Yong Wei

Aspergillus nidulans, an environmentally ubiquitous opportunistic pathogen, can induce invasive aspergillosis in humans and animals, with numerous human infection cases documented. Here, we isolated A. nidulans strain XM06 from the liver of a diseased goat with suspected fungal infection. XM06 formed dark‑green colonies with white fluffy margins and a powdery center on PDA, and PCR amplification yielded products corresponding to putative homologous virulence genes, including Cat1, Alp2, and Aspf1. Using a mouse infection model, we characterized its pathogenic potential. The infected mice exhibited reduced body weight and average daily feed intake (P < 0.05), with morbidity and mortality rates of 66.7% and 33.3%, respectively. In infected animals, the organ indices of the liver, spleen, lung, kidney and brain were elevated, while the intestinal index was reduced (P < 0.01). No intergroup difference was observed for the heart index (P > 0.05). Fungal burdens were highest in the spleen and liver (P < 0.05). Histopathological lesions including congestion, necrosis and inflammatory infiltration were observed in multiple organs. Antifungal assays revealed small inhibition‑zone diameters for amphotericin B and comparatively larger inhibition zones for itraconazole, caspofungin and voriconazole against strain XM06. This work provides preliminary pathological and in vitro drug-response data for goat-derived A. nidulans, offering baseline information for studying animal invasive aspergillosis. Notably, our mouse infection assay only demonstrates the pathogenic potential of XM06 and cannot confirm that this isolate caused the original disease outbreak in goats.

Objective: Non-conventional peptides play a key role fundamental biological processes in basic plants and animals. This study investigates adaptive molecular genetic mechanisms of yaks from the perspective of non-coding peptides (NCPs).Methods: We established an integrated peptidogenomic pipeline, featuring a customized six-frame translation database using high-throughput mass spectrometry, which was utilized for the large-scale identification of NCPs in several vital organs/tissues of yaks.Results: In contrast to conventional peptides, these NCPs exhibit unique properties derived from introns, untranslated regions (UTRs), out-of-frame exons, and intergenic regions. Additionally, our findings indicate that translation events are more prevalent in unannotated transcripts than previously understood. Through transcriptome analysis and ribosome mapping analysis, 727 NCPs were identified as derived from long non-coding RNA and 944 NCPs were from circular RNA. Interestingly, the number of hydrophobic amino acids in NCPs was found to exceed that of hydrophilic amino acids in almost all tissues; in contrast to the findings for CPs, where the reverse was observed. The findings suggest a potential role in the maintenance of protein stability and minimizing the effects of oxidative stress. Furthermore, the in vitro antioxidant activity of the 38 candidate peptides further confirmed their physiological functions; however, specific physiological mechanisms require further investigation.Conclusion: In conclusion, this study demonstrates that a substantial portion of the yak genome can be translated into biologically functional molecules, which is crucial for functional genome research. These unique molecules will serve as basic data for future biomedical development and treatment of plateau diseases.

Rabbit hemorrhagic disease (RHD) is an acute fatal disease caused by the rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV). Since the first outbreaks of type 2 RHDV (RHDV2) in April 2020 in China, the persistence of this virus in the rabbit population has caused substantial economic losses in rabbit husbandry. Previous failures in preventing RHDV2 prompted us to further investigate the immune mechanisms underlying the virus’s pathogenicity, particularly concerning the spleen, a vital component of the mononuclear phagocyte system (MPS). For this, a previous RHDV2 isolate, CHN/SC2020, was utilized to challenge naive adult rabbits. Then, the splenic transcriptome was determined by RNA-Seq. This study showed that the infected adult rabbits had 3148 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), which were associated with disease, signal transduction, cellular processes, and cytokine signaling categories. Of these, 100 upregulated DEGs were involved in inflammatory factors such as IL1α, IL-6, and IL-8. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis showed that these DEGs were significantly enriched in the cytokine–cytokine receptor interaction signaling pathway, which may play a vital role in CHN/SC2020 infection. At the same time, proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines were significantly increased in the spleen at the late stages of infection. These findings suggested that RHDV2 (CHN/SC2020) might induce dysregulation of the cytokine network and compromise splenic immunity against viral infection, which expanded our understanding of RHDV2 pathogenicity.

Antibiotic misuse has been a severe problem in animal husbandry. It is meaningful to replace antibiotics with Bacillus, as feed additives are indeed a research hotspot. Bacillus pumilus plays a certain role in promoting the growth performance and immunological indicators of animals. There are few reports about the function of goat-derived B. pumilus in animals until now. This study aimed to investigate the effects of B. pumilus fsznc-09 on growth performance and immune function of Jintang black goats. B. pumilus-treated group was fed with 1 ml freeze-dried agent of B. pumilus fsznc-09 at a concentration of 10⁹ cfu/ml every 2 days. The growth performance, serum biochemical indexes, the expressions of muscle development and metabolism related genes of Jintang black goats were measured after 30 days. The results showed that the average daily gain and average daily feed intake were significantly increased, and feed conversion ratio was significantly decreased. The activities of total superoxide dismutase, alkaline phosphatase, immunoglobulin G and interferon-γ in serum of goats were significantly increased. However, the activity of malondialdehyde in serum was significantly decreased. The diameters and areas in longissimus dorsi fibre and gluteus fibre of goats were significantly decreased, while the densities in gluteus fibre of goats were significantly increased. The expressions of FAS, LPL, PPAR-γ, CAT, MYOD1, MYOG, MYF5 and MyHCI in longissimus dorsi and gluteus of goats were significantly improved. The expressions of 1, SREBP-1, MyHCIIb and MyHCIIx in longissimus dorsi and gluteus of goats were significantly increased. The expressions of FN1 in longissimus dorsi and MyHCIIa in gluteus of goats were significantly decreased. In conclusion, B. pumilus fsznc-09 can effectively improve the growth performance, immunological indicators and the expressions of muscle development and metabolism related genes of Jintang black goat.