Effects of the host, the pathogen, the environment and their interactions, on fusarium wilt in carnation

Fusarium oxysporum f.sp.dianthi causes severe wilting in carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus L.) worldwide. The pathogen is present in the soil profile in which carnation roots are distributed and may infect the plants at any time during the growing season. To minimize the losses induced by Fusarium wilt, growers use carnation cuttings free ofFusarium spp. and fumigate the soil with methyl bromide prior to planting. The severity of epidemics and the resulting losses are governed by the main and interacting effects of the three components of the disease syndrome: the host, the pathogen and the environment. Host variables include the type and the degree of cultivar resistance (i.e., complete, partial or tolerance); pathogen variables include the race, its virulence and infectivity, and the amount of initial inoculum; environmental variables include solar radiation intensity, photoperiod, temperature and the growth substrate. In the present review the information available on the effect of the host, the pathogen and the environment, and their interactions, on Fusarium wilt in carnation is summarized.     

利用体外培养法建立饲料营养成分与瘤胃丙酸产量的回归模型

根据美国康乃尔净碳水化合物和蛋白质体系 (CNCPS) ,分析测定了 4类 2 4种饲料的营养成分 ,利用体外批次培养技术测定了它们在体外培养一定时间后的丙酸产量 ,并由此建立了饲料中产丙酸的营养成分和瘤胃丙酸产量的回归方程     

君子兰转化酶基因片段(CMCW1)的克隆和序列分析

 分析植物酸性转化酶基因的保守区序列，设计一对PCR引物，以君子兰基因组DNA为模板，采用PCR方法扩增出长约500 bp的DNA片段，克隆入pGEM-TEasy载体，测序结果表明获得君子兰酸性转化酶基因家族的一个成员CMCW1，该基因片段长518 bp，不含内含子，编码172个氨基酸。其序列已在GenBank中登记(登记号为AY151269)。在GenBank中进行同源性检索的结果表明，该成员编码的氨基酸与其它植物细胞壁酸性转化酶编码的氨基酸同源性较高。     

Clone identification and genetic relationship among vine cacti from the genera Hylocereus and Selenicereus based on RAPD analysis

Clones of Hylocereus and of Selenicereus species were distinguished from each other by the banding pattern generated by one to nine 10-mer oligonucleotide primers in the random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) reaction. RAPD analysis was also applied to estimate the genetic relationship among five Hylocereus and nine Selenicereus species. A dendrogram was constructed based on a data matrix of 173 polymorphic bands originated by nine primers. Two groups were identified, one consisting of Hylocereus species and the other consisting of Selenicereus species. These results are consistent with the accepted taxonomic classification of the genera studied. The principal coordinate analysis (PCO), i.e. the plot drawn on the basis of the RAPD data, clearly distinguished between three groups, namely, Hylocereus species, S. megalanthus and the rest of the Selenicereus species studied. PCO thus strongly support the notion that the tetraploid S. megalanthus is an exception among the Selenicereus group. The RAPD results support our hypothesis regarding the allopolyploid (rather than autopolyploid) origin of this species.     

Angiopoietin-1 and regulation of vascular permeability

Angiopoietin-1 (Ang-1) is a newly-found endothelium-specific proangiogenic factor and it had been proved essential roles in both vasculogenesis and angiogensis. Among them, its anti-leakage ability may have great potential applications in clinical treatment of vascular hyper-permeability in a variety of diseases such as cancer, diabetic retinopathy, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma. In this review, some research progresses focused on this aspect are discussed.     

新一代植酸酶的经济效益

现已证明，在酵母中产生的一种新型的6-植酸酶比其他在市场上供应的植酸酶的效率至少高20％。因为6-植酸酶与其他商品化的植酸酶相比，可进一步减少无机磷源的使用，从而降低生产成本以及磷的污染。     

Monitoring of genetic diversity in the Japanese Black cattle population by the use of pedigree information

