Genome-wide CNV analysis reveals variants associated with high-altitude adaptation and meat traits in Qaidam cattle

BACKGROUND Qaidam cattle are local breeds that habitats in northwest China. It has many excellent characteristics, such as high cold and roughage tolerance, low oxygen adaptability, and tender meat quality. Copy number variation (CNV) can induce phenotypic changes in animals by a variety of effects, and thus affects the biological functions of the animals. To explore the molecular mechanism of its adaptation to extreme cold weather and muscle fat development, the CNV variations in the genome of three Qaidam cattle were detected by whole-genome sequencing, in this study. RESULTS : A total of 16,743 CNVs and 9498 copy number variable regions (CNVRs) were obtained after the screening, which accounts for 2.18% of the bovine genome. The CNVR length detected ranged from 0.3 KB to 10.77 KB, with a total length of 58.17 MB and an average length of 6.12 KB/ CNVR. Through functional enrichment of CNVR related genes, LDHB, and ME1 genes were screened as the key genes for Qaidam cattle to adapt to the cold and low oxygen environments, whereas KIT and FGF18 genes might be related to the coat color and growth. In the CNVR overlapped with QTLs, variation in CAPN1 and CAST genes might be closely related to the tender meat quality of Qaidam cattle. CONCLUSIONS Therefore, this study provides new genetic insights on the environmental adaptability and important economic traits of Qaidam cattle

Generation and protective efficacy of a cold-adapted attenuated genotype 2b porcine epidemic diarrhea virus

The recent emergence and re-emergence of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) underscore the urgent need for the development of novel, safe, and effective vaccines against the prevailing strain. In this study, we generated a cold-adapted live attenuated vaccine candidate (Aram-P29-CA) by short-term passage of a virulent PEDV isolate at successively lower temperatures in Vero cells. Whole genome sequencing identified 12 amino acid changes in the cold-adapted strain with no insertions and deletions throughout the genome. Animal inoculation experiments confirmed the attenuated phenotype of Aram-P29-CA virus in the natural host. Pregnant sows were orally administered P29-CA live vaccines two doses at 2-week intervals prior to parturition, and the newborn piglets were challenged with the parental virus. The oral homologous prime-boost vaccination of P29-CA significantly improved the survival rate of the piglets and notably mitigated the severity of diarrhea and PEDV fecal shedding after the challenge. Furthermore, strong antibody responses to PEDV were detected in the sera and colostrum of immunized sows and in the sera of their offspring. These results demonstrated that the cold-adapted attenuated virus can be used as a live vaccine in maternal vaccination strategies to provide durable lactogenic immunity and confer passive protection to litters against PEDV.

Bioprospecting of plant growth promoting psychrotrophic Bacilli from the cold desert of north western Indian Himalayas.

The plant growth promoting psychrotrophic Bacilli were investigated from different sites in north western Indian Himalayas. A total of 247 morphotypes were obtained from different soil and water samples and were grouped into 43 clusters based on 16S rDNA-RFLP analysis with three restriction endonucleases. Sequencing of representative isolates has revealed that these 43 Bacilli belonged to different species of 11 genera viz., Desemzia, Exiguobacterium, Jeotgalicoccus, Lysinibacillus, Paenibacillus, Planococcus, Pontibacillus, Sinobaca, Sporosarcina, Staphylococcus and Virgibacillus. With an aim to develop microbial inoculants that can perform efficiently at low temperatures, all representative isolates were screened for different plant growth promoting traits at low temperatures (5-15°C). Among the strains, variations were observed for production (%) of indole-3-acetic acid (20), ammonia (19), siderophores (11), gibberellic acid (4) and hydrogen cyanide (2); solubilisation (%) of zinc (14), phosphate (13) and potassium (7); 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate deaminase activity (6%) and biocontrol activity (4%) against Rhizoctonia solani and Macrophomina phaseolina. Among all the strains, Bacillus licheniformis, Bacillus muralis, Desemzia incerta, Paenibacillus tylopili and Sporosarcina globispora were found to be potent candidates to be developed as inoculants as they exhibited multiple PGP traits at low temperature.

Metabolism in bacteria at low temperature: A recent report.

