Characteristics of faecal bacterial flora and volatile fatty acids in Min pig, Landrace pig, and Yorkshire pig

BACKGROUND In order to study the influence of long-term growth process and evolution environment on intestinal bacteria of different breeds, the intestinal bacteria and volatile fatty acids among the faeces of Min, Landrace and Yorkshire pigs were analysed by Illumina high-throughput sequencing of the 16S-rDNA and gas chromatography. RESULTS The shared core microbiota of Landrace, Yorkshire and Min pig were 1273, accounting for 69.56% of total abundance of organisms. The proportion of Firmicutes in Min pig faeces (57.89%) was significantly higher than that in Landrace and Yorkshire pig faeces (47.01% and 46.40%, respectively) (P < 0.05), but that of Bacteroidetes was exactly opposite. Moreover, Min pig presented more highly efficient membrane transport, environmental adaptation, carbohydrate transport, and metabolism than Yorkshire pig (P < 0.05). The acetic acid/total volatile fatty acid ratio in Min pig was significantly higher than that in Landrace pig (P < 0.05), and the isobutyric acid/ total volatile fatty acid ratio in Min pig was significantly larger than that in Yorkshire pig (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the content of branched chain volatile fatty acids in Min pig was significantly higher than that in Yorkshire pig (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION This study demonstrated that Min pig, as an excellent breed in the cold area of China, possessed special intestinal floral structure compared to the imported pigs in order to satisfy their phys iological and metabolic demands, which may influence their characteristics such as resistance to cold, diseases, and crude feeding, and the ability to deposit intramuscular fat.

Genome-Wide Association Studies Associated with Backfat Thickness in Landrace and Yorkshire Pigs

Although pork quality traits are important commercially, genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have not well considered Landrace and Yorkshire pigs worldwide. Landrace and Yorkshire pigs are important pork-providing breeds. Although quantitative trait loci of pigs are well-developed, significant genes in GWASs of pigs in Korea must be studied. Through a GWAS using the PLINK program, study of the significant genes in Korean pigs was performed. We conducted a GWAS and surveyed the gene ontology (GO) terms associated with the backfat thickness (BF) trait of these pigs. We included the breed information (Yorkshire and Landrace pigs) as a covariate. The significant genes after false discovery rate (<0.01) correction were AFG1L, SCAI, RIMS1, and SPDEF. The major GO terms for the top 5% of genes were related to neuronal genes, cell morphogenesis and actin cytoskeleton organization. The neuronal genes were previously reported as being associated with backfat thickness. However, the genes in our results were novel, and they included ZNF280D, BAIAP2, LRTM2, GABRA5, PCDH15, HERC1, DTNBP1, SLIT2, TRAPPC9, NGFR, APBB2, RBPJ, and ABL2. These novel genes might have roles in important cellular and physiological functions related to BF accumulation. The genes related to cell morphogenesis were NOX4, MKLN1, ZNF280D, BAIAP2, DNAAF1, LRTM2, PCDH15, NGFR, RBPJ, MYH9, APBB2, DTNBP1, TRIM62, and SLIT2. The genes that belonged to actin cytoskeleton organization were MKLN1, BAIAP2, PCDH15, BCAS3, MYH9, DTNBP1, ABL2, ADD2, and SLIT2.

Polymorphism research on SLA class II genes in Canadian SPF Yorkshire and Landrace pigs / 中国实验动物学报

Objective The aim of this study was to investigate the polymorphism of SLA class II genes in Canadian SPF Yorkshire and Landrace pigs.Methods Blood samples were obtained from 15 SPF Yorkshire and 22 Landrace pigs for isolation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells respectively, and the DQB1, DRB1 and DQA genes were amplified by PCR after reverse transcription.SLA class II genes were obtained by analyzing the direct and cloning result.The polymorphism of alleles was analyzed using the DNAsp 5.0 software.Results A total of 25 alleles were identified at three genes, including eight DQB1, ten DRB1 and seven DQA, and three alleles were submitted the complete sequences for the first time.The official allele names were assigned as SLA-DQB1*0212 (KU754590), SLA-DQB1*0203 (KU754591) and DRB1*06:07(KU754601) by the SLA Nomenclature Committee.Three novel DQA alleles were discovered.Five of the 15 amino acids, one of the 16 amino acids and 11 of the 19 amino acids, which bind processing antigens, showed well conserved among the alleles of DQB1, DRB1 and DQA genes in the SPF Yorkshire and Landrace pigs, respectively.Neighbor-joining tree showed that the three genes were divided into two clusters, respectively.There was a close relationship between SPF Yorkshire and Landrace pigs and foreign Yucatan miniature pigs, and it showed no obvious genetic distance with other pigs.Conclusions A total of 25 SLA class II alleles have been identified successfully in this study, and there are more abundant polymorphism for them.There is a widely distribution for SLA class II alleles identified in this study in other pig breeds.It is critical for the eventual future use of SPF Yorkshire and Landrace pigs as classical laboratory animal models.

