• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.55-60
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• 2016

The aim of the present study is to determine the characteristics of genotype and phenotype of Echinococcus granulosus derived from wild sheep and to compare them with the strains of E. granulosus sensu stricto (sheep-dog) and E. granulosus camel strain (camel-dog) in Iran. In Khojir National Park, near Tehran, Iran, a fertile hydatid cyst was recently found in the liver of a dead wild sheep (Ovis orientalis). The number of protoscolices (n=6,000) proved enough for an experimental infection in a dog. The characteristics of large and small hooks of metacestode were statistically determined as the sensu stricto strain but not the camel strain (P=0.5). To determine E. granulosus genotype, 20 adult worms of this type were collected from the infected dog. The second internal transcribed spacer (ITS2) of the nuclear ribosomal DNA (rDNA) and cytochrome c oxidase 1 subunit (COX1) of the mitochondrial DNA were amplified from individual adult worm by PCR. Subsequently, the PCR product was sequenced by Sanger method. The lengths of ITS2 and COX1 sequences were 378 and 857 bp, respectively, for all the sequenced samples. The amplified DNA sequences from both ribosomal and mitochondrial genes were highly similar (99% and 98%, respectively) to that of the ovine strain in the GenBank database. The results of the present study indicate that the morpho-molecular features and characteristics of E. granulosus in the Iranian wild sheep are the same as those of the sheep-dog E. granulosus sensu stricto strain.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.701-709
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• 2001

Yeso sika deer (Cervus nippon yesoensis) grazed on various types of plants, and the fiber content in these plants was low. The tastes of yeso sika deer for existing feeds for ruminant livestock resembled those of sheep. Though the digestibility of these feeds in yeso sika deer was slightly lower than that in sheep, the nutritive values of DCP and TDN were similar between the two species, suggesting that feed for sheep can be utilized. Therefore, in small-scale farming of yeso sika deer, the feeding amount in feeding planning can be determined using the feeding standards for sheep. However, when concentrates are fed, correction of TDN is necessary. In large-scale pasturage, the nutritional intake in summer is adequate because yeso sika deer graze on various types of wild plants. In winter, they mainly graze on sasa (Sasa senanensis), and supplementary food may be necessary to supply TDN. Thus, since yeso sika deer graze on many types of wild plants, existing feeds for ruminant livestock can be used. In addition, plant biomasses except concentrates that do not cause competition with existing livestock may be effectively utilized in yeso sika deer, suggesting their importance as animal resources. The data on the intake and nutritive values of Sasa senanensis can be parameters for estimating the appropriate inhabitant number of wild yeso sika deer in wintering areas.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.179-186
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• 1995

In the present study, nutritional status of some minerals in sheep grazed on native pasture was investigated in dry area, Ningxia district, of the People's Republic of China. Samples of some forages and blood of sheep were collected for two seasons, dry (March) and rainy (August) seasons. The Ca contents of forages (wheat straw, green-pea straw and some wild grasses) were relatively high as compared with that required ordinarily as standard, but on the contrary, the P content was much lower than that of standard. Consequently, Ca/P ratio was very high in cost of the roughages sampled in the region. Trace elements, Cu and Zn, content of forage samples were fairly low, and the contents of Mo and Fe were fairly high, particularly in some wild grasses, when the values were compared with that required normally. The Ca level in blood of sheep was in a range accepted as normal, and the other macro minerals(Mg and P) were contained at relatively high levels as compared with the values observed ordinarily, but not at a toxic level. With trace minerals, the plasma Fe level was extremely high as compared with the standard level, although there were no disorders due to toxicity, and Mo level in plasma was a little lower than the lower limit described as a normal. The plasma levels of other trace elements (Cu, Zn and Se) in all the animals were within the range accepted as normal. There would be no clear differences in mineral nutrition of sheep between dry and rainy seasons. These results could suggest that there is no severe unbalance and/or imbalance, and grazing sheep in the Ningxia area of midland China have no problems relating to the nutritional status of minerals.

