Animal Research and One Health最新文献

Protecting crude protein in the rumen may reduce extensive protein degradation and ammonia emission and increase available bypass protein in ruminants. This experiment was conducted to determine the effect of two Bioprotect (15 and 30 mL/kg dry matter (DM)) and two tannin extract (TE) (20 and 40 g/kg DM) inclusion rates on protein protection and in vitro fermentation characteristics of canola and soybean meals incubated for 24 h using an ANKOM in vitro gas production system. The treated canola and soybean meals produced lower soluble protein (fraction ‘a’) and larger slowly degradable protein (fraction ‘b’) than its untreated counterparts, p < 0.01. However, the 20 g/kg DM TE inclusion showed lowest effect on the amount of protein fractions ‘a’ and ‘b’ in both meals compared to their other treated counterparts. The increasing concentration of additives reduced the total volatile fatty acids (VFA), p < 0.001. The effects of additives differed between the treatments as 15 mL/kg DM Bioprotect and 20 g/kg DM TE did not affect the acetic to propionic acid ratio (A:P) and the time before gas production began. The increase in fraction ‘b’ and reduction in protein fraction ‘a’ confirm successful protein protection in this experiment. However, the extensive reduction in ammonia-N and in vitro degradable protein after using 30 mL/kg DM Bioprotect suggests possible toxicity to the microbes responsible for protein digestion in higher doses. Therefore, 15 mL/kg DM Bioprotect and 40 g/kg DM TE could be promising protein protection doses for in vitro experiments.

Mouse modeling could offer a powerful in vivo investigation tool for validating the functional role of candidate genes and genomic variants detected in animal and livestock species via multi-omic analyses. In this Commentary, the authors discuss the potential of transgenic and genome-edited mice as significant models for validating the outcomes of livestock genomic and multi-omic analyses.

The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in various sectors has led to significant advancements, with the animal industry being no exception. This review aims to investigate the benefits, limitations, and future prospects of AI technology in improving animal welfare. First, it examines the role of AI in understanding animal behaviors and emotions, providing deeper insights into their well-being and sources of stress. Next, the paper explores how AI can revolutionize animal nutrition through innovative algorithms and data analytics. The health aspect emphasizes the ability of AI to identify and manage illnesses through intelligent systems. This review also highlights the application of AI in improving animal living conditions, with a focus on environmental management and automated cleaning and disinfection systems. In conclusion, the review emphasizes AI-driven techniques for early prediction, close monitoring, and accurate diagnosis of animal diseases, ensuring healthier and more sustainable livestock management. By leveraging its advantages, addressing limitations, and exploring future directions, AI has the potential to significantly enhance animal welfare, sustainable agriculture, and veterinary practices.

The oceans, teeming with life, have long been a crucial source of sustenance. Abundant in fish and salt and easily accessible by boat, the ocean has not only facilitated trade and communication but also served as a reliable source of food for human beings. As terrestrial agriculture grapples with challenges such as land degradation, water scarcity, and ecological damage, attention is increasingly turning to the ocean. As the Earth's largest ecosystem, the ocean hosts a wealth of resources, particularly in terms of biodiversity. China, an exploiting pioneer of marine resources, has emerged as the world's leading provider of aquaculture products, with two-thirds of its seafood coming from aquaculture. China's shift from traditional fishing to systematic marine agriculture offers a new model for the global community. Central to this strategic shift is the concept of “Marine Ranching,” which views the ocean as a vast, ecologically managed farm. Successfully implementing this concept is crucial for ensuring food security, protecting ecological equilibrium, and driving economic progress. It also presents some innovative opportunities to explore the “Greater Food” approach, utilizing new spaces, methods, and technologies.

However, “Marine Ranching” goes beyond simply transferring terrestrial farming practices to marine environments. It represents the innovative development of aquatic production models based on a comprehensive understanding and protection of the marine ecology. This encompasses systems for breeding high-quality species, implementing sustainable farming practices, disease prevention and control, as well as advancements in pre and postproduction processing and quality management. The continuous, open, and intricate nature of marine ecosystems presents challenges in their management and monitoring. Ensuring the reasonable scale, ecological capacity, balance, and biological health of “Marine Ranching” across vast ocean areas demands extensive technological development and exploratory practice. Furthermore, the development of “Marine Ranching” is a multidisciplinary and multifaceted challenge, requiring interdisciplinary collaboration in aquatic biology, ecology, environmental science, biotechnology, engineering equipment, and information technology. Additionally, we must promote open integration, sharing, and application of data throughout the entire fishery industry chain, with the goal of achieving a harmonious balance among economy, ecological environment, and social benefits.

