猪附红细胞体16S rRNA基因的序列测定和系统进化分析

从确诊为猪附红细胞体感染的猪场，无菌采集血样，抽提猪附红细胞体基因组DNA，采用真细菌的通用引物进行16S rRNA基因扩增，对扩增产物进行克隆和测序。从3个地理位置不同的猪场均成功地扩增出长度为1469bp的核苷酸序列。系统进化分析表明，3个猪场样品所测序列一致性达99．52％以上，具有相同的基因型，但与国外报道的猪附红细胞体Illinois株同源性为95％，属于同一基因群，但基因型不同；所有种类的附红细胞体和血巴尔通氏体组成同一进化分支，这类血营养菌与支原体科，支原体属的病原最靠近(75％)，而与立克次氏体目的病原较远(70％)。上述研究证实，广东所流行的猪附红细胞体是一种新基因型的猪附红细胞体，建议命名为猪附红细胞体广东株型；为反映进化关系，猪附红细胞体和其它血营养菌应划归于支原体科的支原体属。     

西尼罗热病毒RT-PCR检测方法的建立

参考Genebank发表的西尼罗热病毒(West Nile virus，WNV)E糖蛋白基因序列，自行设计合成一对引物，对WNV进行RT—PCR扩增，产物经琼脂糖电泳分析，呈现一条约400bp的条带，将其克隆入pMD18-T—Vector载体中，并进行序列测定，与已发表的WNV基因比较发现，核苷酸的同源性为99．7％，证实为WNV的E基因，通过对样品多次检测，都能扩增出一条约400bp的条带，表明该方法比较稳定。     

复方中草药"毒菌杀"对禽大肠杆菌及鸡白痢沙门氏菌的体外抑菌试验

观察了复方中草药“毒菌杀”的安全性及其对禽大肠杆菌及鸡白痢沙门氏菌的体外抑菌情况。结果发现“毒菌杀”安全性高，组成“毒菌杀”的各单味中药及其合剂对大肠杆菌的最低抑菌浓度MIC(g/mL)分别为板蓝根0．05、穿心莲0．05、黄芪0．025、黄柏0．05、柴胡0．05、生地0．05、甘草0．05、当归0．025，“毒菌杀”方剂为0．05；对沙门氏菌的MIC分别为板蓝根0．05、穿心莲0．025、黄芪0．025、黄柏0．05、柴胡0．025、生地0．05、甘草0．025、当归0．05，“毒菌杀”方剂为0．025；而牛胆汁对这两种致病菌的最低抑菌浓度分别为2％和1％。说明“毒菌杀”方剂对大肠杆菌、沙门氏菌具有明显的抑制作用。     

绵羊肺腺瘤病毒NM株前病毒gag基因的克隆与序列分析

参照GenBank中已发表的绵羊肺腺瘤病毒(JSRV)的全基因序列，设计合成3对引物，对JSRVNM株的gag基因分3段进行PCR扩增，经琼脂糖凝胶电泳分析，分别呈3条531、888和949 bp的特异条带，将其分别克隆人pMD-18T载体中，进行序列测定并拼接序列，得到完整的gag基因序列。分析结果表明，与南非代表株(基因序列号NC-001494)的gag基因序列比较，核苷酸同源性为89．0%，推导出的氨基酸同源性为90％。与美国代表株(基因序列号AF105220)的gag基因序列比较，核苷酸同源性为86．3％，氨基酸同源性为87％。     

添加不同酵母培养物对瘤胃纤维分解菌群和纤维素酶活的影响

用3种酵母培养物(YC- 1、YC 2和YC- 3)分别饲喂4头带有永久性瘤胃瘘管的肉牛,研究培养物对瘤胃发酵、纤维分解酶活性和3种纤维分解菌数量的影响,结果表明:YC 2处理的乙酸、丙酸、丁酸和总 VFA浓度显著高于对照组(P<0 .05),YC 1和YC 3处理的乙酸/丙酸比例显著降低(P<0 .01);各处理均能显著提高瘤胃内羧甲基纤维素酶、水杨苷酶和木聚糖酶的活性(P<0 .01);各处理都显著提高黄化瘤胃球菌的相对比例(P<0 .01),16SrRNA特异性寡聚核苷酸探针杂交法分析测定结果表明 3 种纤维分解菌在瘤胃细菌中所占比例为 3. 80%±0 .2%。     

