• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.20 no.10
• /
• pp.1490-1495
• /
• 2007

Insulin-like growth factor binding protein-4 (IGFBP-4) is a member of the IGF super family, and regulates the action of IGFs. The polymorphism of porcine IGFBP-4 gene in 17 pig breeds (total n = 570) was detected by PCR-SSCP, and alleles A and B were detected. In these pig breeds, it was found that exotic pig breeds carried high frequencies of allele A, while Chinese native pig breeds carried high frequencies of allele B. The role of porcine IGFBP-4 was investigated in 172 F2 offspring of a $Lantang{\times}Lantang $ population. Forty eight growth traits were recorded for analyzing the association between IGFBP-4 gene polymorphism and quantitative performance traits. In this resource family, pigs with AA genotype had higher fore-body weight, bone weight of mid-body, bone weight of rear-body, fore-leg weight and rear-leg weight than those pigs with BB genotype (p<0.05); while pigs which carried BB genotype had higher back-fat thickness at C point and lard weight than those pigs with AA genotype (p<0.05); pigs with AA genotype had higher body weight than those with BB genotype; for meat quality traits, pigs with AA genotype had higher meat color than those of BB genotype (p<0.01), and pigs with BB genotype had higher marbling than those of AA and AB genotypes (p<0.01 and p<0.05, respectively).Based on these results, it is necessary to do more studies on IGFBP-4 before using the IGFBP-4 locus for the application of marker-assisted selection programs.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.18 no.9
• /
• pp.1226-1230
• /
• 2005

The present investigation was undertaken to study the genetic polymorphism of the DRB3 exon 2 in 75 crossbred cattle by the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) technique. Five genotypes i.e. HaeIII-a, HaeIII-b, HaeIII-e, HaeIII-ab and HaeIII-ae were observed when the 284 bp PCR products were digested with HaeIII restriction enzyme. The corresponding frequencies of these patterns were 0.53, 0.04, 0.01, 0.38 and 0.04, respectively. Digestion with RsaI restriction enzyme resolved 24 different restriction patterns. The frequencies of these patterns ranged from 0.013 (RsaI-f, RsaI-k and RsaI-c/n) to 0.120 (RsaI-n). The results revealed that the crossbred cows belonged to the RsaI patterns namely b, k, l, a/l, d/s, l/n, l/o and m/n, whose corresponding frequencies were 0.027, 0.013, 0.040, 0.027, 0.040, 0.067, 0.027 and 0.067, respectively. Digestion of the 284 bp PCR product of DRB3.2 gene with PstI in the crossbred cattle did not reveal any restriction site. These results suggested the absence of the recognition site in some of the animals. These results also revealed that the crossbred cows studied were in homozygous as well as heterozygous condition. On the basis of the above results it can be concluded that the DRB3.2 gene was found to be highly polymorphic in the crossbred cattle population.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.20 no.6
• /
• pp.821-826
• /
• 2007

The aim of the experiment was to detect polymorphisms in the keratin-associated protein 8.2 (KAP8.2) gene to determine associations between the genotype and fibre traits in Chinese Inner Mongolia cashmere goats. The fibre traits data investigated were cashmere fibre diameter, combed cashmere weight, cashmere fibre length and guard hair length. Five hundred and forty-two animals were used to detect polymorphisms in the complete coding sequence of the hircine KAP8.2 gene by means of PCR-SSCP. The results identified six genotypes, AA, BB, DD, AB, AD and BD, coded for by three different alleles A, B and D. Two SNPs in the coding region were confirmed by sequencing, which were A214G and T218C respectively. The relationships between the genotypes and cashmere fibre diameter, combed cashmere weight, cashmere fibre length and guard hair length were analyzed. There were significant differences (p<0.01) between the associations of the different genotypes with cashmere fibre diameter, cashmere weight and hair length. Cashmere length was the only trait that was not associated with the genotypes. The genotype AA (0.73) was found to be predominant in Inner Mongolia cashmere goats and the animals with this genotype had the thinnest cashmere fibre diameter compared with the other genotypes. These results suggested that polymorphisms in the hircine KAP8.2 gene may be a potential molecular marker for cashmere fibre diameter in cashmere goats.

