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The transition period for dairy cows usually refers to the 3 weeks pre-calving to the 3 weeks post-calving. During this period, dairy cows undergo metabolic and physiological adaptations because of their susceptibility to metabolic and infectious diseases. Poor feeding management under these circumstances may adversely affect the health and subsequent production performance of the cows. Owing to long-term adaptation and evolution, the rumen has become a unique ecosystem inhabited by a complex microbial community closely associated with its natural host. Dietary components are metabolized by the rumen microbiota, and volatile fatty acids and microbial protein products can be used as precursor substances for synthesizing meat and milk components. The successful transition of perinatal dairy cows includes changes in diet, physiology, and the rumen microbiota. Rumen microbial profiles have been confirmed to be heritable and repairable; however, adverse circumstances affect rumen microbial composition, host digestion and metabolism, as well as postpartum production traits of dairy cows for a certain period. Preliminary evidence indicates a close relationship between the rumen microbiota and animal performance. Therefore, changes in rumen microbes during the transition period and the intrinsic links between the microbiota and host postpartum phenotypic traits need to be better understood to optimize production performance in ruminants.

Tail type of sheep, which may be affected by many genes with a complex mechanism, is an important economic trait concerned by both raiser and consumers. Here, we employed two sheep breeds with extreme phenotypes - Mongolian sheep (short-fat-tailed) and Bamei Mutton sheep (long-thin-tailed) to analyze the genetic differences at the genomic level and find candidate genes associated with tail phenotype. The results of population structure analysis showed that the LD decay rate of Mongolian sheep was greater than that of Bamai Mutton sheep. When K = 2, the two populations were obviously separated with a certain degree of mixing. From 49 sheep individuals, 20,270,930 and 2,479,474 SNPs and Indels were identified, respectively. Selection signals were detected based on FST, π-Ratio, and XP-EHH. These three methods identified 85 candidate genes, of which PDGFD, GLIS1, AR, and FGF9 were reported to be associated with tail fat deposition, while VRTN associated with tail length in sheep tail phenotype; the others were novel genes that may play important roles in sheep tail phenotype formation. Gene annotation revealed that these candidate genes mainly participate in pathways associated with fat deposition or lipid metabolism. This study provided insight into sheep tail type development and a guide for molecular breeding.

The contribution of colostrum to passive immunity transfer and intestinal protection in newborn ruminants is well known; however, it is currently unclear how colostrum intake affects intestinal innate immunity. We investigated the effects of bovine colostrum intake on ileal morphology, expression of genes involved in intestinal innate immunity, and serum concentrations of inflammatory cytokines in newborn lambs. Twenty-seven newborn male Hu lambs were used, of which 18 were bottle-fed either bovine colostrum (C24h; n = 9) or bovine mature milk (M24h; n = 9) within the first 2 h after birth at an intake of approximately 8% of BW; the remaining nine lambs did not receive any feeding (N24h). Blood and ileal tissue samples were collected after the lambs were slaughtered at 24 h after birth. Ileal villus height and villus height-to-crypt depth ratio were significantly higher in C24h than those in N24h and M24h lambs (P

Abstract Background Hair follicle density influences wool fibre production, which is one of the most important traits of the Wan Strain Angora rabbit. However, molecular mechanisms regulating hair follicle density have remained elusive. Results In this study, hair follicle density at different body sites of Wan Strain Angora rabbits with high and low wool production (HWP and LWP) was investigated by histological analysis. Haematoxylin-eosin staining showed a higher hair follicle density in the skin of the HWP rabbits. The long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) profile was investigated by RNA sequencing, and 50 and 38 differentially expressed (DE) lncRNAs and genes, respectively, were screened between the HWP and LWP groups. A gene ontology analysis revealed that phospholipid, lipid metabolic, apoptotic, lipid biosynthetic, and lipid and fatty acid transport processes were significantly enriched. Potential functional lncRNAs that regulate lipid metabolism, amino acid synthesis, as well as the Janus kinase (JAK)-signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) and hedgehog signalling pathways, were identified. Consequently, five lncRNAs (LNC_002171, LNC_000797, LNC_005567, LNC_013595, and LNC_020367) were considered to be potential regulators of hair follicle density and development. Three DE lncRNAs and genes were validated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (q-PCR). Conclusions LncRNA profiles provide information on lncRNA expression to improve the understanding of molecular mechanisms involved in the regulation of hair follicle density.

