Heat stress-induced mucosal barrier dysfunction is potentially associated with gut microbiota dysbiosis in pigs

Heat stress(HS)can be detrimental to the gut health of swine.Many negative outcomes induced by HS are increasingly recognized as including modulation of intestinal microbiota.In turn,the intestinal microbiota is a unique ecosystem playing a critical role in mediating the host stress response.Therefore,we aimed to characterize gut microbiota of pigs’exposure to short-term HS,to explore a possible link between the intestinal microbiota and HS-related changes,including serum cytokines,oxidation status,and intestinal epithelial barrier function.Our findings showed that HS led to intestinal morphological and integrity changes(villus height,serum diamine oxidase[DAO],serum D-lactate and the relative expressions of tight junction proteins),reduction of serum cytokines(interleukin[IL]-8,IL-12,interferongamma[IFN-g]),and antioxidant activity(higher glutathione[GSH]and malondialdehyde[MDA]content,and lower superoxide dismutase[SOD]).Also,16S rRNA sequencing analysis revealed that although there was no difference in microbial a-diversity,some HS-associated composition differences were revealed in the ileum and cecum,which partly led to an imbalance in the production of short-chain fatty acids including propionate acid and valerate acid.Relevance networks revealed that HS-derived changes in bacterial genera and microbial metabolites,such as Chlamydia,Lactobacillus,Succinivibrio,Bifidobacterium,Lachnoclostridium,and propionic acid,were correlated with oxidative stress,intestinal barrier dysfunction,and inflammation in pigs.Collectively,our observations suggest that intestinal damage induced by HS is probably partly related to the gut microbiota dysbiosis,though the underlying mechanism remains to be fully elucidated.     

Avian pathogenic Escherichia coli MT78 invades chicken fibroblasts

Avian pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC) are responsible for extraintestinal diseases, called colibacillosis, in avian species. The most severe manifestation of the disease is colisepticemia that usually starts at the respiratory tract and may result in bird death. However, it is not yet clear how APEC cross the respiratory epithelium and get into the bloodstream. In this work, we studied the interaction between 8 APEC strains (UEL31, UEL17, UEL13, UEL29, MT78, IMT5155, IMT2470, A2363) and a chicken non-phagocytic cell, the fibroblast CEC-32 cell line. We investigated the association profile, the invasion capability, the cytotoxicity effect and the induction of caspase-3/7 activation in an attempt to understand the way the pathogen gains access to the host bloodstream. Association to cells was determined after 1 h of infection, while cell invasion was determined after 4 and 24 h of infection. The cytotoxic effect of bacterial infection was measured by lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release and the activation of the apoptotic program was verified by caspase-3/7 activation. Also, the presence of genes for adhesins, invasins and other related virulence-associated factors was verified by PCR. All bacterial strains showed similarity in relation to adhesion, LDH release and caspase-3/7 activation. However, one APEC strain, MT78, showed high invasion capability, comparable to the invasive Salmonella typhimurium strain SL1344. Since an APEC strain was capable of invading non-phagocytic cells in vitro, the same may be happening with the epithelial cells of the avian respiratory tract in vivo. CEC-32 monolayers can also provide a useful experimental model to study the molecular mechanisms used by APEC to invade non-phagocytic cells.     

Defining the immune response to Ehrlichia species using murine models

Pathogenic bacteria belonging to the family Anaplasmataceae include species of the genera Ehrlichia and Anaplasma. Ehrlichia chaffeensis, first known as the causative agent of human monocytic ehrlichiosis, also infects several vertebrate hosts including white-tailed deer, dogs, coyotes and goats. E. chaffeensis is transmitted from the bite of an infected hard tick, such as Amblyomma americanum. E. chaffeensis and other tick-transmitted pathogens have adapted to both the tick and vertebrate host cell environments. Although E. chaffeensis persists in both vertebrate and tick hosts for long periods of time, little is known about that process. Immunological studies will be valuable in assessing how the pathogen persists in nature in both vertebrate and invertebrate hosts. Understanding the host immune response to the pathogen originating from dual host backgrounds is also important to develop effective methods of diagnosis, control and treatment. In this paper, we provide our perspective of the current understanding of the immune response against E. chaffeensis in relation to other related Anaplasmataceae pathogens.     

Ecological fitness and strategies of adaptation of Bartonella species to their hosts and vectors

Bartonella spp. are facultative intracellular bacteria that cause characteristic host-restricted hemotropic infections in mammals and are typically transmitted by blood-sucking arthropods. In the mammalian reservoir, these bacteria initially infect a yet unrecognized primary niche, which seeds organisms into the blood stream leading to the establishment of a long-lasting intra-erythrocytic bacteremia as the hall-mark of infection. Bacterial type IV secretion systems, which are supra-molecular transporters ancestrally related to bacterial conjugation systems, represent crucial pathogenicity factors that have contributed to a radial expansion of the Bartonella lineage in nature by facilitating adaptation to unique mammalian hosts. On the molecular level, the type IV secretion system VirB/VirD4 is known to translocate a cocktail of different effector proteins into host cells, which subvert multiple cellular functions to the benefit of the infecting pathogen. Furthermore, bacterial adhesins mediate a critical, early step in the pathogenesis of the bartonellae by binding to extracellular matrix components of host cells, which leads to firm bacterial adhesion to the cell surface as a prerequisite for the efficient translocation of type IV secretion effector proteins. The best-studied adhesins in bartonellae are the orthologous trimeric autotransporter adhesins, BadA in Bartonella henselae and the Vomp family in Bartonella quintana. Genetic diversity and strain variability also appear to enhance the ability of bartonellae to invade not only specific reservoir hosts, but also accidental hosts, as shown for B. henselae. Bartonellae have been identified in many different blood-sucking arthropods, in which they are typically found to cause extracellular infections of the mid-gut epithelium. Adaptation to specific vectors and reservoirs seems to be a common strategy of bartonellae for transmission and host diversity. However, knowledge regarding arthropod specificity/restriction, the mode of transmission, and the bacterial factors involved in arthropod infection and transmission is still limited.     