• Journal of Conservation Science
• /
• v.4 no.1 s.4
• /
• pp.3-10
• /
• 1995

This study focused on the reconstructional point of Shinan ship-wreck that was excavated between $1976\~1984$. The wreck, which might be sunk in the beginning of the 14th century, is regarded as a vessel of Yuan dynasty, China. This paper tried to find out some structural characteristics and principal dimensions for restoration. The Shinan shipwreck's structural characteristics are summarized as follow, 1) The Shinan shipwreck is formed V-shaped cross section with bar keel, 2) The vessel is divided 8 holds by 7 bulkheads. 3) The ship has flat type stem and transome stern. 4) A rabbeted clinker -built is basically adopted on planking joint. 5) A wooden sheathing, which means a sort of protecting board against marine insects, is covered outside of the main hull, 6) For making an watertight structure, oakum and lime mixtured t'ung-oil are used along the seam of planking and bulkhead. 7) A V-shaped deep water-way exists at both deck side. 8) The shipwreck is believed to have 2 masts at least. 9) The shiptimbers are classified as Chinese Red Pine(Pinus Massonina) which is mainly grown in the southern part of China. Considering as mentioned above the structural characteristics, Shinan ship-wreck could be classified as Chinese Fu-chuan type(복선형) of sea-going ship. The Shinan ship's principal dimensions which are calculated on the basis of Chinese traditional shipbuilding custom, are as follow, Length overall(L.O.A). : 34.80m Length water line(L.W.L) : 24.90m Breadth(B.max.) : 11m Breadth(B) : 10m Depth at keel line(H) : 3.75m Draft(D). : 3.15m Freeboard(F) : 0.65m Ratio, length/breadth(L/B). : 2.26 Ration, breadth/depth(B/D) : 3.5 Height of stem : 7m Height of stern : 10m Displacement : ab.340ton.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.458-462
• /
• 2005

The study was aimed at detecting polymorphism of the fifth intron in lipoprotein lipase (LPL) gene and analyzing association between the polymorphism and productive traits. A pair of primers was designed for amplifying the fifth intron. Sequence analysis indicated that a G1171C substitution existed in Large White breed. The mutation was detected by PCR-AfaI-RFLP. Polymorphism analysis in a pig resource family showed that there existed significant effects on carcass and meat quality traits. Thoraxwaist fat thickness of BB genotype was significantly higher (14.2%, p<0.05) than that of AA on carcass traits, while BB genotype was significantly lower (3.6% p<0.01, 4.1% p<0.01; 2.3% p<0.01, 1.9% p<0.01; 1.8% p<0.01, 1.4% p<0.05) than AA and AB genotype in pH of m. Longissimus Dorsi (LD), m. Biceps Femoris (BF), m. Semipinali Capitis (SC). The allelic frequencies were also significantly different between indigenous Chinese breeds and exotic breeds. Data analyzed revealed that the mutation locus affected production traits mostly by additive effects. Based on these results, it is necessary to do more studies on LPL gene before making the LPL locus into the application of marker-assisted selection (MAS) programs.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.22 no.6
• /
• pp.742-753
• /
• 2012

Copper-containing compounds are introduced into the environment through agricultural chemicals, mining, and metal industries and cause severe detrimental effects on ecosystems. Certain microorganisms exposed to these stressors exhibit molecular mechanisms to maintain intracellular copper homeostasis and avoid toxicity. We have previously reported that the soil bacterial isolate Achromobacter sp. AO22 is multi-heavy metal tolerant and exhibits a mer operon associated with a Tn21 type transposon. The present study reports that AO22 also hosts a unique cop locus encoding copper homeostasis determinants. The putative cop genes were amplified from the strain AO22 using degenerate primers based on reported cop and pco sequences, and a constructed 10,552 base pair contig (GenBank Accession No. GU929214). BLAST analyses of the sequence revealed a unique cop locus of 10 complete open reading frames, designated copSRABGOFCDK, with unusual separation of copCD from copAB. The promoter areas exhibit two putative cop boxes, and copRS appear to be transcribed divergently from other genes. The putative protein CopA may be a copper oxidase involved in export to the periplasm, CopB is likely extracytoplasmic, CopC may be periplasmic, CopD is cytoplasmic/inner membrane, CopF is a P-type ATPase, and CopG, CopO, and CopK are likely copper chaperones. CopA, B, C, and D exhibit several potential copper ligands and CopS and CopR exhibit features of two-component regulatory systems. Sequences flanking indicate the AO22 cop locus may be present within a genomic island. Achromobacter sp. strain AO22 is thus an ideal candidate for understanding copper homeostasis mechanisms and exploiting them for copper biosensor or biosorption systems.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.27 no.7
• /
• pp.1336-1344
• /
• 2017

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a major cause of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. With recent identification of HBV receptor, inhibition of virus entry has become a promising concept in the development of new antiviral drugs. To date, 10 HBV genotypes (A-J) have been defined. We previously generated two murine anti-preS1 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), KR359 and KR127, that recognize amino acids (aa) 19-26 and 37-45, respectively, in the receptor binding site (aa 13-58, genotype C). Each mAb exhibited virus neutralizing activity in vitro, and a humanized version of KR127 effectively neutralized HBV infection in chimpanzees. In the present study, we constructed a humanized version (HzKR359-1) of KR359 whose antigen binding activity is 4.4-fold higher than that of KR359, as assessed by competitive ELISA, and produced recombinant preS1 antigens (aa 1-60) of different genotypes to investigate the binding capacities of HzKR359-1 and a humanized version (HzKR127-3.2) of KR127 to the 10 HBV genotypes. The results indicate that HzKR359-1 can bind to five genotypes (A, B, C, H, and J), and HzKR127-3.2 can also bind to five genotypes (A, C, D, G, and I). The combination of these two antibodies can bind to eight genotypes (A-D, G-J), and to genotype C additively. Considering that genotypes A-D are common, whereas genotypes E and F are occasionally represented in small patient population, the combination of these two antibodies might block the entry of most virus genotypes and thus broadly neutralize HBV infection.

