Kinetics of the expression of CD163 and CD107a in the lung and tonsil of pigs after infection with PRRSV-1 strains of different virulence

Veterinary Research Communications - The emergence of virulent strains of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV), causing atypical and severe outbreaks, has been notified...     

Antimicrobial stewardship in the dairy industry: responding to the threat of antimicrobial resistance

Dairy Australia is the national service body for the Australian dairy industry. Its role is to help farmers adapt to a changing operating environment and achieve a profitable, sustainable dairy industry. Although the use of antibiotics in Australian agriculture is relatively low in global terms, Dairy Australia recognises important drivers for continuous improvement in antimicrobial stewardship (AMS). Dairy Australia’s first strategic priority is to support profitable farms. This priority has driven the development of a range of on‐farm change management programs in the animal health and welfare fields to optimise the unit cost of production and dairy cattle welfare. Dairy Australia’s third strategic priority is to further develop a ‘trusted dairy industry’. Previous and current work under these two strategies position the dairy industry favourably with respect to confronting the challenge of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and supporting sound AMS with the guiding principle of ‘as little as possible, as much as necessary’. However, given an incomplete but ongoing threat of AMR, more work is needed. Supported by Dairy Australia, the dairy industry has developed an antimicrobial use strategy aligning with the Australian Animal Sector National AMR Plan 2018.     

Landscape structure shapes carnivore-mediated seed dispersal kernels

Context

Seed dispersal is recognized as having profound effects on the distribution, dynamics and structure of plant populations and communities. However, knowledge of how landscape structure shapes carnivore-mediated seed dispersal patterns is still scarce, thereby limiting our understanding of large-scale plant population processes.

Objectives

We aim to determine how the amount and spatial configuration of forest cover impacted the relative abundance of carnivorous mammals, and how these effects cascaded through the seed dispersal kernels they generated.

Methods

Camera traps activated by animal movement were used for carnivore sampling. Colour-coded seed mimics embedded in common figs were used to know the exact origin of the dispersed seed mimics later found in carnivore scats. We applied this procedure in two sites differing in landscape structure.

Results

We did not find between-site differences in the relative abundance of the principal carnivore species contributing to seed dispersal patterns, Martes foina. Mean dispersal distance and the probability of long dispersal events were higher in the site with spatially continuous and abundant forest cover, compared to the site with spatially aggregated and scarcer forest cover. Seed deposition closely matched the spatial patterning of forest cover in both study sites, suggesting behaviour-based mechanisms underpinning seed dispersal patterns generated by individual frugivore species.

Conclusions

Our results provide the first empirical evidence of the impact of landscape structure on carnivore-mediated seed dispersal kernels. They also indicate that seed dispersal kernels generated strongly depend on the effect that landscape structure exerts on carnivore populations, particularly on habitat-use preferences.

     

Analysis of world strains of Anaplasma marginale using major surface protein 1a repeat sequences

Anaplasma marginale is a tick-borne pathogen of cattle that causes the disease bovine anaplasmosis worldwide. Major surface proteins (MSPs) are involved in host-pathogen and tick-pathogen interactions and have been used as markers for the genetic characterization of A. marginale strains and phylogenetic studies. MSP1a is involved in the adhesion and transmission of A. marginale by ticks and varies among geographic strains in the number and sequence of amino-terminal tandem repeats. The aim of this study was to characterize the genetic diversity of A. marginale strains collected from countries in North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia, inclusive of all continents. In this study, we characterized 131 strains of A. marginale using 79 MSP1a repeat sequences. These results corroborated the genetic heterogeneity of A. marginale strains in endemic regions worldwide. The phylogenetic analyses of MSP1a repeat sequences did not result in clusters according to the geographic origin of A. marginale strains but provided phylogeographic information. Seventy-eight percent of the MSP1a repeat sequences were present in strains from a single geographic region. Strong (> or =80%) support was found for clusters containing sequences from Italian, Spanish, Chinese, Argentinean and South American strains. The phylogenetic analyses of MSP1a repeat sequences suggested tick-pathogen co-evolution and provided evidence of multiple introductions of A. marginale strains from various geographic locations worldwide. These results contribute to the understanding of the genetic diversity and evolution of A. marginale and tick-pathogen interactions.     

Tracking the evolution of a hydrothermal event plume with a RAFOS neutrally buoyant drifter

The migration and evolution of a deep ocean hydrothermal event plume were tracked with a neutrally buoyant RAFOS float. The float remained entrained in the plume for 60 days, and the plume vorticity was calculated directly from the anticyclonic motion of the float. Concentrations of suspended particles, particulate iron, and dissolved manganese in the plume did not decay significantly during the 60 days, which indicates that event plumes would be easily detectable a year after formation.     

Antifungal proteins and grain mold resistance in sorghum with nonpigmented testa.

Levels of four antifungal proteins (AFPs) were determined in mature caryopses (40-45 days after anthesis) of eight grain mold resistant (GMR) and eight susceptible (GMS) sorghum lines using the immunoblot technique. These 16 lines came from the same cross and were selected for high and low grain mold resistance. The 16 lines were grown in eight environments over three years. In the environments with grain mold incidence, levels of sormatin, chitinases, and ribosomal inactivating proteins (RIP) in the GMR group were higher than those in the GMS group. In a grain mold-free environment, the GMR group had higher RIP and lower beta-1,3-glucanase levels than the GMS group. Unlike the GMS group, chitinase, sormatin, and RIP levels in the GMR group were higher in the environments with grain mold than in the mold-free environment. AFPs correlated among themselves and with grain mold resistance. Grain mold infection pressure caused GMR lines to induce and/or retain more AFPs compared to GMS lines. The coexpression of these four AFPs may be a necessary prerequisite for resistance to grain mold in sorghums without a pigmented testa.     