• BMB Reports
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.547-553
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• 2007

Many motifs along the 1.2 kb myostatin promoter (MSTNpro) in sheep have been found by the MatInspecter program in our recent study. To further verify the role of the motifs and better understand the transcriptional regulation mechanism of the myostatin gene in sheep, the reporter gene EGFP (enhanced green fluorescent protein) was selected and the wild-type (W) vector MSTNPro$^W$-EGFP or motif-mutational (M) vector MSTNPro$^M$-EGFP were constructed. The transcriptional regulation activities were analyzed by detecting the fluorescence strength of EGFP in C2C12 myoblasts transfected with the vectors. The results showed that E-box (E) 3, E4, E5 and E7, particularly E3, E5 and E7, had important effects on the activity of the 1.2 kb sheep myostatin promoter. In addition, we also detected several other important motifs such as MTBF (muscle-specific Mt binding factor), MEF2 (myocyte enhancer factor 2), GRE (glucocorticoid response elements) and PRE (progesterone response elements) along the sheep myostatin promoter by the mutational analysis.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.24 no.9
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• pp.1179-1183
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• 2011

The incidence of mutation in three loci of GDF9, BMP15 and BMP15-1B and their effects on litter sizes was evaluated in Baluchi sheep. Wild-type alleles were detected for BMP15 and BMP15-1B loci and all individuals were found to be as non-carriers for FecB and $FecX^G$ mutations but, a G to A nucleotide substitution was found in GDF9 locus. The frequency of $FecG^+$ (0.82) wild type allele was higher than the frequency of $FecG^l$ (0.18) mutant allele and the frequencies of $FecG^+/FecG^+$, $FecG^+/FecG^1$ and $FecG^1/FecG^1$ genotypes were 0.72, 0.20 and 0.08, respectively in GDF9 locus. The heterozygous ($FecG^+/FecG^1$) and homozygous ($FecG^+/FecG^+$) non-carrier ewes had 0.35 and 0.21 more lambs than the homozygous ($FecG^1/FecG^1$) carrier ewes, respectively (p<0.05). In addition to the finding of segregation of non-additive gene effect on litter size in the previous study in Baluchi sheep, these findings for the first time shows that the $FecG^1$ gene has a major effect on litter size in this breed.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.23-30
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• 2019

Objective: Recent studies have demonstrated that lin-28 homolog B (LIN28B)/miRNA let-7 (let-7) plays a role in the regulation of pubertal onset in mammals. However, the role of LIN28B/let-7 in the onset of ovine puberty remains unknown. We cloned the Duolang sheep Lin28B cDNA sequence, detected the expression change of LIN28B, let-7a and let-7g in hypothalamus, pituitary and ovary tissues at three different pubertal stages. Methods: The reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to clone the cDNA sequence of LIN28B gene from Duolang sheep and the bioinformatics methods were applied to analyze the amino acid sequence of LIN28B protein. The mRNA expression levels of the LIN28B gene at different pubertal stages were examined by real time RT-PCR. Results: LIN28B cDNA of Duolang sheep was cloned, and two transcripts were obtained. The amino acid sequence of transcript 1 shares 99.60%, 98.78%, and 94.80% identity with those of goat, wild yak and pig, respectively. Strong LIN28B mRNA expression was detected in the hypothalamus, pituitary, ovary, oviduct and uterus, while moderate expression was found in the liver, kidney, spleen and heart, weak expression was observed in the heart. No expression was found in the lungs. Quantitative real-time PCR (QPCR) and western-blot analysis revealed that the LIN28B was highly expressed in the hypothalamus and ovary at prepuberty stages, and this expression significantly decreased from the prepuberty to puberty stages (p<0.05). Markedly increased levels of mRNA expression were detected in the pituitary from prepuberty to puberty (p<0.05) and then significantly decreased from puberty to post-puberty (p<0.05). The expression levels of let-7a and let-7g showed no significant changes among different pubertal stages (p>0.05). Conclusion: These results provided a foundation for determining the functions of LIN28B/let-7 and their role in the onset of sheep puberty.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.285-294
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• 2011