Abstract Background Meat quality is a complex trait affected by genotypic and environmental factors. In a previous study, it was found that feedstuffs have various effects on the growth rate and meat quality of lambs. However, the underlying mechanisms are still not entirely clear. Results In this study, to investigate the mechanisms that impact meat quality in twin sheep fed either with high fiber low protein (HFLP) forage (Ceratoides) or low fiber high protein (LFHP) forage (alfalfa) diets, multi omics techniques were utilized for integration analysis based on the feed nutritional value and the sheep microbiome, transcriptome, metabolome, and fatty acid profile. Results showed that the production performance and the muscle components of lambs were significantly affected by feeds. The essential fatty acid (linoleic acid and arachidonic acid) content of the muscle, based on gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis, was increased when lambs were fed with HFLP. The microbes in the lambs’ rumen fed a HFLP diet were more diverse than those of the LFHP fed group. Besides, the ratio of Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes in the rumen of the sheep fed a LFHP diet was 2.6 times higher than that of the HFLP fed group. Transcriptome analysis of the muscle revealed that the genes related to glucose metabolic processes and fatty acid biosynthesis were significantly differentially expressed between the two groups. Potential cross talk was found between the sfour omics data layers, which helps to understand the mechanism by which feedstuffs affect meat quality of lambs. Conclusion Feed systems may affect the epigenetic regulation of genes involved in the glucose metabolic pathway. HFLP feeds could induce gluconeogenesis to maintain glucose levels in blood, resulting in decreased fat content in muscle. The multiple omics analysis showed that the microbiota structure is significantly correlated with the metabolome and gene expression in muscle. This study laid a theoretical foundation for controlling the nutrient intake of sheep; it suggested that its fatty acid spectrum modifications and the removal of meat quality detrimental material could guide sheep feeding for functional mutton.

Improvements in the feeding of calves are of increasing importance for the development of the dairy industry. While colostrum is essential for the health of newborn calves, knowledge of protein phosphorylation alterations in neonatal calves that are fed colostrum or mature milk is lacking. Here, mid-jejunum tissue samples were collected from calves that received colostrum or milk. Subsequently, the jejunum phosphoproteome was analyzed using a phosphopeptide enrichment method, i.e., titanium immobilized metal ion affinity chromatography, coupled with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. A total of 2093 phosphopeptides carrying unique 1851 phosphorylation sites corresponding to 1180 phosphoproteins were identified. Of the 1180 phosphoproteins, 314 phosphorylation sites on 241 proteins were differentially expressed between the groups. Gene ontology analysis indicated that the phosphoproteins were strongly associated with developmental and macromolecule metabolic processes, signal transduction, and responses to stimuli and insulin. Pathway analysis showed that the spliceosome, Hippo, insulin, and neurotrophin signaling pathways were enriched. These results reveal the expression pattern and changes in the function of phosphoproteins in bovine jejunum tissues under different feeding conditions and provide further insights into the crucial role of colostrum feeding during the early stages of life.

Abstract Background Hair fibre length is an important economic trait of rabbits in fur production. However, molecular mechanisms regulating rabbit hair growth have remained elusive. Results Here we aimed to characterise the skin traits and gene expression profiles of short-hair and long-hair rabbits by histological and transcriptome analyses. Haematoxylin-eosin staining was performed to observe the histological structure of the skin of short-hair and long-hair rabbits. Compared to that in short-hair rabbits, a significantly longer anagen phase was observed in long-hair rabbits. In addition, by RNA sequencing, we identified 951 genes that were expressed at significantly different levels in the skin of short-hair and long-hair rabbits. Nine significantly differentially expressed genes were validated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. A gene ontology analysis revealed that epidermis development, hair follicle development, and lipid metabolic process were significantly enriched. Further, we identified potential functional genes regulating follicle development, lipid metabolic, and apoptosis as well as important pathways including extracellular matrix-receptor interaction and basal cell carcinoma pathway. Conclusions The present study provides transcriptome evidence for the differences in hair growth between short-hair and long-hair rabbits and reveals that lipid metabolism and apoptosis might constitute major factors contributing to hair length.

