Rapid Spread and Genetic Characterisation of a Recently Emerged Recombinant Lumpy Skin Disease Virus in Thailand.

The emergence of the lumpy skin disease virus (LSDV) was first detected in north-eastern Thailand in March 2021. Since then, the abrupt increase of LSD cases was observed throughout the country as outbreaks have spread rapidly to 64 out of a total of 77 provinces within four months. Blood, milk, and nodular skin samples collected from affected animals have been diagnosed by real-time PCR targeting the p32 gene. LSDV was isolated by primary lamb testis (PLT) cells, followed by Madin-Darby bovine kidney (MDBK) cells, and confirmed by immunoperoxidase monolayer assay (IPMA). Histopathology and immunohistochemistry (IHC) of a skin lesion showed inclusion bodies in keratinocytes and skin epithelial cells. Phylogenetic analyses of RPO30 and GPCR genes, and the whole genome revealed that Thai viruses were closely related to the vaccine-derived recombinant LSDV strains found previously in China and Vietnam. Recombination analysis confirmed that the Thai LSDV possesses a mosaic hybrid genome containing the vaccine virus DNA as the backbone and a field strain DNA as the minor donor. This is an inclusive report on the disease distributions, complete diagnoses, and genetic characterisation of LSDV during the first wave of LSD outbreaks in Thailand.

Structure-function study of AKR4C14, an aldo-keto reductase from Thai jasmine rice (Oryza sativa L. ssp. indica cv. KDML105).

Aldo-keto reductases (AKRs) are NADPH/NADP+-dependent oxidoreductase enzymes that metabolize an aldehyde/ketone to the corresponding alcohol. AKR4C14 from rice exhibits a much higher efficiency in metabolizing malondialdehyde (MDA) than do the Arabidopsis enzymes AKR4C8 and AKR4C9, despite sharing greater than 60% amino-acid sequence identity. This study confirms the role of rice AKR4C14 in the detoxification of methylglyoxal and MDA, and demonstrates that the endogenous contents of both aldehydes in transgenic Arabidopsis ectopically expressing AKR4C14 are significantly lower than their levels in the wild type. The apo structure of indica rice AKR4C14 was also determined in the absence of the cofactor, revealing the stabilized open conformation. This is the first crystal structure in AKR subfamily 4C from rice to be observed in the apo form (without bound NADP+). The refined AKR4C14 structure reveals a stabilized open conformation of loop B, suggesting the initial phase prior to cofactor binding. Based on the X-ray crystal structure, the substrate- and cofactor-binding pockets of AKR4C14 are formed by loops A, B, C and ß1α1. Moreover, the residues Ser211 and Asn220 on loop B are proposed as the hinge residues that are responsible for conformational alteration while the cofactor binds. The open conformation of loop B is proposed to involve Phe216 pointing out from the cofactor-binding site and the opening of the safety belt. Structural comparison with other AKRs in subfamily 4C emphasizes the role of the substrate-channel wall, consisting of Trp24, Trp115, Tyr206, Phe216, Leu291 and Phe295, in substrate discrimination. In particular, Leu291 could contribute greatly to substrate selectivity, explaining the preference of AKR4C14 for its straight-chain aldehyde substrate.

Characterization of AKR4C15, a Novel Member of Aldo-Keto Reductase, in Comparison with Other Rice AKR(s).

Environmental stresses often cause a rapid and excessive accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), the toxicity of which is further amplified by downstream aldehyde production. Aldo-keto reductase (AKR) is a group of enzymes metabolizing aldehyde/ketone to the corresponding alcohol using NADPH as the cofactor. In this study, OsI_20197 (AKR4C15), a novel member of AKR4 subfamily C, was isolated and biochemically characterized. Kinetic studies on bacterially-expressed recombinant AKR4C15 revealed that the enzyme was capable of metabolizing a wide variety of aldehydes but clearly exhibited a preference for three carbon compounds, i.e. methylglyoxal, malondialdehyde and glyceraldehyde. In comparison with His-tagged proteins of AKR4C9 from Arabidopsis and several other rice AKR(s): OsI_04426, OsI_04428, OsI_04429, and OsI_15387, AKR4C15 was the one capable of most efficiently metabolizing MDA and had the highest value of catalytic efficiency, which was higher than the value of AKR4C9, approximately, by 30-fold; while its capability of metabolizing MG was on par with AKR4C9, OsI_04426 and OsI_04428 (AKR4C14); and was considerably higher than the activity of OsI_04429 and OsI_15387. In vivo research on transgenic Arabidopsis seedlings ectopically-expressing AKR4C15 showed that the levels of both MDA and MG were also significantly lower than the levels in wild-type seedlings under both normal and stress conditions, emphasizing the role of AKR4C15 in MG and MDA metabolism. In conclusion, AKR4C15, together with OsI_04426 and AKR4C14, may play protective roles against small reactive aldehydes and medium-chain aldehydes.

Cloning and characterization of AKR4C14, a rice aldo-keto reductase, from Thai Jasmine rice.

Aldo-keto reductase (AKR) is an enzyme superfamily whose members are involved in the metabolism of aldehydes/ketones. The AKR4 subfamily C (AKR4C) is a group of aldo-keto reductases that are found in plants. Some AKR4C(s) in dicot plants are capable of metabolizing reactive aldehydes whereas, such activities have not been reported for AKR4C(s) from monocot species. In this study, we have screened Indica rice genome for genes with significant homology to dicot AKR4C(s) and identified a cluster of putative AKR4C(s) located on the Indica rice chromosome I. The genes including OsI_04426, OsI_04428 and OsI_04429 were successfully cloned and sequenced by qRT-PCR from leaves of Thai Jasmine rice (KDML105). OsI_04428, later named AKR4C14, was chosen for further studies because it shares highest homology to the dicot AKR4C(s). The bacterially expressed recombinant protein of AKR4C14 was successfully produced as a MBP fusion protein and his-tagged protein. The recombinant AKR4C14 were capable of metabolizing sugars and reactive aldehydes i.e. methylglyoxal, a toxic by-product of the glycolysis pathway, glutaraldehyde, and trans-2-hexenal, a natural reactive 2-alkenal. AKR4C14 was highly expressed in green tissues, i.e. leaf sheets and stems, whereas flowers and roots had a significantly lower level of expression. These findings indicated that monocot AKR4C(s) can metabolize reactive aldehydes like the dicot AKR4C(s) and possibly play a role in detoxification mechanism of reactive aldehydes.