity of a small fraction of an electron-has been developed. The active sensing element of the SETSE, a single-electron transistor fabricated at the end of a sharp glass tip, is scanned in close proximity across the sample surface. Images of the surface electric fields of a GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs heterostructure sample show individual photo-ionized charge sites and fluctuations in the dopant and surface-charge distribution on a length scale of 100 nanometers. The SETSE has been used to image and measure depleted regions, local capacitance, band bending, and contact potentials at submicrometer length scales on the surface of this semiconductor sample.     

Infection of Tilapia Oreochromis sp. by Vibrio vulnificus in Freshwater and Low-salinity Environments

The first isolation of Vibrio vulnificus in southern Taiwan from hybrid tilapia Oreochromis sp. raised in freshwater and brackish water environments is documented in this report. The infection was only found in fish in ponds where the salinity was less than 10 ppt. Tilapia raised in water of higher salinities in the same region were not affected. Grossly visible signs of infection included dark coloration, lethargy, and external hemorrhage and ulceration of the skin. The most prominent internal signs of infection included splenomegaly and severe hemorrhagic lesions in the liver. Septicemia was documented in moribund fish. All bacterial isolates from moribund fish were tested by polymerase chain reaction, using V. vulnificus hemolysin/cytolysin gene‐specific primers. Sequence data from the 16S ribosomal RNA gene suggest that these isolates were V. vulnificus. The isolates were indole and mannitol positive, characteristics shared by human clinical isolates and isolates from freshwater European eel, Anguilla anguilla. The isolates from tilapia were unique in that they were negative for ornithine decarboxylase and citrate.     

西北旱区生态服务价值时空动态研究

为探明西北旱区生态服务价值的时空差异性,以2004—2012年相关数据为基础,对其生态服务价值进行计算。结果表明:(1)2012年西北旱区的生态服务价值较2004年增加了166.1×109元,而人均生态服务价值却减少了8元,说明人口的增速比生态服务价值的增速大,应适当控制人口增长;(2)西北旱区各省区生态服务价值变化大小依次为甘肃陕西中北部新疆内蒙古中西部青海宁夏,其中宁夏和青海为负变化;(3)2004—2012年间西北旱区生态经济协调度为0.33,表明生态环境和经济发展处于轻度协调状态;(4)敏感性指数小于1,说明西北旱区生态服务价值对生态价值系数弹性较弱,本文研究结果真实可信。研究期内的土地利用变化取得了较明显的生态效益,为西北旱区的经济建设和社会发展提供了良好的环境平台。     

猪流行性腹泻病毒S2基因B细胞表位嵌入型S-层蛋白在副干酪乳杆菌中的表达与鉴定

【目的】构建新型猪流行性腹泻病毒(Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus, PEDV)乳酸菌活菌疫苗载体。【方法】应用DNA重组技术将嗜酸乳杆菌S-层蛋白(SLP)基因及PEDV S2基因B细胞表位(EpitopeS2)融合基因(SLP-EpitopeS2)克隆到乳酸杆菌表达载体pTRK892中,构建重组载体pTRK-SLP-EpitopeS2,通过电转化方法将重组质粒导入副干酪乳杆菌中,获得重组副干酪乳杆菌。分别用SDS-PAGE、Western blotting和免疫荧光试验(IFA)鉴定目的蛋白在副干酪乳杆菌中的表达。【结果】PCR结果显示,成功扩增出大小为1 400 bp的目的条带,与插入融合基因大小一致,双酶切结果出现大小分别为1 400和4 700 bp的2条带,基因测序结果显示无碱基缺失和突变等,从而确定重组质粒pTRK-SLP-EpitopeS2构建正确。SDS-PAGE、Western blotting结果显示,在48 ku处出现与理论值大小一致的目的蛋白条带,表明融合基因SLP-EpitopeS2在副干酪乳杆菌中得到有效表达。IFA结果显示,...     

甘蓝型油菜开花期的QTL定位及候选基因鉴定

为了解析油菜开花期性状的遗传机制,利用KN DH群体在冬性、半冬性和春性环境的开花期表型和KN 高密度遗传连锁图谱,通过Wincart 2.5软件的符合区间作图法对油菜开花期性状进行QTL定位及候选基因鉴定。结果显示,共鉴定到119个开花期QTL,单个QTL解释表型变异最大是qFT-13DL16-4 （25.96%）,最小的是qFT-13ZY2-1（2.48%）。利用元分析的方法将初步鉴定的QTL整合为consensus QTL,共获得26个环境稳定表达QTL,包括7个开花期主效QTL。如cqFT-A2-3、cqFT-A2-4在春性环境稳定表达,cqFT-C6-4、cqFT-C6-7、cqFT-C6-12、cqFT-C6-13在冬性和半冬性环境稳定表达, cqFT-C6-14在冬性环境稳定表达QTL。主效QTL置信区间共鉴定到15个与成花诱导相关的候选基因,如 BnaA02g12260D（RGA1）、 BnaA02g15390D（AGL12）、 BnaA02g16710D（LKP2）和BnaC06g19930D（NUA）等,这些候选基因主要涉及赤霉素、光周期、生物钟、春化作用响应和花发育等功能。可见,油菜开花期主效QTL及其候选基因的鉴定为开花期基因的精细定位和图位克隆奠定基础,也为培育早熟、高产油菜品种提供指导。