Analysis of physiological and biochemical characteristics of SPF Yorkshire and Landrace swine / 中国实验动物学报

Objective To determine the reproductive physiology and blood physiological and biochemical characteristics of SPF Yorkshire and Landrace swine.Methods Ten reproductive physiology parameters,19 blood physiological parameters and 18 blood biochemical parameters in SPF Yorkshire and Landrace swine were measured using conventional methods and the differences between population,between age groups and between both sexes were analyzed.Results There were no significant differences(P>0.05) in reproductive physiology parameters and most blood physiological and biochemical parameters of the SPF Yorkshire and Landrace swine.A few of parameters,such as blood physiological indices GRAN,HGB,RDW,PLT,PCT,and blood biochemical indices ALKP,CHOL,TBIL,BUN,showed significant difference(P<0.05) between populations,between age groups and between both sexes,however,the values of difference were rather small,deviated from the normal range.Conclusion The physiological and biochemical characteristics of SPF Yorkshire and Landrace swine are basically stable and there is no significant difference compared with other laboratory miniature pigs.This study will provide valuable basic data for raising velvet yield,establishment of animal models and evaluating the genetic quality of closed colony.

Morphology and morphometry of the foramen magnum in Toy Poodle and Yorkshire terrier dogs / Morfologia e morfometria do forame magno em cães das raças Poodle Toy e Yorkshire terrier

The occipital dysplasia has been characterized by a dorsal enlargement of the foramen magnum which can vary in size and shape. Clinical signs may be present or not in animals with occipital dysplasia. The purpose of this study was to radiographically analyze the morphology and morphometry of the foramen magnum of thirty healthy dogs. This study chose to use fifteen Yorkshire terrier dogs and fifteen Toy Poodle dogs in order to characterize the radiographic aspects of the foramen magnum and contribute to the diagnosis and critical analysis of the occipital dysplasia importance. According to the foramen magnum morphology and tracings, it was possible to classify the radiographic aspects into different shapes varing from oval and quadrangular. Out of 26 (86.7 percent) animals had a dorsal enlargement and 4 (13.3 percent) showed normal foramen magnum. Animals without any clinical signs that are radiographically classified as dysplastic dogs may simply represent an anatomic variation of the foramen magnum.

A displasia do occipital é o alargamento dorsal do forame magno, o qual pode variar a sua forma e tamanho e os animais com esta alteração morfológica podem ou não apresentar manifestações clínicas. O objetivo desta pesquisa foi avaliar radiograficamente a morfologia e a morfometria do forame magno de 30 cães assintomáticos das raças Poodle toy e Yorkshire terrier, sendo 15 de cada, a fim de se caracterizar os aspectos radiográficos do forame magno e contribuir para o diagnóstico e análise crítica da relevância da displasia do occipital. O forame magno apresentou aspectos que variaram de oval a quadrangular. A presença do alargamento dorsal ocorreu em 26 (86,7 por cento) animais e a ausência em apenas quatro (13,3 por cento). Animais sem manifestações clínicas, que apresentam graus variados de alargamento dorsal e são classificados radiograficamente como displásicos, podem apenas representar variações anatômicas do forame magno.

Ultrasonographic measurement of optic nerve sheath diameter in normal dogs

This study was carried out to assess the feasibility of ultrasonographic measurements of the optic nerve sheath diameter (ONSD) in normal dogs and evaluate the effect of breed, sex, body weight and age on biometry of ONSD. The ONSDs were evaluated in 15 dogs (10-50 months old)with normal eye (7 Yorkshire terrier and 8 Maltese). Ultrasonographic measurements of the ONSD were carried out at a constant position located 5 mm behind the optic disc. Eyes were collected immediately after euthanasia, and were used for saline immersion technique and direct measurement by calipers for biometry of ONSD. In this study, there was no significant difference of ONSD between the left and the right eyes, and was no significant difference among ONSD values obtained from ultrasonographical method, saline immersion technique and direct measurement (k = 0.95). Also, there was no correlations between ONSD and sex, body weight and age, but was significant between the mean ONSD of Yorkshire terrier and Maltese (p<0.01). The mean ONSD of Yorkshire terrier was 2.10 +/- 0.22 mm and Maltese was 1.63 +/- 0.23 mm. This study suggests that ultrasonographic measurements is useful method for biometry of the ONSD in normal dogs and provides baseline information for the study of evaluating ONSD in various breeds and diagnosing several diseases with the change of the ONSD.