Stimulated by retinoic acid 6 (STRA6) is the receptor for retinol binding protein and is relevant for the transport of retinol to specific sites such as the eye. The adaptive evolution mechanism that vertebrates have occupied nearly every habitat available on earth and adopted various lifestyles associated with different light conditions and visual challenges, as well as their role in development and adaptation is thus far unknown. In this work, we have investigated different aspects of vertebrate STRA6 evolution and used molecular evolutionary analyses to detect evidence of vertebrate adaptation to the lightless habitat. Free-ratio model revealed significant rate shifts immediately after the species divergence. The amino acid sites detected to be under positive selection are within the extracellular loops of STRA6 protein. Branch-site model A test revealed that STRA6 has undergone positive selection in the different phyla of mammalian except for the branch of rodent. The results suggest that interactions between different light environments and host may be driving adaptive change in STRA6 by competition between species. In support of this, we found that altered functional constraints may take place at some amino acid residues after speciation. We suggest that STRA6 has undergone adaptive evolution in different branch of vertebrate relation to habitat environment.

Abstract The para rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis) is the world’s sole commercial source of natural rubber, a vital industrial raw material. However, the narrow genetic diversity of this crop poses challenges for rubber breeding. Here, we generate high-quality de novo genome assemblies for three H. brasiliensis cultivars, two H. brasiliensis wild accessions, and three other Hevea species (H. nitida, H. pauciflora, and H. benthamiana). Through analyzing genomes of 94 Hevea accessions, we identify five distinct lineages that do not align with their previous species delineations. We discover multiple accessions with hybrid origins between these lineages, indicating incomplete reproductive isolation between them. Only two out of four wild lineages have been introduced to commercial rubber cultivars. Furthermore, we reveal that the rubber production traits emerged following the development of a large REF/SRPP gene cluster and its functional specialization in rubber-producing laticifers within this genus. These findings would enhance rubber breeding and benefit research communities.

The objective of this research was to examine how the growth, ammonia tolerance, and intestinal microbiota composition of juvenile yellow catfish are affected by dietary supplementation of isobutyric acid (IBA), isovaleric acid (IVA), and 2-methylbutyric acid (2-MBA). During the 8-week trial, four groups were fed the basal diet (Control), and the basal diet supplementation with 0.25% IBA, IVA and 2-MBA, respectively. The research shows that the yellow catfish in the IBA and 2-MBA groups had a higher weight gain rate and specific growth rate than the control group, but feed conversion ratio has the opposite trend. Dietary supplementation of IBA and 2-MBA can significantly improve digestive enzymes activities (α-amylase, lipase, and trypsin) in intestinal tract and blood health (serum albumin increased, alanine transaminase and aspartate transaminase decreased). The up-regulation of IGF-1, Myod, and MyoG gene mRNA expression levels occurred significantly in the muscle tissue of the IBA, IVA, and 2-MBA groups, but IL 1 and IL8 genes in intestinal tract were significantly down-regulated. Supplementation of IBA, IVA and 2-MBA significantly increased the relative abundance of Candidatus Arthromitus, while decreased the relative abundance of Achromobacter, most notably in IBA group. After 96-h ammonia stress, cumulative mortality in IBA group was the lowest. Supplementing the diet of yellow catfish with IBA or 2-MBA can enhance their growth, digestive enzyme activity, and blood health status. Additionally, IBA can improve ammonia tolerance, which may be related to the increase abundance of Candidatus Arthromitus in intestine.

