[Investigation on Babesia in ticks infested on police dogs in selected areas of China].

399 tick specimens were collected from the body surface of police dogs in Chongqing municipality, provinces of Fujian, Guangdong, Hainan, Guangxi, Hebei, Henan, Shanxi, Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Nested-PCR and sequence testing were taken to investigate the prevalence of Babesia sp. in ticks. The results showed that Babesia vogeli was found in ticks infested on the body surface of police dogs, with a positive rate of 5.3%. The prevalence in Chongqing, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan and Zhejiang was 4/16, 3.6% (1/28), 12.5%(11/88), 3.3% (4/121) and 1/15, respectively. It suggested that there was a certain rate of infected ticks infested on the body suriface of police dogs, which contributed to the potential threat to staff. The prevention and control measures should be strengthened.

[Effects of different irrigation treatments on photosynthesis of Tieguanyin tea plants].

By using chlorophyll fluorescence kinetics technique, the effects of different irrigation intervals, i.e., 5 d (T1), 10 d (T2), 15 d (T3), 20 d (T4), and 25 d (T5), on the photosynthesis of 2-year Tieguanyin tea plants were investigated in the field, with no irrigation as the control. The results showed that the leaf water potential and chlorophyll content decreased with increasing irrigation interval, while the net photosynthesis (P) increased first and decreased then, reaching its highest value (15.55, micromol x m(-2) x s(-1)) in treatment T2. The ratio of the variable to maximal fluorescence (F(v)/F(m)), the variable fluorescence quenching (deltaF(v)), and the variable fluorescence quenching rate (deltaF(v)/F(o)) all got the highest in treatment T2, being 0.844, 342.5, and 4.03, respectively. The initial fluorescence (F(o)) decreased with increasing irrigation interval, while a reverse changing trend of F(o) was observed in the control, demonstrating that PS II reaction center was damaged by drought stress. In conclusion, irrigating per 10 d was favorable to the photosynthetic electron transport and CO2 assimilation of the tea plants, which would enhance their photosynthesis efficiency.

[Genetic polymorphism of eleven canine STR loci].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the polymorphism of 11 canine STR loci. METHODS: A fluorescent multiplex system with 11 STR loci (PEZ1, PEZ2, PEZ3, PEZ5, PEZ6, PEZ8, PEZ12, FH2010, FH2054, FH2132 and FH2611) was constructed independently and performed to amplify 105 samples from dogs. The character of these loci was analyzed with the PCR data. RESULTS: The distributions of genotypes and allele frequencies of 11 STR loci were obtained. The total power of discrimination for the 11 loci in canine population was 0.9999999 and the cumulative probability of exclusion was 0.9330621. The observed heterozygosity and polymorphism information content (PIC) were 0.502 and 0.640, respectively. CONCLUSION: Each of the eleven canine STR loci has a high genetic polymorphism and can be applied for the parentage testing and individual identification. The fluorescent multiplex system is a reliable method in forensic application.

[Melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R) gene phylogenetic tree and canine coat colors].

Canines were domesticated approximately 10,000 years ago. The various environmental conditions and selective breeding resulted in abundant diversity of coat colors in domestic canines. Many canine coat colors are affected by melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R). MC1R genes are homologous among different species. This article reviews the studies on MC1R polymorphism in the domestic canine. We also constructed a phylogenetic tree of MC1R genes by comparing the canine gene with those from nine representative mammalian species. Results show the gene phylogenetic tree accorded with Taxonomy of the ten mammals in the main.