This study was carried out in the Chungnam National University grassland experimental field from October, 2007 to December, 2009 in order to find out the growth characteristics of the wildflowers, the seasonal anthesis distribution of the wildflowers, and the botanical composition of the wildflowers which were altogether composed of 70% sheep fescue and 30% wildflowers. The experimental species contained 34 species in total to which sheep fescue (fundamental turfgrass), 4 native wildflowers, and 29 introduced wildflowers belonged. At the time of the anthesis of the wildflowers, the average length was 29.9 cm one year later and 38.4 cm two years later. They bloomed out into nine colors, but into one or three colors during August, September, and October. The blooming season leant toward May and June and from August there was lots of difficulty in the wildflower blooming and the maintenance of their consistency. Especially, at the age of two (2009) the color, seasonal distribution, and consistency emerged as problems owing to the reduction of annual wildflowers after winterization. The annual ration of wildflowers, sheep fescue, and weeds came to 25%, 61%, and 14% each one year later (2008) and 22%, 65%, and 13% each two years later (2009). Based on this result, cultivating wildflower grassland in the ratio of 70% (sheep fescue) to 30% (wildflowers) is the proper method not only for maintaining green space by sheep fescue, but also for commanding a fine view of wild flowers.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.199-202
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• 2004

Cellulolytic bacterial strains have been isolated from the faeces of wild (blackbuck, Antilope cervicapra; nilgai, Baselophus tragocamelus chinkara, Gazella gazella spotted deer, Axis axis and hog deer, Cervus porcinus) and rumen liquor of domestic (sheep, Ovis aries) ruminants. Five best cellulose degrading bacterial isolates (Ruminococcus sp.) were used as microbial feed additive along with buffalo rumen liquor as inoculum to study their effect on digestibility of feed and enzyme production in in vitro conditions. The bacterial isolate from chinkara (CHI-2) showed the highest per cent apparent dry matter (DM) digestibility ($35.40{\pm}0.60$), true dry matter digestibility ($40.80{\pm}0.69$) and NDF ($26.38{\pm}0.83$) digestibility (p<0.05) compared to control ($32.73{\pm}0.56$, $36.64{\pm}0.71$ and $21.16{\pm}0.89$, respectively) and other isolates at 24 h of incubation with lignocellulosic feeds (wheat straw and wheat bran, 80:20). The same isolate also exhibited the highest activities of fibre degrading enzymes like carboxymethylcellulase, xylanase, ${\beta}$-glucosidase and acetyl esterase. The bacterial isolate from chinkara (Gazella gazella) appears to have a potential to be used as feed additive in the diet of ruminants for improving utilization of nutrients from lignocellulosic feeds.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.97-103
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• 2010

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) commonly infects cloven-hoofed livestock animals such as cattle, pig, sheep, and goat and its clinical signs are well-known. Besides livestock, FMD can be transmitted among cloven-hoofed animals in the wild. FMD mostly affects livestock animals in farms, but, wild animals are likely to play a pivotal role in spreading the disease due to their way of free living. In the case of deer, the clinical signs of FMD vary widely from subclinical to severe infections. Thus, in some deer species, it may be hard to verify clinical signs of FMD. A deer may carry the virus up to 11 weeks after exposure, shedding the virus during the period. However, deer is not considered as a typical host for persistent infection like buffalo, cattle or sheep. In Korea, small-scale livestock farms which have less than 10 animals make up 63.6% of the entire livestock farms. Considering raising environment in deer farms, it is assumed that the risk of virus excretion and consequent transmission of FMD among deers is relatively lower than other cloven-hoofed animals. However, Sika deer and Elk which are typical deer species in Korea would manifest mild to subclinical symptoms upon FMD infection. Therefore, laboratory testing is necessary to confirm FMD in these animals because of difficulty in verifying clinical signs and the risk of virus shedding during inapparent infection.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.119-123
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• 2002

In the previous studies, we surveyed 68 Korean wild mushrooms for their hemolytic activity and found that cold-water extract of Hebeloma crustuliniforme contained heat-resistant hemolysin. In this study, partially purified hemolysin of the mushroom was obtained by cold-water extraction followed by precipitation with ammonium sulfate, solubility fractionation and then dialysis. The hemolysin was found to be > 12,000 in molecular weight and its optimal hemolytic temperature was $37^{\circ}C$ and it's hemolytic activity, on washed erythrocytes and unwashed erythrocytes, respectively, was in the order of sheep > rat > human ${\geq}$ mouse > chicken and sheep > mouse > human ${\geq}$ rat > chicken. When ip injected into ICR mice at 1.38 mg/kg, it incurred prompt hemolysis as well as severe renal toxicity and hepatotoxicity. These results strongly suggest that the toxicity of Hebeloma crustuliniforme, which had been well-known as a toxic wild mushroom, may be at least partly due to its hemolysin.