The molecular mechanisms underlying the initiation of natural rubber synthesis and laticifer differentiation have not been fully elucidated. In this study, we conducted a time-series transcriptome analysis of five rubber tree tissues at four stages of seed germination. A total of 161,199 DEGs were identified between the two groups, including most 16,673 DEGs (A3 vs B3 and A3 vs C3) and lest 1,210 DEGs (C2 vs D2). We found that the maturation of the seed is accompanied by the formation of laticifer cells in cotyledon. Meanwhile, the analysis of hormones related genes expression may provide effective clues for us to promote the differentiation of laticifer cells in seeds by hormones in the future. In this study, hormone-related gene enrichment analyses revealed that IAA, GA, and CTK were activated in laticifer containing tissues. Similarly, GO and GEGG analysis showed that hormone pathways, especially the auxin pathway, are enriched. Gene expression clustering was analyzed using the short time-series expression miner (STEM), and the analysis revealed four distinct trends in the gene expression profiles. Moreover, we enriched transcription factor (TF) enrichment in cotyledon and embryonic axis tissues, and the MYB type exhibited the most significant difference. Furthermore, our findings revealed that genes related to rubber synthesis exhibited tissue-specific expression patterns during seed germination. Notably, key genes associated with rubber biosynthesis, specifically small rubber particle protein (SRPP) and cis-prenyltransferase (CPT), exhibited significant changes in expression in cotyledon and embryonic axis tissues, suggesting synchronous rubber synthesis with seed germination. Our staining results reveled that laticifer cells were exits in the cotyledon before seed imbibition stage. In conclusion, these results lay the foundation for exploring the molecular mechanisms underlying laticifer differentiation and rubber synthesis during seed germination, deepening our understanding of the initiation stages of rubber biosynthesis and laticifer differentiation.

BackgroundTo investigate the mechanism of plant protein components on nutritional value, growth performance, flesh quality, flavor, and proliferation of myocytes of yellow catfish (Pelteobagrus fulvidraco).MethodsA total of 540 yellow catfish were randomly allotted into six experimental groups with three replicates and fed six different diets for 8 weeks.Results and ConclusionsThe replacement of fish meal with cottonseed meal (CM), sesame meal (SEM), and corn gluten meal (CGM) in the diet significantly reduced growth performance, crude protein, and crude lipid, but the flesh texture (hardness and chewiness) was observably increased. Moreover, the flavor-related amino acid (glutamic acid, glycine, and proline) contents in the CM, SEM, and CGM groups of yellow catfish muscle were significantly increased compared with the fish meal group. The results of metabolomics showed that soybean meal (SBM), peanut meal (PM), CM, SEM, and CGM mainly regulated muscle protein biosynthesis by the variations in the content of vitamin B6, proline, glutamic acid, phenylalanine, and tyrosine in muscle, respectively. In addition, Pearson correlation analysis suggested that the increased glutamic acid content and the decreased tyrosine content were significantly correlated with the inhibition of myocyte proliferation genes. This study provides necessary insights into the mechanism of plant proteins on the dynamic changes of muscle protein, flesh quality, and myocyte proliferation in yellow catfish.

Abstract Objective To explore the efficacy and safety of high-frequency oscillatory ventilation (HFOV) in the treatment of severe meconium aspiration syndrome (MAS) complicated with severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Methods A total of 65 infants with severe MAS complicated with severe ARDS were included in the study. The clinical efficacy of treatment for the HFOV group (n = 31) and the conventional mechanical ventilation (CMV) group (n = 34) was retrospectively analysed. The partial pressure of oxygen (PaO2), partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PaCO2), PaO2/fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO2), and oxygen index values before and at 6, 12, 24, 48, and 72 h after mechanical ventilation, the mechanical ventilation time, oxygen inhalation time, incidence of complications, and outcomes of the two groups were compared. Results At 6, 12, 24, and 48 h after mechanical ventilation, the PaO2 in the HFOV group was significantly higher than in the CMV group, while the PaCO2 in the HFOV group was significantly lower than in the CMV group (P < 0.05). At 6, 12, 24, 48, and 72 h after mechanical ventilation, PaO2/FiO2 in the HFOV group was significantly higher than in the CMV group, and the OI in the HFOV group was significantly lower than in the CMV group (P < 0.05). Mechanical ventilation time, oxygen inhalation time, and the incidence of air leakage were significantly lower in the HFOV than in the CMV group (P < 0.05). Conclusions Overall, HFOV can effectively improve lung ventilation and oxygenation function, shorten ventilator treatment time, and reduce the incidence rate of air leakage for neonatal MAS, making it a safe and effective treatment option.

