Animal Research and One Health最新文献

Supplementation of diets with a modest amount of zinc methionine (ZM) has been documented to improve the growth performance and antioxidant function of dairy calves, but the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. In the present study, 16 dairy calves were allocated to a control (CON) group (calves consumed a basal diet) and a ZM group (calves ingested the basal diet and had an additional 455 mg ZM/day, corresponding to 80 mg zinc/day). The calves were fed these diets for 2 weeks, after which their serum antioxidant parameters, lipids, and jejunal mucosal proteome and microbiota were analyzed. The ZM group had lower levels of total cholesterol, triglycerides, and malondialdehyde but higher high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and glutathione peroxidase activity in the serum. A total of 142 differentially expressed proteins in the intestinal mucosa between the CON and ZM groups had been identified (ZM upregulated 117 proteins and downregulated 25 proteins). In addition, the protein expression of acyl-coenzyme A oxidase 1, fatty acid binding protein 2, and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma was higher in the ZM group. 16S rRNA gene sequencing indicated beneficial microbes, such as Veillonellaceae, Akkermansia_muciniphila, and Bifidobacterium adolescentis, which were more abundant, whereas Acinetobacter lwoffii was less abundant in calf jejunal mucosa in the ZM group. Finally, the propionate, butyrate, and iso-valerate concentrations in the jejunal digesta were greater in the ZM group than those in the CON group. Collectively, the present study shows that ZM supplementation improves the serum and intestine mucosal lipid metabolism associated with the alterations in mucosal fatty acids β-oxidation and microbiota.

As a typical psychrophilic bacterial pathogen, Aeromonas salmonicida causes furunculosis in wild and farmed freshwater and marine fish, leading to substantial economic losses in the global aquaculture industry. Previous studies have shown that A. salmonicida is unable to grow above 25°C, hence limiting its infection to cold-water fish. However, we isolated A. salmonicida SRW-OG1, a mesophilic pathogenic strain from the warm-water fish Epinephelus coioides. Through RNA-seq analysis, we observe significant upregulation of the zupT gene at 28°C. ZupT is a member of zinc-regulated transporters and iron-regulated transporter-like proteins (ZIP family) and is closely associated with transcriptional regulation of virulence in certain pathogens. Consequently, our study aimed to examine the role of zupT during A. salmonicida SRW-OG1 infection at high temperatures. Our findings demonstrate that the zupT-RNAi strain exhibits severe growth restriction under limited Zn²⁺ and Fe²⁺ conditions. Notably, this strain shows significantly reduced mortality rates and colonization abilities. Moreover, its motility, biofilm formation, adhesion, and hemolytic activities are significantly diminished. Confocal laser scanning microscopy reveals earlier and accelerated biofilm dissociation in the zupT-RNAi strain. Analysis of extracellular products at 36 h indicates a considerable reduction in relative extracellular protein content in the zupT-RNAi strain. Taken together, our results highlight the vital role of the zupT gene in zinc transport and the fitness of A. salmonicida SRW-OG1 within the host.

Proliferation of granular cells (GCs) plays an important role in ovary development, providing energy and a microenvironment for oocyte ovulation. In this study, we explored the spatiotemporal expression of SEMA4G and its effects on the growth and development of goat GCs using primary GCs cultured in vitro as a model. The results showed that the expression level of SEMA4G was significantly higher in the ovaries of high-fertility goats than in those of low-fertility goats (p < 0.05). The mRNA and protein expression levels of the cell proliferation markers of GCs were significantly increased after the overexpression of SEMA4G in goat primary GCs. The EdU and CCK8 results showed that cell viability was elevated in goat GCs and that proliferation was promoted by an increase in the number of proliferating cells. The proliferation of goat GCs was significantly inhibited by SEMA4G inhibition (p < 0.05). The results of online miRNA and target gene prediction software and dual luciferase activity analysis confirmed that SEMA4G could bind to mi-363-5p and was one of its target genes. The RT‒qPCR results showed that the expression level of miR-363-5p was significantly lower in the ovaries of high-fertility goats than in those of low-fertility goats in contrast to the expression level of SEMA4G (p < 0.05). After the overexpression of miR-363-5p in goat GCs, the expression of SEMA4G was significantly suppressed (p < 0.05). Collectively, the results of this study could lay the foundation for exploring the molecular mechanisms by which SEMA4G and miR-363-5p regulate the growth and development of goat GCs and provide targets for breeding high-fertility goats.