• Animal Bioscience
• /
• v.34 no.12
• /
• pp.1895-1902
• /
• 2021

Objective: Runs of homozygosity (ROH) are contiguous lengths of homozygous genotypes that can reveal inbreeding levels, selection pressure, and mating schemes. In this study, ROHs were evaluated in Wannan Black pigs to assess the inbreeding levels and the genome regions with high ROH frequency. Methods: In a previous study, we obtained 501.52 GB of raw data from resequencing (10×) of the genome and identified 21,316,754 single-nucleotide variants in 20 Wannan Black pig samples. We investigated the number, length, and frequency of ROH using resequencing data to characterize the homozygosity in Wannan Black pigs and identified genomic regions with high ROH frequencies. Results: In this work, 1,813 ROHs (837 ROHs in 100 to 500 kb, 449 ROHs in 500 to 1,000 kb, 527 ROHs in >1,000 kb) were identified in all samples, and the average genomic inbreeding coefficient (F_ROH) in Wannan Black pigs was 0.5234. Sixty-one regions on chromosomes 2, 3, 7, 8, 13, 15, and 16 harbored ROH islands. In total, 105 genes were identified in 42 ROH islands, among which some genes were related to production traits. Conclusion: This is the first study to identify ROH across the genome of Wannan Black pigs, the Chinese native breed of the Anhui province. Overall, Wannan Black pigs have high levels of inbreeding due to the influence of ancient and recent inbreeding due to the genome. These findings are a reliable resource for future studies and contribute to save and use the germplasm resources of Wannan Black pigs.

• Animal Bioscience
• /
• v.34 no.3_spc
• /
• pp.354-362
• /
• 2021

Broiler chickens grow rapidly, and their nutrient requirements change daily. However, broilers are fed three to five diet phases, meaning nutrients are under or oversupplied throughout production. Increasing diet phases improves production efficiency as there is less time in the production cycle that nutrients are in under or over-supply. Nevertheless, the process of administering four or more diets is costly and often impractical. New technologies are now available to blend feed to match the daily nutrient requirements of broilers. Thus, the aim of this review is to evaluate previous studies measuring the impact of increasing feed phases on nutrient utilisation and growth performance, and review recent studies taking this concept to the extreme; precision nutrition - feeding a new diet for each day of the production cycle. This review will also discuss how modern precision feeding technologies have been utilised and the potential that new technologies may bring to the poultry industry. The development of a precision nutrition regime which targets daily requirements by blending dietary components on farm is anticipated to improve the efficiency of production, reduce production cost and therefore improve sustainability of the industry. There is also potential for precision feeding technology along with precision nutrition strategies to deliver a plethora of other management and economic benefits. These include increased fluidity to cope with sudden environmental or market changes, and the ability to alter diets on a farm by farm level in a large, integrated operation. Thus, the future possibilities and practical implications for such technologies to generate a paradigm shift in feed formulation within the poultry industry to meet the rising demand for animal protein is also discussed.

• Animal Bioscience
• /
• v.35 no.8
• /
• pp.1174-1183
• /
• 2022

Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of the provision of a protein-rich supplement on productive performance, and metabolic profile on grazing suckling female beef calves in tropical conditions during 150 d of experimentation. Methods: Fifty-six Nellore suckling female calves, and their respective dams were distributed in a completely randomised design and made to undergo two treatments as follows: UNS (without supplementation), and SUP (supplementation with 5 g/kg body weight [BW] of a protein supplement). Throughout the experiment, animal performance and metabolic profile were evaluated. Also, ureagenesis and gluconeogenesis were assessed for gene expression. Results: SUP female calves showed a higher voluntary intake (p≤0.03) of the diet components evaluated, digestibility of organic matter (p≤0.02) and microbial nitrogen production (MICN; p≤0.02) compared to UNS female calves. In its turn, serum urea nitrogen (p≤0.01) and insulin-like growth factor-1 (p≤0.03) levels and ureagenesis (p≤0.04) increased in SUP female calves compared to UNS female calves. Blood glucose and triglyceride levels were not affected by supplementation. The average daily gain (ADG) from SUP female calves was higher (p≤0.02) compared with UNS female calves. However, supplementation did not affect the body measures of the animals. Conclusion: In summary, provision of a protein-rich supplement improves the intake and nutrients digestibility, ADG and final BW and increases metabolic indicators of the protein status in grazing suckling female beef calves in tropical conditions.