Ammonia is toxic to most fish. Different fish have different treatment methods for ammonia toxicity, mainly including urea cycle and glutamine synthesis pathway, depending on their physiological status. A two-stage study was carried out to test the inhibition of argininosuccinate synthase (ASS) effects on ammonia detoxification in hyperammonemia yellow catfish. At the stage 1, fish were injected lethal half concentration (LC50) of ammonium acetate and sampled at 0, 1, 3, 6, 12 and 24 h post-injection. The result found that plasma ammonia content of fish was injected with ammonium acetate reached its highest level at hour 1, which was used as the optimal sampling time in stage 2. At the stage 2, the four experimental groups were carried out: NaCl group was injected intraperitoneally with 0.9% sodium chloride as control; NH3 group was injected with LC50 ammonium acetate; NH3+BPP group was injected with mixture of ammonium acetate and bradykinin-potentiating peptide (BPP); BPP group was injected with BPP. The results showed that inhibition of ASS can lead to accumulation of ammonia in plasma and kidney, and glutamine in liver and kidney; and decreases ASS, argininosuccinate lyase, arginase activates, and ornithine, glutamate, alanine, proline, tyrosine, methionine contents, and increases ornithine transcarbamylase, glutaminase activates, and citrulline, aspartate, arginine, glutamine, histidine, isoleucine, phenylalanine, lysine contents; and result in upregulation of ASS, ASL, CPS 1, OTC, GS and GLS genes expression. This result indicates that the inhibition of ASS in yellow catfish with ammonia poisoning will lead to the urea cycle disorder; yellow catfish can enhance the detoxification capacity of ammonia by improving glutamine synthesis when the urea cycle is inhibited; argininase played an important role in ammonia detoxification of yellow catfish.

Latex flow in Hevea brasiliensis (the Para rubber tree), the sole commercial source of natural rubber (cis-1,4-polyisoprene, NR), renders it uniquely suited for the study of plant stress responses. Calcineurin B-like interacting protein kinases (CIPK) serving as calcium-sensor protein kinases react with calcineurin B-like proteins (CBL) to play crucial roles in hormone signaling transduction and response to abiotic stress in plant developmental processes. However, little is known about their functions in Hevea. In this study, a total of twelve CBL (HbCBL) and thirty CIPK (HbCIPK) genes were identified from the Hevea genome. Structure and phylogenetic analysis assigned these CIPKs to five groups and CBLs to four groups, and mapped onto fourteen of the eighteen Hevea chromosomes. RNA-seq and qPCR analysis showed that the expressions of HbCBL and HbCIPK genes varied in the seven Hevea tissues examined, i.e., latex (cytoplasm of rubber-producing laticifers), bark, leaf, root, seed, female flower, and male flower. The expressions of two HbCBL and sixteen HbCIPK genes showed upward trends during leaf development. Following ethylene yield stimulation and the latex tapping treatment, both practices invoking stress, the expression levels of most latex-expressed genes were significantly altered. Yeast two-hybrid test revealed interactions for multiple combinations of HbCBLs and HbCIPKs with substantial gene expression in latex or other Hevea tissues. However, all the HbCBL-HbCIPK complexes examined did not recruit HbSOS1 or AtSOS1 to form functional salt tolerance SOS pathway in yeast cells. Taken together, the results suggested a role of the Hevea CBL-CIPK network as a point of convergence for several different signaling pathways in growth, development, and stress responses in relation to latex production.