Genetic risk factors for osteochondrosis in various horse breeds

Osteochondrosis (OC) is an injury to cartilage canals with a following necrosis in the growth cartilage, from there it can develop to osteochondrosis dissecans (OCD). Due to its high impact in the equine industry, new insights into predisposing factors and potential high‐risk genetic variants are warranted. This article reviews advancements in quantitative and molecular genetics in refining estimation of genetic parameters and identifying predisposing genetic loci. Heritabilities were highest for hock OC with estimates at 0.29–0.46 in Hanoverian warmblood and Norwegian trotters, whereas in Thoroughbreds only very low genetic variation seemed to be present in hock OC lesions. Whole genome scans using the Illumina Equine SNP50 or SNP70 Beadchip were performed in Thoroughbred, Standardbred, French and Norwegian trotter, Hanoverian and Dutch warmblood. Validation studies in Spanish Purebred and Hanoverian warmblood horses corroborated OC risk loci on ECA 3, 14, 27 and 29. Particularly, a strong association with hock‐OCD was found for a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) on horse chromosome (ECA) 3 upstream to the LCORL gene. Gene expression and microRNA analyses may be helpful to understand pathophysiological processes in equine OC and to connect OCD‐associated genomic regions with potential candidate genes. Furthermore progress in elucidating the underlying genetic variants and pathophysiological changes in OC may be expected from whole genome DNA and RNA next‐generation sequencing studies.     

Identification and characterisation of microRNAs and Piwi-interacting RNAs in cockerels’ spermatozoa by Solexa sequencing

1. There has been substantial research focused on the roles of microRNAs (miRNAs) and Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) derived from mammalian spermatozoa; however, comparatively little is known about the role of spermatozoa-derived miRNAs and piRNAs within breeding cockerels’ spermatozoa.

2. A small RNA library of cockerels’ spermatozoa was constructed using Illumina high-throughput sequencing technology. Unique sequences with lengths of 18–26 nucleotides were mapped to miRBase 21.0 and unique sequences with lengths of 25–37 nucleotides were mapped to a piRNA database. A total of 1311 miRNAs and 2448 potential piRNAs were identified. Based on stem-loop qRT-PCR, 8 miRNAs were validated.

3. Potential target genes of the abundant miRNAs were predicted, and further Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes database (KEGG) and Gene Ontology (GO) analyses were performed, which revealed that some candidate miRNAs were involved in the spermatogenesis process, spermatozoa epigenetic programming and further embryonic development.

5. GO and KEGG analyses based on mapping genes of expressed piRNAs were performed, which revealed that spermatozoal piRNAs could play important regulatory roles in embryonic development of offspring.

6. The search for endogenous spermatozoa miRNAs and piRNAs will contribute to a preliminary database for functional and molecular mechanistic studies in embryonic development and spermatozoa epigenetic programming.     

Identification of a phytoplasma associated with pomegranate little leaf disease in Iran

During 2012–2014 surveys for the presence of phytoplasma diseases in Fars province (Iran), pomegranate little leaf symptoms were observed in several orchards in Khafr and Neyriz areas. Samples collected from symptomatic plants positively reacted in nested PCR assays using P1/P7 followed by R16F2n/R16R2 primer pairs producing the expected 1,250 bp DNA fragments. Real and virtual RFLP analysis showed that the sequences of phytoplasma strains from Khafr and Neyriz (KPLL and NPLL strains, respectively) were identical to each other and belong to 16SrII phytoplasma group, subgroup D. Phylogenetic analysis of the R16F2n⁄R16R2 DNA region confirmed that KPLL and NPLL phytoplasmas were enclosed in the same clade as other 16SrII-D subgroup phytoplasmas. This is the first reported occurrence of a 16SrII phytoplasma infecting pomegranate trees.     

Genome‐Wide Identification of MicroRNAs Responsive to High Temperature in Rice (Oryza sativa) by High‐Throughput Deep Sequencing

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are known to play important roles in plant growth and stress response. Heat stress is a severe abiotic stresses by adversely affecting plant growth and yield. To identify heat‐responsive miRNAs at the genome‐wide level in rice (Oryza sativa), we constructed two small RNA libraries from young panicles treated or not with heat conditions. Ion torrent sequencing of the two libraries identified 294 known miRNAs and 539 novel miRNAs. Differential expression analysis showed that 26 miRNAs were downregulated and 21 miRNAs were upregulated in response to heat stress. Among them, five heat‐responsive miRNAs, including miR162b, miR529a‐p5, PC‐5P‐62245‐9, miR171b and miR169n, were validated by quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction. A total of 44 target genes of the differentially expressed miRNAs were predicted. These target genes are most significantly overrepresented in the cell growth process. The results demonstrated that rice miRNAs play critical roles in the heat stress response. This study opens up a new avenue for understanding the regulatory mechanisms of miRNAs involvement in the heat stress response in rice.