The complete mitochondrial genome of the sand bubbler crab Scopimera longidactyla Shen 1932 (Decapoda: Dotillidae) and its phylogenetic analysis.

The sand bubbler crab, Scopimera longidactyla Shen, 1932 (Arthropoda: Malacostraca: Decapoda: Thoracotremata: Dotillidae), is commonly found along tropical and subtropical sandy shores of China, Korea, and Taiwan. Ecologically, it plays an important role in the productivity of sandy shores through their feeding and burrowing activities. In this study, the first complete mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of S. longidactyla was analyzed using next-generation sequencer. Its mitogenome, circular in structure, spans 15,965 bp with a GC content of 29.97%, consisting of 13 protein-coding genes, two ribosomal RNA genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, and one putative control region. Its mitogenome arrangement and composition are identical to its two congeners, S. globosa and S. intermedia. Phylogenetic analysis fully supports for the monophyly of the genus Scopimera and the sister relationship between S. longidactyla and S. globosa. The complete mitogenome of S. longidactyla and its phylogenetic implications will provide valuable insights for further studies in phylogenetic and evolutionary biology.

[Effects of physics on development of optometry in the United States from the late 19th to the mid 20th century].

In this paper, it was studied how physics affected development of optometry in the United States, from aspects of formation and academization of optometry. It was also revealed that history of optometry was analogous to history of engineering. Optics in the 19th century was divided into electromagnetic study of light and visual optics. Development of the visual optics promoted professionalization of ophthalmology that had already started in the 18th century. The visual optics also stimulated formation of optometry and optometrists body in the late 19th century of the United States. The American optometrists body were originated from opticians who had studied visual optics. Publication of several English academic textbooks on visual optics induced appearance of educated opticians (and jewelers). They acquired a right to do the eye examination in the early 20th century after C. F. Prentice's trial in 1897, evolving into optometrists. The opticians could be considered as craftsmen, and they were divided into (dispensing) opticians and optometrists. Such history of American optometrists body is analogous to that of engineers body in the viewpoints of craftsmen origin and separation from craftsmen. Engineers were also originated from educated craftsmen, but were separated from craftsmen when engineering was built up. Education system and academization of optometry was strongly influenced by physics, too. When college education of optometry started at American universities, it was not belonged to medical school but to physics department. Physics and optics were of great importance in curriculum, and early faculty members were mostly physicists. Optometry was academized in the 1920s by the college education, standardization of curriculum, and formation of the American Academy of Optometry. This is also analogous to history of engineering, which was academized by natural sciences, especially by mathematics and physics. The reason why optometry was academized not by medicine but by physics is because ophthalmologists did not have conciliatory attitudes to optometry education. Optometry became independent of physics from the 1930s to the 1940s. Optometric researches concentrated on binocular vision that is not included to discipline of physics, and faculty members who majored in optometry increased, so that optometry departments and graduate schools were established around 1940. Such independence from natural sciences after academization also resembles history of engineering. On the contrary, history of optometry was different from history of ophthalmology in several aspects. Ophthalmology had already been formed in the 18th century before development of visual optics, and was not academized by visual optics. Ophthalmologists body were not originated from craftsmen, and were not separated from craftsmen. History of optometry in the United States from the late 19th to the mid 20th century is analogous to history of engineering rather than history of medicine, though optometry is a medical discipline.

Insertion and deletion in a non-essential region of the nonstructural protein 2 (nsp2) of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) virus: effects on virulence and immunogenicity.

Developing a vaccine that can differentiate infected and vaccinated animals (DIVA) is a new challenge in the design of a vaccine for porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV). Nonstructural protein 2 (nsp2) is the single largest viral product, and it has multiple roles in polypeptide processing and replication complex formation. Using reverse genetics and an infectious PRRSV cDNA clone, we constructed several deletion mutants in the non-essential region of nsp2. One mutant, which has a 131 amino acid deletion within a relatively conserved region of nsp2, was recovered and found to produce a viable virus. The deleted region was replaced with a peptide tag encoding eight amino acids. A recombinant virus containing the 131 amino acid deletion was found to produce normal virus yields in MARC-145 cells and porcine alveolar macrophages (PAM); however, gross and micro-histopathology showed that the virus was less virulent in pigs. The 131 amino acid peptide was expressed as a recombinant protein and used to coat enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) plates. This peptide was recognized by sera from pigs infected with wild-type virus, but not by sera from pigs infected with the deletion mutant. The results from this study show that nsp2 is an important target for the development of marker vaccines and for virus attenuation.

Expression and stability of foreign tags inserted into nsp2 of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV).

The nonstructural protein 2 (nsp2) of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) is the single largest protein produced during infection. The cDNA of the pCMV-129 infectious PRRSV clone was modified for accepting foreign tags by first creating unique Mlu I and SgrA I restrictions sites at nucleotide (nt) positions 3219 and 3614, respectively, within the C-terminal region of nsp2. cDNAs encoding oligo- and polypeptide tags, including FLAG, enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) and luciferase were inserted into the newly created restriction sites. The results showed that only the EGFP-containing genomes were properly expressed and produced virus. EGFP fluorescence, but not EGFP immunoreactivity, was lost during passage of recombinant EGFP viruses in culture. Sequencing of a fluorescent-negative EGFP virus showed that the EGFP remained intact, except for the appearance of arginine to cysteine mutation at position 96, which may interfere with chromophore formation or function.

Heterogeneity in Nsp2 of European-like porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome viruses isolated in the United States.

Recently, isolates of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) that possess nucleotide sequences similar to European isolates have been reported in United States herds. The origin, diversity and prevalence of European-like North American PRRSV isolates in the U.S. remain unknown. Nucleotide sequence analysis of the 12kb ORF1 of a North American isolate, SDPRRS 01-08 (01-08), showed 93.7% identity with Lelystad virus (LV), the prototypic European isolate, but only 58% identity with VR-2332, the prototypic North American isolate. Comparisons between LV and 01-08 at the peptide sequence level of the predicted non-structural proteins (Nsp) showed that Nsp9 (98.9% amino acid identity) was the most conserved and the least conserved was Nsp2 at 90.6% identity. For the purpose of comparison, GP5, the principal envelope structural protein, showed a 93.5% identity between 01-08 and LV. The most dramatic differences between the Nsp2 proteins of LV and 01-08 were a single 17 amino acid deletion between residues 734 and 750, as well as several amino acid differences. The same deletion was identified in the Nsp2 in five of seven other EuroPRRSV isolates submitted to the South Dakota Animal Disease Research and Diagnostic Laboratory. The remaining two isolates contained small deletions, but in other regions of Nsp2. Peptide sequence diversity in the form of hypervariability and deletions in Nsp2 demonstrate that European-like PRRSV isolates in the USA represent a heterogeneous group. Furthermore, areas in Nsp2 with deletions and amino acid hypervariability localize to regions that are predicted to be immunologically important.