Genetic diversity of livestock-associated MRSA isolates obtained from piglets from farrowing until slaughter age on four farrow-to-finish farms

During a previous longitudinal study, performed on four farrow-to-finish farms (A to D), samples were taken from twelve sows, their offspring, and the environment on various occasions over six months to study the MRSA presence. During the present study, a selection of the obtained MRSA isolates were typed by multiple-locus variable-number tandem-repeat analysis (MLVA), Pulsed Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE), spa typing, and SCCmec typing to study the genetic diversity of LA-MRSA isolates and to determine possible MRSA sources for pig(let)s. PFGE, spa typing, and SCCmec typing revealed the presence of one or few dominant genotype(s) per farm. In contrast, 212 MLVA types were detected on the four farms, forming one cluster on farm A, three on farm B, four on farm C and two on farm D. The genotype, found on farm A was unique for this farm. Farms B, C and D shared one cluster. In general, MLVA types from these clusters were isolated from piglets, sows, and the environment on various sampling events. Piglets carried MLVA types both related and unrelated to their mother sows’ MLVA types at farrowing and onwards. In conclusion, molecular typing revealed that within a farm one or a few dominant strain(s) are widespread. Potential MRSA sources for piglets were mother sows, the environment and other piglets.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13567-014-0089-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Canine leukocyte adhesion deficiency: presence of the Cys36Ser beta-2 integrin mutation in an affected US Irish Setter cross-breed dog and in US Irish Red and White Setters

Canine leukocyte adhesion deficiency (CLAD) is a primary immunodeficiency disease characterized by recurrent bacterial infections in the presence of marked leukocytosis. The disease was 1st described in the mid-1980s in a cross-breed Irish Setter Dog in the United States. It results from a defective beta-2 subunit of heterodimeric leukocyte adhesion proteins. The causative mutation for CLAD in Irish Setter Dogs from Europe has been identified as a missense mutation at base pair position 107 in the beta-2 integrin subunit gene (ITGB2) that results in an amino acid change from cysteine to serine at amino acid 36 (Cys36Ser) in the beta-2 integrin subunit protein. In the current work, the originally described dog with CLAD has been genetically tested and shown to have the same mutation as the European Irish Setters. This suggests that the mutation has been in the Irish Setter population for many generations spanning more than 2 decades. A related breed, the Irish Red and White Setter, has a history of interbreeding with Irish Setters and shares a common ancestry with the Irish Setter breed. DNA from Irish Red and White Setters residing in the United States was screened either by sequencing or by the newly developed restriction enzyme test for the Irish Setter Cys36Ser CLAD mutation. Seven of 54 dogs tested (13%) were found to be carriers of the Irish Setter CLAD mutation. Five of these were directly related to a sire from the UK, demonstrating the importation of an allele from another continent and establishing the need for genetic testing in this breed in the United States.     

Monitoring and identification of residues of anabolic preparations in slaughtered cattle by HPLC with diode array detection

Summary

The new combination of isocratic high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with on line UV spectrum detection via a diode array configuration has been applied to the detection and identification of anabolics present in application sites of cattle.

Combination of the characteristic retention time in the HPLC chromatogram and a comparison of the full spectrum between 190–400 nm of the anabolic components with that of a standard resulted in a very reliable identification. By means of this method 117 samples of application sites were investigated for the presence of anabolic residues. Of the xenobiotic anabolics, 19‐nortestosterone (NT) was found most frequently (in 96 cases), whereas diethylstilbestrol (DES) was found in only 11 cases.

In all samples the identification of NT and DES was confirmed by high resolution gas chromatography‐mass spectrometry (GCMS).     

GMOs in animal agriculture: time to consider both costs and benefits in regulatory evaluations

In 2012, genetically engineered (GE) crops were grown by 17.3 million farmers on over 170 million hectares. Over 70% of harvested GE biomass is fed to food producing animals, making them the major consumers of GE crops for the past 15 plus years. Prior to commercialization, GE crops go through an extensive regulatory evaluation. Over one hundred regulatory submissions have shown compositional equivalence, and comparable levels of safety, between GE crops and their conventional counterparts. One component of regulatory compliance is whole GE food/feed animal feeding studies. Both regulatory studies and independent peer-reviewed studies have shown that GE crops can be safely used in animal feed, and rDNA fragments have never been detected in products (e.g. milk, meat, eggs) derived from animals that consumed GE feed. Despite the fact that the scientific weight of evidence from these hundreds of studies have not revealed unique risks associated with GE feed, some groups are calling for more animal feeding studies, including long-term rodent studies and studies in target livestock species for the approval of GE crops. It is an opportune time to review the results of such studies as have been done to date to evaluate the value of the additional information obtained. Requiring long-term and target animal feeding studies would sharply increase regulatory compliance costs and prolong the regulatory process associated with the commercialization of GE crops. Such costs may impede the development of feed crops with enhanced nutritional characteristics and durability, particularly in the local varieties in small and poor developing countries. More generally it is time for regulatory evaluations to more explicitly consider both the reasonable and unique risks and benefits associated with the use of both GE plants and animals in agricultural systems, and weigh them against those associated with existing systems, and those of regulatory inaction. This would represent a shift away from a GE evaluation process that currently focuses only on risk assessment and identifying ever diminishing marginal hazards, to a regulatory approach that more objectively evaluates and communicates the likely impact of approving a new GE plant or animal on agricultural production systems.     