The uptake and esterification of radiolabelled fatty acids by enterocytes isolated from rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

To study the intestinal fatty acid absorption in fish in vitro, enterocytes were isolated from the intestine of rainbow trout and incubated with an equimolar mixture of seven fatty acids [16:0, 18:1n-9, 18:2n-6, 18:3n-3, 20:4n-6, 20:5n-3 and 22:6n-3] in which the component carrying a radioactive label was varied. The fatty acid mixture was presented in the form of micelles formed by sonication with sodium taurocholate. Control studies showed that the presence of sodium taurocholate in the incubation medium caused an immediate 23% increase in the mortality of the cells but the remaining cells were viable. The effect of the bile salt on cellular permeability was evident at longer exposure periods. The proportions of 14C-labelled 20:5n-3 and 22:6n-3 present as monomeric fatty acids in the micellar solutions were higher than those of 16:0, 18:1n-9, 18:2n-6, 18:3n-3 and 20:4n-6. The rates of uptake of 14C-labelled 20:4n-6, 20:5n-3 and 22:6n-3 by enterocytes were significantly lower than those of the other fatty acid substrates over the first minute of incubation but no significant differences in uptake rate between fatty acids were obvious over a 15 min incubation period. Notable differences were observed between substrates in their distribution pattern in enterocyte lipid classes. Although most of the radioactivity from all radiolabelled substrates was recovered in triacylglycerols, the amounts of 14C- labelled 16:0, 20:4n-6, 20:5n-3 and 22:6n-3 recovered in the polar lipid fraction were higher than those of 14C-labelled C18 substrates, particularly after 15 min. Conversely, the initial esterification rates of 18:1n-9, 18:2n-6 and 18:3n-3 into triacylglycerols were significantly higher than those of 20:4n-6, 20:5n-3 and 22:6n-3. It is concluded that isolated enterocytes can be used for the study of the mechanism of intestinal fatty acid absorption in fish.     

Influence of n-3 highly unsaturated fatty acid deficiency on the lipid composition of broodstock gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata L.) and on egg quality

A feeding experiment was conducted on gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) broodstock to investigate the incidence of n-3 highly unsaturated fatty acids (n-3 HUFA) dietary deficiencies on the lipid composition of female liver, gonads and eggs, in relation to spawning quality. Broodstock were fed a control (C) diet or a n-3 HUFA deficient (D) but linolenic acid rich diet. After 20 weeks of feeding, the results showed that levels of total neutral (TNL) and total polar (TPL) lipids of female gonads and eggs were independent of diet. However the fatty acid composition of phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) and phosphatidylinositol (PI) of female liver, gonads and eggs in the two groups of fish showed marked differences, reflecting the influence of fatty acid levels in the broodstock diets. This influence was even higher in TNL than in the phospholipid classes examined. In fish fed n-3 HUFA deficient diet, fatty acid composition of TNL of female gonads and eggs reflected the diet more than liver. A higher egg production in broodstock fed C diet (1.8% n-3 HUFA in diet) was extended to spawning quality such as percentages of fertilised and hatched eggs.     

Significant improvement of shrimp growth performance by growth hormone‐releasing peptide‐6 immersion treatments

Growth hormone‐releasing peptide‐6 (GHRP‐6) is one of the earliest developed synthetic peptidyl growth hormone secretagogue receptor agonists. These compounds mimic the effect of the endogenous ligand ghrelin. In vertebrates, ghrelin is a potent circulating orexigenic hormone with functional roles in controlling food intake, energy expenditure, adiposity, growth hormone secretion and immunity. Ghrelin has been studied mainly in vertebrates; thus, little is known about its role in invertebrates, including crustaceans. We first evaluated the effect of GHRP‐6 injection over feed intake in shrimp and its effects on shrimp growth when the peptide was administrated by successive immersion baths. GHRP‐6 increased feed intake, body weight and size, the number of rostral spines and gill branches, protein concentration and haemocyte number in treated shrimps. We also evaluated the peptide uptake and clearance in a pharmacokinetics, using [H³]GHRP‐6 administered to postlarvae. Given a limited exposure and efficient clearance of the peptide‐associated radioactivity from larvae, our findings suggested that GHRP‐6‐treated Litopenaeus vannamei can be consumed safely by humans after aquaculture applications. These results propose that GHRP‐6 could be an additional tool to study growth physiology in crustaceans and also a promising candidate for development into a new biotechnology product for improving shrimp growth and quality.     

Intimal thickening of coronary arteries in the rabbitfish,Chimaera monstrosa L. (Chondrichthyes: Holocephali)

This study is the first to report the occurrence of intimal thickening of coronary arteries in a holocephalan, namely the rabbitfish, Chimaera monstrosa. The sample studied consisted of five hearts from rabbitfish with body weights ranging between 12 g and 1116 g. The specimens were fixed in formalin, in methanol:acetone:water (MAW), or in paraformaldehyde and were examined by brightfield and polarization light microscopy. Coronary arteries from three larger animals displayed focal intimal thickenings, which were located in the left main coronary artery trunk, at the level of the cono‐ventricular junction, and in several intramyocardial ventricular arteries. The vascular changes were characterized by myointimal proliferation, breakage or absence of the inner elastic lamina, and, in one case, by increased collagen within the myointimal proliferation. Taking into account the severity of the coronary arterial changes, their location, and the body weight of the affected animals, we conclude that (1) these changes are age‐related in the rabbitfish and (2) local intense mechanical tension seems to be an important factor in their formation in this species.