Exploring the genetic loci underlying economic traits is foundational for innovation in modern animal breeding technology. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have been valid and commonly used tools to dissect the genomic variants associated with phenotypes for the past ∼20 years and have contributed to our understanding of genetic and molecular bases of various traits. Here, we comprehensively review the recent research progress on GWAS methods. We highlight the methodological advancements enabled by the combination of new proteome, transcriptome, epigenome, and metagenome information and multi-omics analysis algorithms. The advances in GWAS investigations of chickens, pigs, cattle, and other animals during the last 5 years are also described. Finally, we discuss the current applications of GWAS in cutting-edge breeding technologies and overall future perspectives of the post-GWAS era.

Although live mixed coccidiosis vaccines are widely used for Eimeria control, the side effects (e.g., damaging the intestinal mucosa and decreasing their weight gain) are not negligible. This study aimed to filter out the lowest dose of coccidiosis mixed vaccine with Lactococcus lactis (L. lactis) NZ3900/pNZ8149-IL-4-IL-2 (RLIL4/2) coimmunization against Eimeria reduces the side effects for Eimeria vaccination. Chickens oral 1.0 ×, 0.9 ×, 0.8 ×, 0.6 ×, 0.4 × dose of live vaccine, and RLIL4/2 with 1.0 × 10⁹ CFU/chicken, respectively. The blank control group, challenge-only group and 1.0 × dose vaccine-only group are used as references. The survival rate, weight gain, bloody stool, intestinal lesions scores, oocyst output oocysts per gramme (OPG), and anticoccidial index (ACI) were detected by challenging with virulent coccidiosis. All the results indicated that the weight gain during the immune period or bloody stool/intestinal lesions scores/OPG during the challenge period were oppositely correlated with vaccine doses. The survival rate, weight gain, and ACI were positively correlated with vaccine doses during the challenge period. The ACI of 0.6 × the dose group was 167.69, which was considered a moderate efficiency. The weight gain, ACI of 1.0 ×, 0.9 × and 0.8 × dose groups were higher or intestinal lesions were lower than 1.0 × dose vaccine-only group (p < 0.05), respectively. In conclusion, the coimmunization of RLIL4/2 with Eimeria mixed vaccine could reduce 40% of the dose and the side effects (e.g., weight gain and intestinal lesions) from live mixed coccidiosis vaccine.

Low-coverage whole genome sequencing (lcWGS) has great potential to effectively genotype large-scale population and to provide solid data for imputation; however, the time for imputation needs to be optimized. There is also no publicly available reference panel for whole genome selection in cattle. Here, we proposed a combination of Beagle v5.4 for phasing and GLIMPSE2 for imputation, which is fast and accurate for cattle lcWGS data. Furthermore, we established a multi-breed reference panel with 61.8 million SNPs based on 2976 worldwide cattle, of which 1766 were bulls, by evaluating diversity and the size of the reference panel. The evaluation of imputation accuracy was conducted using new reference panel for both lcWGS and Bovine BeadChip data. The average concordance rate in Holstein was 99.6%, 99.6%, and 99.5% for 1X, 0.5X, and 0.1X lcWGS data, 99.5% and 99.0% for 777K and 50K chip data, and it was 98.8% for 1X lcWGS data in Simmental. We further investigated the factors affecting the imputation accuracy of lcWGS data and discovered that segmental duplication, structural variant, and guanine-cytosine content were the top three factors. Interestingly, we found that 10 regions longer than 0.5 Mb showed low imputation accuracy enriched with immune function, such as 96.1% characterized genes in regions of chromosome 10, with more attention being paid on downstream immune-related analysis. Our study provides the workflow of imputing lcWGS data and establishes the first high-quality cattle reference panel with free access, which provides a resource to conduct subsequent large-scale genome-wide association studies and genomic selection.

According to UN's World Population Prospects in 2022, the world population has surpassed a stunning number of 8 billion people, posing enormous challenges to the already fragile ecosystem. The concept of “One Health” aiming to achieve sustainable and balanced development for humans, animals, and the entire ecosystem through a comprehensive approach has become a new crucial interdisciplinary focus and a worldwide scientific consensus.