The gene pool of the Japanese Black cattle has been completely closed to foreign breeds during the last 100 years. Genetic diversity of the Japanese Black cattle from 1960 to 2000 was monitored with three estimates of effective number of ancestors. Founder genome equivalent (N_ge) accounts for all the causes of reduction of diversity. Effective number of founders (N_ef) and non‐founders (N_enf) explain reduced diversity because of unequal genetic contributions of founders and random genetic drift in non‐founders, respectively. Further examination using gene dropping simulation was conducted to obtain information on survival of founder alleles. Unique founder alleles were dropped down along the actual pedigree with Monte Carlo procedure following Mendelian segregation rules, and generated genotypes of all the current live animals (612 959 heads). Pedigree records consisted of 2 075 188 animals was used for these analysis. The estimates of three effective numbers (N_ef, N_ge, and N_enf) decreased from 418.6 to 50.3, 86.6 to 7.3, and 109.2 to 8.5, respectively, during the period 1960–2000. The increasing differences between two kinds of genetic diversity indices derived from N_ge and N_ef showed that large part of the reduced diversity from 1980 was attributed to genetic drift caused by the intensive use of particular limited number of sires. In gene dropping analysis, probabilities of extinction of founder alleles were derived from their distributions of frequency in the current animals. Several founders showed low probabilities of allele extinction, irrespective of their relatively low genetic contributions. This suggests that these founders have lineages through which their alleles are surely transmitted to the current breed. The use of these founders as a strategy for recovering the genetic diversity was discussed.     

Effect of recombinant canine IFNγ on canine atopic dermatitis evaluated by clinical signs,histopathology and expression of Th1/Th2 cytokine mRNA

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is thought to be caused by immunologic abnormalities expressed as a Th1/Th2 cytokine imbalance in both humans and dogs. Several studies have focused on the therapeutic effects of IFNγ in human AD with successful results; however, the mechanism of action of IFNγ is not fully understood. We investigated the effect of recombinant canine interferon gamma (rCaIFNγ) on 10 dogs with AD and evaluated the ratio of IL‐4 mRNA to IFNγ mRNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells, serum total IgE levels, and histological changes in skin. After six injections of rCaIFNγ over a span of 2 weeks, seven of the 10 dogs showed improvement, and six of these seven dogs exhibited decreased IL‐4:IFNγ mRNA ratios. Two of the three cases that did not improve had increased IL‐4:IFNγ mRNA ratios. Total serum IgE levels were significantly decreased in nine of 10 cases. The number of IgE‐positive cells detected by immunostaining and the number of mast cells in skin biopsy samples were decreased. A reduction of epidermal cell layers was demonstrated by histopathology after treatment. These results demonstrated that rCaIFNγ may be a novel safe and effective therapeutic option for the treatment of canine AD, and the mechanism of action of rCaIFNγ may be related to the modulation of Th2 cytokines to Th1 cytokines with the reduction of serum IgE production. Funding: Self‐funded.     

Antiviral Effect of Saccharomyces cerevisiaeβ‐glucan to Swine Influenza Virus by Increased Production of Interferon‐γ and Nitric Oxide

The aim of these experiments was to investigate the potential antiviral effect of Saccharomyces cerevisiaeβ‐glucan on the pneumonia induced by swine influenza virus (SIV). Forty colostrum‐deprived 5‐day‐old piglets were randomly divided into four groups of 10. The 20 pigs in groups 1 and 2 were administered Saccharomyces cerevisiaeβ‐glucan orally (50 mg/day/pig; En‐Bio Technology Co., Ltd) for 3 days before SIV infection and those in groups 3 and 4 were given culture medium/diluent alone. Groups 1 and 3 were inoculated intranasally with 3 ml of tissue culture fluid containing 2 × 10⁶ tissue culture infective doses 50% (TCID₅₀)/ml of SIV and those in groups 2 and 4 were exposed in the same manner to uninfected cell culture supernatant. The microscopic lung lesions induced by SIV infection (group 1 pigs) were significantly more severe than those induced by infection in animals pre‐administered β‐glucan (group 3) (P < 0.05). Significantly more SIV nucleic acid was detected in the lungs of pigs experimentally infected with SIV only (group 1) at 5, 7 and 10 days post‐inoculation (dpi) compared with lungs from pigs pre‐administered β‐glucan and infected with SIV (group 3) (P < 0.05). The concentrations of interferon‐γ (IFN‐γ) and nitric oxide (NO) in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid from pigs pre‐administered β‐glucan and infected with SIV (group 3) were significantly higher than for any other group at 7 and 10 dpi for IFN‐γ, and at 5, 7 and 10 dpi for NO (P < 0.05). Saccharomyces cerevisiaeβ‐glucan reduced the pulmonary lesion score and viral replication rate in SIV‐infected pigs. These findings support the potential application of β‐glucan as prophylactic/treatment agent in influenza virus infection.