Genetic relationships between pelt quality, maternal ability, and lamb production in the Gotland sheep breed

The aim of the present investigation was to study the genetic relationships between pelt quality traits (shade of fleece, size of curl, score for fleece colour, score for curl, score for quality of hair, score for thickness of fleece, sum of pelt scores, and overall score) on one hand and maternal ability, live weight, and carcass traits on the other hand for the Gotland sheep breed. Data were received from the Swedish Sheep Recording Scheme and included observations on 4-month weight (4MW) and pelt quality for 51,402 lambs and on weight (CW), fatness (FAT), and fleshiness (FLESH) of the carcass for 12,440 lambs. The lambs were born during the period 1991–2003. When maternal genetic and permanent environmental effects were included in the model direct heritabilities for the pelt quality traits varied between 0.16 and 0.25. Maternal heritabilities (0.01 to 0.05) and common environmental variances as a fraction of the total phenotypic variances (0.07 to 0.10) were low. Maternal heritabilities were higher for 4MW (0.11) and CW (0.12) than for the pelt quality traits. Direct-maternal genetic correlations were both for the pelt quality traits and for 4MW and CW generally negative and low to medium high. Direct genetic correlations between pelt quality traits on one hand and 4MW, CW, FAT or FLESH on the other hand were low (− 0.16 to 0.12). Maternal genetic correlations between pelt quality traits and 4MW or CW were positive and high (0.38 to 0.96). It was concluded that breeding for increased growth and improved carcass quality would not influence pelt quality negatively or vice versa. If maternal genetic effects are considered for 4MW and CW in the breeding program for the Gotland sheep breed, selection for maternal effects on 4MW and CW will have positive effects both on lamb weight and pelt quality.     

扁蓿豆遗传多样性研究初探

论述了扁蓿豆遗传多样性研究的依据,利用不同生境条件下生长的野生和栽培品种,采用形态标记、细胞标记、生化标记和分子标记的方法多方面地对扁蓿豆进行遗传多样性的研究。     

苜蓿育种几个问题的探讨

在对主要苜蓿遗传资源与遗传特性进行陈述的同时, 重点对苜蓿遗传特性与育种进程的关系、目前常见的育种方法以及苜蓿育种的发展现状进行了阐述,并就近年来我国在苜蓿育种领域内存在的主要问题进行了分析,旨在为今后的苜蓿育种工作提供参考依据。     

96份雀麦属材料遗传多样性的ISSR分析

利用ISSR分子标记技术研究了来自国内外的96份雀麦属材料的遗传多样性。19个ISSR引物共扩增出109条谱带,其中106条是多态性谱带,多态性位点比率为97.25%。POPGENE 1.31软件分析结果显示:96份雀麦属材料总的基因多样性指数(Nei’s)为0.2756,Shannon信息指数为0.4257,遗传多样性水平较高;基因流(Nm)为1.3273,各种群间有一定的基因交流。用SLT_NTsys2.1e软件进行UPGMA聚类分析表明,96份材料可分为6个类群,与主成分分析结果基本一致。用Arlequin3.1软件进行AMOVA分析表明,种间的分子变异比率为15.85%,种内的分子变异比率为84.15%,种内分子变异较大,种内遗传多样性高于种间的遗传多样性。     

基于混合遗传算法的谐波齿轮传动优化设计

以谐波齿轮传动体积最小为优化设计目标,建立了混合离散变量优化设计数学模型。引入混沌移民算子,对基本遗传算法进行了改进,以维持群体的多样性,提高全局收敛能力。提出了一种设计变量的离散化处理方法,结合染色体编码的修正技术,在遗传算法中染色体按离散化后的设计变量进行离散搜索。开发了混合离散变量优化的改进遗传算法程序,给出了谐波齿轮传动的混合离散变量优化设计实例,所得优化设计参数符合设计规范,不需进一步处理就可直接用于制造。     

遗传神经网络在温室黄瓜霜霉病预测中的应用

在神经网络结构的优化、连续权重的训练中采用遗传算法的方法对日光温室黄瓜霜霉病进行预测，并对其发生程度进行了拟合，计算值与实际值接近，表明该模型具有良好的预测效果。