Ammonia has adverse effects on aquatic animals, which is also widely distributed in natural aquatic environments and intensive aquaculture systems. The intestine is a primary defensive line for aquatic animals, the accumulation of ammonia in the aquatic environment can cause irreversible damage to intestinal function. In this study, we investigated the effects of acute ammonia stress on the reaction characteristics of digestive function, amino acid metabolism, and the variation in the intestinal microbiota of juvenile yellow catfish (Pelteobagrus fulvidraco). Thus, the yellow catfish was placed in water with the addition of ammonia at 0 (control), 14.6, and 146 mg/L total ammonia nitrogen for 96-h. The present study observed that ammonia accumulated in the intestine and muscle (ammonia contents in the intestine and muscle increased) and induced the activities of protein digestive enzymes dysfunction (pepsin increased while trypsin decreased). Ammonia stress changed various amino acids composition (proline, arginine, lysine, histidine, phenylalanine, tyrosine, leucine, isoleucine, valine, alanine, glutamic acid, tyrosine, and aspartic acid contents were increased in muscle) and increased the activities of alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase in muscle. Furthermore, through 16 S rRNA gene analysis, ammonia stress-induced reduction in diversity, richness, and evenness and structure of microbiota alteration in the intestine. At the phylum level, the abundance of Fusobacteria increased while Firmicutes and Actinobacteria decreased significantly. At the genus level, the abundance of beneficial microbiota Cetobacterium significantly increased after ammonia stress. In conclusion, activation of amino acid synthesis in muscle may be involved in ammonia detoxification after severe ammonia stress. The accumulation of ammonia can disrupt the intestinal digestive function and intestinal microbiota community. The Cetobacterium may be a new potential positive factor in the resistance of ammonia toxicity.

The time-series state and parameter estimations of indoor localization continue to be a topic of growing importance. To deal with the nonlinear and positive skewed non-Gaussian dynamic of indoor CSS–TOF (Chirp-Spread-Spectrum Time-of-Flight) ranging measurements and position estimations, Monte Carlo Bayesian smoothers are promising as involving the past, present, and future observations. However, the main problems are how to derive trackable smoothing recursions and to avoid the degeneracy of particle-based smoothed distributions. To incorporate the backward smoothing density propagation with the forward probability recursion efficiently, we propose a lightweight Marginalized Particle Smoother (MPS) for nonlinear and non-Gaussian errors mitigation. The performance of the position prediction, filtering, and smoothing are investigated in real-world experiments carried out with vehicle on-board sensors. Results demonstrate the proposed smoother enables a great tool by reducing temporal and spatial errors of mobile trajectories, with the cost of a few sequence delay and a small number of particles. Therefore, MPS outperforms the filtering and smoothing methods under weak assumptions, low computation, and memory requirements. In the view that the sampled trajectories stay numerically stable, the MPS form is validated to be applicable for time-series position tracking.

Monodisperse Cu2WO4(OH)2round and elliptical hollow spheres have been successfully prepared by a ligand-assisted dissolution process, without any template or surfactant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

FeC2O4·2H2O nanorods with diameter of about 50 nm and length of up to several micrometers were synthesized at room temperature in a surfactant-assisted system, which was obtained by dissolving bis(2-ethylhexyl)sodium sulfosuccinate (AOT) in a mixed solution composed of water and ethylene glycol (EG). The influence of reaction conditions on the morphology of FeC2O4·2H2O is discussed in detail. Through direct thermal decomposition of FeC2O4·2H2O under different calcination conditions, maghemite (g-Fe2O3), magnetite (Fe3O4) and hematite (a-Fe2O3) can be selectively obtained, preserving the rod-like morphology. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM) characterizations showed that the as-obtained iron oxide nanorods were composed of fine particles with different crystal orientations. The magnetic properties of the as-obtained iron oxide nanorods were systematically investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]