牛瑟氏泰勒虫P33表面蛋白基因的克隆与序列分析

为分析吉林省流行的牛瑟氏泰勒虫基因序列，根据GenBank上发表的牛瑟氏泰勒虫P33表面蛋白基因序列设计合成一对引物，用PCR方法扩增出牛瑟氏泰勒虫的基因片段，并成功地将该基因纯化后克隆到pGEM-TEasy载体上，将经EcoRⅠ酶切鉴定和PCR鉴定为阳性的重组质粒进行测序。结果表明克隆的基因片段长度为868bp，编码283个氨基酸，有2个潜在的糖基化位点。核苷酸同源性分析表明，该基因片段与韩国株（AF521557）、日本株（AB016280）、俄罗斯株（AB016279）的核苷酸序列同源性分别为99．4％、88.0％、88．1％。     

马泰勒虫不同PCR检测方法的比较

为寻求一种快速、有效的马泰勒虫PCR检测方法，用Bec-UF2、Equi-R；EMA-1F、EMA-1R两对引物对56份马血液样本中马泰勒虫的核蛋白体基因和表面蛋白基因进行了常规PCR方法检测，用EMA-5、EMA-6；EMA-7、EMA-8两对引物对56份马血液样本中马泰勒虫的表面蛋白基因进行了PCR和套式PCR方法检测。结果显示，以Bec-UF2、Equi-R为引物的PCR方法的阳性检出率为57．1％（32／56），以EMA-5、EMA-6；EMA-7、EMA-8为引物的套式PCR方法的阳性检出率为51．8％（29／56），以EMA-1F、EMA-1R为引物的PCR方法的阳性检出率为17．9％（10／56）。结果表明，以Bec-UF2、Equi-R为引物的常规PCR方法为检测马泰勒虫的最佳方法。     

牛瑟氏泰勒虫p23-IL-18融合基因的原核表达

为了研发牛瑟氏泰勒虫病基因工程亚单位疫苗,本实验将p23-IL-18融合基因克隆到pET-28a原核表达载体,构建pET-28a-p23-IL-18重组原核表达质粒,经BamHⅠ和EcoRⅠ双酶切鉴定后在37 ℃用IPTG诱导表达,对表达产物进行SDS-PAGE和Western blotting分析。结果表明,成功构建牛瑟氏泰勒虫pET-28a-p23-IL-18原核表达质粒,目的基因在大肠杆菌中成功获得表达,融合蛋白的分子量约为48ku,并被牛瑟氏泰勒虫阳性血清所识别,具有良好的反应原性。本研究结果为牛瑟氏泰勒虫病基因工程亚单位疫苗的制备奠定了基础。     

The impact of Theileria parva infections and other factors on calf mean daily weight gains in smallholder dairy farms in Murang’a District, Kenya

The association between mean daily weight gain, Theileria parva infections, clinical East Coast fever and other possible determinants of weight gain were examined in a longitudinal observational study that was conducted in cohorts of female calves from five agro-ecological zone (AEZ)-grazing strata. The strata were upper-midlands (UM) 1 zero-grazing, UM 1 open-grazing, UM 2 zero-grazing, UM 4 zero-grazing and UM 4 open-grazing. In total, 225 calves on 188 smallholder dairy farms were visited within the first 2 weeks of life and thereafter at biweekly intervals up to the age of 6 months between March 1995 and August 1996. During each visit, the calves were weighed and other calf-management practices in the farm during the visit such as housing, feeding and tick control also were recorded. Other events such as morbidity and mortality between or during the visits were also recorded.The overall mean daily weight gains were 0.24–0.29 kg (S.D.=0.17–0.22 kg) and were lower than the recommended targets for smallholder farms of 0.40–0.50 kg. The major tendency in variability of daily weight gains was due to visit-to-visit variation (especially in calves >3 months old).Differences in mean daily gains were associated with AEZ-grazing strata and calf-level factors that included breed of calf, calf sickness, incidence of ECF, feeding of milk, concentrate feeds and minerals and interaction between calf age and AEZ-grazing strata (P<0.05). ECF and other calf sicknesses exerted a temporal effect on calf-growth at the height of illness and immediately after; calves later recovered the lost growth except where other factors such as poor calf nutrition prevailed. Improvement in calf-growth in Murang’a District is achievable and extension services should continue to target individual-calf-level management practices.     