As an important part of One Health, how can animal research establish a system to balance animal production, ecological safety, and human health? How can we develop an animal production system to meet our diverse food consumption demands while conserving natural resources and protecting the environment to achieve the goal of One Health? Is there an approach to produce green, safe, and high-quality animal-source foods while maintaining animals' physical and mental health? Is it feasible to build a production system to achieve the mutual promotion of animal production and natural resources such as grain, forage, water, and soil to facilitate intrasystemic material cycling and energy flows and to maximize carbon neutrality? All of these challenges and crises must be seriously addressed and effectively tackled by scientists and engineers with commitment and devotion.

To meet the demand of our time, Animal Research and One Health (AROH) is founded just in time and dedicated to build a sustainable and balanced system that reconciles animal production, ecological safety, and human health.

Holding the concept of “One Health,” AROH aims to promote the coordinated development of animal production, ecological safety, and human health. It also focuses on multidisciplinary studies and reports, including state-of-the-art biotechnology, animal resource conservation and utilization, genetic breeding and reproduction, animal nutrition and husbandry, smart animal husbandry and environmental science, animal disease prevention and management, and animal product safety and quality control. In particular, AROH highlights the latest progress in animal welfare research and application. It aims to provide an international platform for relevant basic and applied research as well as industrial technology development.

The objective of AROH is to promote the scientific and rational utilization of land, water, and environmental resources. To this end, AROH evaluates research and reports on all kinds of land, air, and water animals and related products. AROH acts as an international communication platform for basic research, translational research, and industrial technology development.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. AROH is launched in 2023 and sponsored by the top 10 animal research institutes. Adhering to the spirit of “pursuing excellence and uniting as one,” AROH collaborates with professionals, scholars, audiences, and authors in the field. With services such as open access pu

Brucellosis, a worldwide crucial zoonotic disease, poses global socioeconomic risks to the system by threatening human health and animal reproduction. In recent years, with the increase of animal husbandry, animal brucellosis has become a remarkable health issue in China. To prevent and control the spread of brucellosis, Brucella suis live strain S2 vaccine has been licensed as a multivalent vaccine against the three major zoonotic Brucella species, for example, Brucella melitensis (small ruminants), Brucella abortus (bovids), and B. suis (swine). Following this process, the country enforced control measures based upon B. suis S2 vaccination, which reduced the disease burden in 2022 to 0.66% in the livestock population. The aim of this paper is to review and discuss the biological properties of the S2 vaccine and its wide use in vaccination programs of China, highlighting oral vaccination advantages, validation, and standardization of this vaccine as well as the progress of the S2 vaccination program achieved in the national control of the three zoonotic Brucella species.

Brucellosis is a zoonotic bacterial disease posing serious threats to the health of humans and animals. Currently, effective therapeutics available for brucellosis are in urgent demand. Brucellosis is transmitted to humans through diet or contact with infected animals. Several live-attenuated vaccine strains are commercially available for animals, such as Brucella melitensis Rev.1, Brucella abortus S19, and RB51. However, no secure and effective vaccine for human beings has been developed yet against brucellosis, for which antibiotic therapy is the most frequently used and valid. Nevertheless, excessive antibiotics could prohibit the sensitivity of Brucella and develop resistance in humans. In addition, other clinical treatments, such as surgical treatment, have little effect on brucellosis. Therefore, novel treatment protocols should be explored. Based on numerous experimental studies, it is speculated that brucellosis can be fundamentally treated by inhibiting the activation of the type IV secretion system and changing the acidic environment of eBCV. In addition, previous literature showed that traditional Chinese medicine therapy also had certain efficacy, providing a new perspective angle for the exploration of treatment options.

In recent years, the important role of gut microbiota in promoting animal health and regulating immune function in livestock and poultry has been widely reported. The issue of animal health problems causes significant economic losses each year. Probiotics and postbiotics have been widely developed as additives due to their beneficial effects in balancing host gut microbiota, enhancing intestinal epithelial barrier, regulating immunity, and whole-body metabolism. Probiotics and postbiotics are composed of complex ingredients, with different components and compositions having different effects, requiring classification for discussing their mechanisms of action. Probiotics and postbiotics have considerable prospects in preventing various diseases in the livestock industry and animal feed and medical applications. This review highlights the application value of probiotics and postbiotics as potential probiotic products, emphasizing their concept, mechanism of action, and application, to improve the productivity of livestock and poultry.