The adaptability of bacteria to extreme cold environments has been demonstrated from time to time by various investigators. Metabolic activity of bacteria at subzero temperatures is also evidenced. Recent studies indicate that bacteria continue both catabolic and anabolic activities at subzero temperatures. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Cross-Protective Immune Responses Elicited by Live Attenuated Influenza Vaccines

The desired effect of vaccination is to elicit protective immune responses against infection with pathogenic agents. An inactivated influenza vaccine is able to induce the neutralizing antibodies directed primarily against two surface antigens, hemagglutinin and neuraminidase. These two antigens undergo frequent antigenic drift and hence necessitate the annual update of a new vaccine strain. Besides the antigenic drift, the unpredictable emergence of the pandemic influenza strain, as seen in the 2009 pandemic H1N1, underscores the development of a new influenza vaccine that elicits broadly protective immunity against the diverse influenza strains. Cold-adapted live attenuated influenza vaccines (CAIVs) are advocated as a more appropriate strategy for cross-protection than inactivated vaccines and extensive studies have been conducted to address the issues in animal models. Here, we briefly describe experimental and clinical evidence for cross-protection by the CAIVs against antigenically distant strains and discuss possible explanations for cross-protective immune responses afforded by CAIVs. Potential barriers to the achievement of a universal influenza vaccine are also discussed, which will provide useful guidelines for future research on designing an ideal influenza vaccine with broad protection without causing pathogenic effects such as autoimmunity or attrition of protective immunity against homologous infection.

Principles underlying rational design of live attenuated influenza vaccines

Despite recent innovative advances in molecular virology and the developments of vaccines, influenza virus remains a serious burden for human health. Vaccination has been considered a primary countermeasure for prevention of influenza infection. Live attenuated influenza vaccines (LAIVs) are particularly attracting attention as an effective strategy due to several advantages over inactivated vaccines. Cold-adaptation, as a classical means for attenuating viral virulence, has been successfully used for generating safe and effective donor strains of LAIVs against seasonal epidemics and occasional pandemics. Recently, the advent of reverse genetics technique expedited a variety of rational strategies to broaden the pool of LAIVs. Considering the breadth of antigenic diversity of influenza virus, the pool of LAIVs is likely to equip us with better options for controlling influenza pandemics. With a brief reflection on classical attenuating strategies used at the initial stage of development of LAIVs, especially on the principles underlying the development of cold-adapted LAIVs, we further discuss and outline other attenuation strategies especially with respect to the rationales for attenuation, and their practicality for mass production. Finally, we propose important considerations for a rational vaccine design, which will provide us with practical guidelines for improving the safety and effectiveness of LAIVs.

Cold pressor test on the wintering members of the Japanese antarctic research expedition / 日本温泉気候物理医学会雑誌

Cold pressor tests were examined on the eight wintering members (mean age 35±SD 4years old) of the 28th Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition to study their autonomic adaptation to local severe cold stress.<br>Tests were carried out 6 times with 3 month intervals through the expedition.<br>The first test was done on the ship in the Indian Ocean, on November 24, 1986 (Test-1). The second (Test-2), third (Test-3), fourth (Test-4) and fifth test (Test-5) were done at the Japanese Antarctic Asuka Base on February 24, 1987, May 20, 1987, August 18, 1987 and November 11, 1987, respectively. The last sixth test (Test-6) was done on the ship in the Antarctic Ocean on February 29, 1988.<br>The left hand was immersed in the ice floated water for three minutes for cold pressor test. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP, DBP), heart rate (HR) and variation coefficient of R-R intervals (CV_(R-R)) were examined, before immersion (F), at the beginning of immersion (A1), at the end of immersion (A2) and 2 minutes after immersion (A3).<br>An usual sphygmomanometer was used for blood pressure measuring and<br>CARDIMAX FX-102A (FUKUDA) was used for electrocardiogram. HR and CV_(R-R) were calculated from each 50 R-R intervals of ECG. Student's paired t-test was used for statistical evaluation.<br>SBP (A1, A2, A3), DBP (A2) and HR (A1) rose significantly (p<0.05-0.001) in Test-1. The increases in SBP (A3) and DBP (A2) were not observed in Test-2 and those after. The increase in SBP (A1) was observed in Test-2 but not after Test-3. The increase in HR (A1) was observed in Test-2 and Test-4 but not in Test-3 and after Test-5.<br>CV_(RR) (A1, A3) in Test-2 and CV_(RR) (A2, A3) in Test-4 decreased significantly (p<0.05-0.01). CV _(RR) (F) was relatively higher in these tests than others and was within normal range at the Test-3, Test-5 and Test-6.<br>The sympathetic adaptation to local severe cold seems to have advanced in 2 months and completed within 5 months in their Antarctic life. The parasympathetic function might have been excited when the sympathetic adaptation was unstable.