This special issue on “Marine Ranching” aims to serve as a platform for scholarly exchange in this field, facilitating the dissemination of the latest developments, discoveries, technological innovations, and perspectives in marine agro-pastoral research. Drawing on these academic studies, we can continuously refine related technologies and establish a scientific, efficient, and sustainable blue granary production system. Globally, nations encounter s

African swine fever (ASF) is an acute and severe contagious disease triggered by the African swine fever virus (ASFV), which severely threatens the global swine industry. At present, no safe and efficacious vaccine has been provided to prevent and control this disease. The pathogenesis and immune evasion mechanism of ASFV are still unknown, which seriously hinders the development of safe and effective ASF vaccines. Certain proteins of ASFV involved in immunosuppression helped to evade the host innate immune response. The cGAS-STING signaling pathway is important to the innate immune system. It induces the production of type I interferons (IFNs) and other cytokines by recognizing cytoplasmic DNA, mediating antimicrobial innate immunity through type I IFN, and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) pathways. In the present study, E120R, a late-phase expression protein and a key virulent factor of ASFV inhibited cGAS-STING mediated promoter activities of IFN-β and NF-κB in HEK293T cells. The ectopic expression of E120R down-regulated IFN-β pathway by targeting interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF3) and p65, inhibited the phosphorylation of STING, and further inhibited the phosphorylation of TANK-binding kinase 1 (TBK1) and IRF3, with no significant effects on p65 phosphorylation. Additionally, E120R also inhibited the NF-κB pathways by inhibiting the nuclear translocation of p50 and p65, which was mediated by Sendai virus (SeV). Further, the study showed that the 61–80 amino acids sites in the C-terminal domain of E120R were crucial for these functions. In conclusion, our work preliminarily elucidated a novel mechanism of inhibiting host innate immune response by ASFV E120R, which will provide a new target for the ASFV live gene deletion vaccine development and the theoretical basis for ASFV prevention.

Understanding the genetic factors related to meat drip loss is of great importance for animal breeding and production. In this study, we employed a combination of genome-wide association study (GWAS) mapping and RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) data to effectively identify potentially functional single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) as well as candidate genes associated with drip loss (DL) in Beijing Black pigs. Initially, we conducted a single- and multi-trait GWAS on drip loss traits in 441 Beijing Black pigs at 24 (DL24) and 48 (DL48) hours postmortem using the Illumina pig 50K SNP chip. Five SNPs with annotations for four genes (FGGY, LHFPL6, OSBPL1A, and NMNAT3) were consistently identified in single or multiple trait GWAS results, indicating their potential pleiotropic effects on drip loss. Next, a comprehensive comparative transcriptomic analysis was performed on samples of Beijing Black pigs exhibiting extremely high and low drip loss, resulting in the identification of 21 differentially expressed genes (DGEs) as potential candidates. Additionally, protein–protein interaction (PPI) network analysis revealed reciprocal regulatory relationships between FOXO1, OSBPL1A, DOCK1 (identified from GWAS) and the candidate DGEs obtained from RNA-seq data. Therefore, we propose that these genes may impact drip loss traits through gene interactions. In conclusion, our integrative analysis screened candidate genes that may affect the drip loss traits in Beijing Black pigs, which provides crucial insights into the molecular mechanisms of drip loss and serves as a theoretical reference for improving meat quality in Beijing Black pigs.

This article aims to establish a multiplex real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay for the simultaneous detection of Streptococcus suis (SS), Streptococcus suis serotype 2 (SS2), and Glaesserella parasuis (GPS). In this study, three pairs of primers and three probes were designed based on the specific sequences of SS (gdh), SS2 (cps2j), and GPS (infB). The results showed that the assay was not cross-reacted with other swine pathogens (Escherichia coli, Pasteurella multocida, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus agalactiae, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae, Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae, and Enterococcus faecalis; Streptococcus pyogenes). 10⁸ to 10² copies/μL showed the R² values for SS, SS2, and GPS were 0.999, 0.992, and 0.990, respectively. The multiplex real-time PCR efficiency was 93.816% for gdh, 105.260% for cps2j, and 93.175% for infB. The sensitivity result showed that SS, SS2, and GPS could be detected at 10 copies/μL. The repeatability result showed that intra-assay and inter-assay coefficients of variation of SS, SS2, and GPS were <2%. The best cutoff values for SS, SS2, and GPS were determined from ROC curves to be 35.085, 35.620, and 34.940, respectively. Areas under the curve were 0.943, 0.968, and 0.958. In total, 88 clinical samples were analyzed. The results indicated positive rates of 11.364% (10/88) for SS, 20.455% (18/88) for SS2, and 18.182% (16/88) for GPS. In conclusion, the developed one-step multiplex real-time PCR assay may be a valuable tool for the early detection of the SS, SS2 and, GPS with high specificity and sensitivity.