Assessment of criteria for improvement in Theileria orientalis sergenti infection tolerance

We examined the relationships between calf productivity, anemia and Theileria orientalis sergenti infection from records of 109 Japanese shorthorn calves during a grazing period and we quantified the relative importance of the T. orientalis sergenti infection‐resistance criteria used. A decrease in average parasitemia (AvePara) and an increase in average packed cell volume (AvePCV) would cause a decrease in the number of drug treatments. An increase in AvePCV would decrease the number of drug treatments more efficiently than a decrease in AvePara. An increase in AvePCV would cause an increase in dairy gain, while a decrease in AvePara would cause a decrease in dairy gain. Therefore, an improvement in the capacity to control anemia development would improve T. orientalis sergenti infection resistance more efficiently than an improvement in the capacity to control parasitemia development.     

Azotemia and mortality among Babesia microti-like infected dogs

Babesia microti-like piroplasms are a recently recognized cause of illness in dogs in northwest Spain. Our objective was to describe the clinical characteristics and investigate the risk factors for azotemia and death among 58 B microti-like infected dogs. Twenty-one of the 58 (36%) dogs were azotemic at the time that the infection was diagnosed. The case fatality rate during the following week was 22%. Dogs with azotemia at the time of diagnosis were 10 times (95% CI, 3.26-28.8) more likely to die during the following week. Azotemia was the main cause of death for B microti-like infected dogs (attributable fraction = 90%). Severe anemia was present in 45 of the 58 (78%) dogs. Azotemic dogs also presented with hyperphosphatemia, hypoalbuminemia, hypercholesterolemia, proteinuria, and high urine protein: creatinine ratios, suggesting a glomerular component to the disease. Age was the only factor significantly associated with the risk of azotemia (P = .042): on average, a 4-year age increase doubled the risk of an infected dog being azotemic. The only factor significantly associated with mortality was azotemia (P = .001). We concluded that B microti-like infection is associated with a high risk of azotemia and mortality.     

Molecular evidence for transplacental transmission of Theileria equi from carrier mares to their apparently healthy foals

The intra-erythrocytic parasite Theileria equi is one of two tick-transmitted causative agents of equine piroplasmosis. Piroplasms of T. equi can be transmitted across the equine placenta and once a horse is infected, it appears to remain a lifelong carrier, since anti-theilerial drugs suppress but do not eliminate the parasite. Carrier mares may transmit the organism to their offspring and this may result in abortion or neonatal piroplasmosis, but observations by some researchers suggest that foals may be born as carriers yet remain apparently healthy. Using a T. equi-specific oligonucleotide probe, we have determined that transplacental transmission occurs early in equine foetal development and that carrier mares may give birth to healthy carrier foals. Investigation of parasite levels and the effect of maternal colostrum on the newborn suggests that colostral T. equi antibody may act to suppress parasitaemia in the newborn, reducing the incidence of clinical neonatal piroplasmosis.     

The biological and practical significance of antigenic variability in protective T cell responses against Theileria parva

The evolution of antigenically distinct pathogen strains that fail to cross-protect is well documented for pathogens controlled primarily by humoral immune responses. Unlike antibodies, which recognise native proteins, protective T cells can potentially recognise epitopes in a variety of proteins that are not necessarily displayed on the pathogen surface. Moreover, individual hosts of different MHC genotypes generally respond to different sets of epitopes. It is therefore less easy to envisage how strain restricted immunity can arise for pathogens controlled by T cell responses, particularly in antigenically complex parasites. Nevertheless, strain restricted immunity is clearly a feature of a number of parasitic infections, where immunity is known to be mediated by T cell responses. One such parasite is Theileria parva which induces potent CD8 T cell responses that play an important role in immunity. CD8 T cells specific for parasitized lymphoblasts exhibit strain specificity, which appears to correlate with the ability of parasite strains to cross-protect. Studies using recently identified T. parva antigens recognised by CD8 T cells have shown that the strain restricted nature of immunity is a consequence of the CD8 T cell response in individual animals being focused on a limited number of dominant polymorphic antigenic determinants. Responses in animals of different MHC genotypes are often directed to different parasite antigens, indicating that, at the host population level, a larger number of parasite proteins can serve as targets for the protective T cell response. Nevertheless, the finding that parasite strains show overlapping antigenic profiles, probably as a consequence of sexual recombination, suggests that induction of responses to an extended but limited set of antigens in individual animals may overcome the strain restricted nature of immunity.