冬虫夏草研究进展

冬虫夏草研究进展罗信昌（华中农业大学武汉４３００７０）冬虫夏草（Ｃｏｒｄｙｃｅｐｓｓｉｎｅｎｓｉｓ）是一种名贵的药用真菌，有多种药理功能，具有抗癌活性物质。我国是发现和在医药上应用冬虫夏草最早的国家，随后，欧洲及世界其他各国才开始对这类真菌标本的采集...     

马尾松毛虫质型多角体病毒替代寄主——棉铃虫人工饲养技术

介绍了生产马尾松毛虫质型多角体病毒的替代寄主棉铃虫的人工饲养技术。     

Renibacterium salmoninarum bar forms: characterization, occurrence, and evidence of a host response to a R. salmoninarum infection

Unique-staining Renibacterium salmoninarum (Rs) cells, termed bar forms, first observed in a coho salmon, Oncorhynchus kisutch (Walbaum), in 1983, could not be cultured, making their characterization difficult and significance obscure. They can be detected only by the fluorescent-antibody technique (FAT) and their numbers estimated only by a quantitative FAT (QFAT). Data collected over a 10-year period showed that bar forms were observed only in vivo and appeared associated with a host response. Bar forms were observed in 10 salmonid species from five countries and in fish from < 1 g to spawning adults. They were observed in 50.1% of kidney smears prepared from 10,061 Rs positive chinook, O. tshawytscha (Walbaum), coho, and Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L. Bar forms were shown to be Rs cells based on absorption studies, their reaction with an Rs-specific FAT and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and a transition from 'typical' Rs cells to bar forms in naturally and experimentally infected fish. Bar forms were determined to be non-virulent, damaged or dead Rs cells, based on fluorescence and electron microscopy observations, the inability to culture them, and mortality data. Bar forms appeared to represent visual markers of recovery from an Rs infection.     

Studies of the Rhizosphere of Strawberry Plants at the Research Institute of Pomology and Floriculture in Skierniewice,Poland

Abstract

Rhizosphere studies are particularly important because of the recently introduced fertigation systems in strawberry cultivation, both in the field and under cover. Because of the need for developing fruit production in a balanced environment, rhizosphere studies help in determining precise doses of mineral fertilizers necessary for proper growth and production of economically important strawberry cultivars with specific requirements. The present experiment was carried out using rhizoboxes and determined pH changes in the rhizosphere of strawberries depending on the dose and form of nitrogen applied. The method enables visualization of pH changes in the rhizosphere and the soil as they become visible due to color changes under the influence of root exudates. To achieve this, the exposed plant roots and the entire soil mass penetrated by the roots in the rhizobox were covered with a thin (0.5 cm) agar filter containing 1% agar and 1% pH indicator (bromocresol purple). The color of the agar filter covering the roots indicates pH levels in various zones of the root system and depends on the applied forms of nitrogen. The highest pH values in the rhizosphere were measured in the root tips, lower in the middle root zone, and the lowest at the root bases. Plants supplied with N-NH4+ had the lowest rhizosphere pH, which was associated with an intensive release of H+ ions to the rhizosphere and acidification in the root zone.     

氮磷亏缺条件下杨树幼苗根系分泌酚酸的动态

采用循环收集装置收集杨树幼苗根系分泌物,采用超高压液相色谱法(UPLC)对根系分泌物中的酚酸含量进行测定。结果表明:在正常、缺N、缺P处理下杨树幼苗根系均能分泌对羟基苯甲酸、香草醛、苯甲酸和肉桂酸等酚酸类物质,养分缺乏显著促进杨树根系分泌酚酸。在缺N条件下,杨树幼苗较正常培养条件下酚酸分泌增加量为对羟基苯甲酸125%～263%、香草醛201%～316%、苯甲酸230%～332%、肉桂酸138%～188%,且根系分泌的各酚酸量随着胁迫时间的延长呈明显增加趋势,但3个培养时间段内(0～5天,6～10天,11～15天)酚酸分泌量差异未达显著水平(P>0.05);在缺P条件下,杨树幼苗较正常培养条件下酚酸分泌增加量为:对羟基苯甲酸96%～124%、香草醛58%～156%、苯甲酸222%～734%、肉桂酸99%～328%,其中,苯甲酸和香草醛的分泌量随胁迫时间的延长呈明显增加趋势,而苯甲酸和肉桂酸呈现先升后降的趋势。缺N、缺P处理下,杨树幼苗根系分泌酚酸的平均速率也存在一定差异,对羟基苯甲酸和香草醛在缺N条件下的平均分泌速率高于缺P培养,而苯甲酸和肉桂酸的平均分泌速率低于缺P培养。杨树幼苗在N,P缺乏条件下根系分泌酚酸...