Oleuropein activates autophagy to circumvent anti-plasmodial defense

Antimalarial drug resistance and unavailability of effective vaccine warrant for newer drugs and drug targets. Hence, anti-inflammatory activity of phyto-compound (oleuropein; OLP) was determined in antigen (LPS)-stimulated human THP-1 macrophages (macrophage model of inflammation; MMI). Reduction in the inflammation was controlled by the PI3K-Akt1 signaling to establish the "immune-homeostasis." Also, OLP treatment influenced the cell death/autophagy axis leading to the modulated inflammation for extended cell survival. The findings with MII prompted us to detect the antimalarial activity of OLP in the wild type (3D7), D10-expressing GFP-Atg18 parasite, and chloroquine-resistant (Dd2) parasite. OLP did not show the parasite inhibition in the routine in vitro culture of P. falciparum whereas OLP increased the antimalarial activity of artesunate. The molecular docking of autophagy-related proteins, investigations with MMI, and parasite inhibition assays indicated that the host activated the autophagy to survive OLP pressure. The challenge model of P. berghei infection showed to induce autophagy for circumventing anti-plasmodial defenses.

Seroprevalence of Bovine ephemeral fever virus in Gujarat State of India

Bovine ephemeral fever (BEF) virus (BEFV) is an arthropod borne virus that causes bovine ephemeral fever or three‑day sickness in cattle and buffaloes. This is the first report on seroprevalence of BEF in cattle and buffaloes in Gujarat, India. Total of 92 animals, 78 cattle and 14 buffaloes from three regions (districts) of Gujarat state of India, were screened for the presence of anti‑BEF antibodies. A total of 27 out of 92 animals were found positive and overall seroprevalence detected was 29.34% (95% CI 20.0‑38.6%). A total of 19 out of 78 cattle and 8 out of 14 buffalo's samples were found positive BEFV antibodies. Species‑wise seroprevalence in cattle and buffaloes was 24.35% (95% CI 14.8‑33.8%) and 57.1% (95% CI 31.2‑83.0%), respectively. There was a statistically significant (p < 0.05) species effect based on the seroprevalence. In cattle, location‑wise seroprevalence was observed to be 26.82% (95% CI 13.2‑40.3%) and 21.62% (95% CI 8.3‑34.8%) in Navsari and Banaskantha districts, respectively. The effect of location is not statistically significant (p < 0.05). Cytopathic effect of Vero cells was characterized by rounding, granulation of the cytoplasm within 48‑72 hrs of post infection. This was the first report demonstrating the presence of BEFV in Gujarat state.

Production, consumption and marketing of milk in Eastern Region of India: Afarm level analysis

The present study was undertaken in the eastern region of India comprising of the states of Bihar, West Bengal and Jharkhand with the objective to determine milk production, consumption and marketed surplus at farm level (in continuation of the above line) The study found that, inspite of low dairy development in the region, milk production and productivity was considerably high among the sample households. An average dairy household was producing about 36 litre of milk per day having average productivity of 10 litre per day per animal which was significantly higher than national averages. The milk was drawn more from crossbred cows on Small households and from local cow and buffalo on large households. The highest milk productivity on large farms emphasize for removing the resource limitation and promote better feeding and management practices among small and medium herd size categories. The consumption of liquid milk among producer households was 207 gm per day per capita which was higher than per capita availability in the region. Of the 10 per cent of the milk production retained at household level, 40 per cent was consumed as liquid milk and 60 per cent was converted into milk products. The later share was higher among small herd size category catering to the rural non-milk producing households. The halwais/ dudhiyas/private dairies were the major marketing channel counting for 61 per cent of the total marketed surplus and only 21 per cent of the milk was sold through cooperatives. The share of milk sold through later channel by small farmers was still lower (10%) inspite of the fact that the marketed surplus per household was substantially higher (24.02 L/day). Â Â An analysis in to the factor affecting marketed surplus found that being membership of dairy cooperatives had the highest influence on marketed surplus of small farms

VP2 gene sequencing based Geno-grouping of infectious bursal disease viruses isolated from Gujarat and Maharashtra state (India)

Infectious bursal disease (IBD), caused by infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV), has recently been reported in chickens vaccinated with classical or intermediate types of vaccines from various regions of India due to the emergence of novel very virulent strains of infectious bursal disease virus (vvIBDV). In the present study, suspected samples of IBD were collected from poultry flocks of districts of Gujarat and Nagpur (Maharashtra), identified using PCR and grouped as per traditional and new genogrouping pattern. Out of 54 bursa samples, 21 (38.89%) yielded the expected amplicon of 743 bp (701-1444 bp), and were found positive for IBDV. Among these 21 positive flocks, 11 (52.38%) were already vaccinated. Upon nucleotide sequencing of amplicon and its deduction into amino acids, it was found that all the sequences of present study were related to vvIBDV according to old classification pattern. Considering the new genogrouping pattern, nine and four sequences of this study fell within G3a and G3b lineage, respectively. These sequences revealed important differences at key amino acid positions with respect to classical (G1 genogroup), variant (G2 genogroup) type of IBDV and classical vaccines. Further divergence from prototypic vvIBDV strains was revealed as, D-N at 212 position (N = 9) and 279 position (N = 1). In sequences from Maharashtra (group 2 of G3a lineage), occurrence of V instead of P/T/A at 222 position was recorded as a novel and conspicuous substitution in the immunodominant peak A of VP2 hypervariable region. Additional changes at 270 (3 sequences) and 272 positions (4 sequences) could be attributed to reverse mutation or recombination with vaccine strains. In conclusion, both point mutation and genetic reassortment with intermediate type of vaccines were found to be responsible for generation of novel vvIBDV strains in this area which belonged to G3a and G3b genogroups.

Metagenomic of clinically diseased and healthy broiler affected with respiratory disease complex

In recent past, the respiratory infection has emerged as a great challenge to the poultry farmers. Various pathogens including Avian pneumovirus (APV), Avian influenza virus (AIV), Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) and Newcastle disease virus (NDV), Avibacterium paragallinarum, Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale (ORT), Mycoplasma synoviae (MS), Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) and Avian pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC) are involved in the respiratory disease complex in birds [1], [2] (Bradbury, 1984; Roussan et al., 2008). Hence, respiratory disease complex is the most serious disease affecting to poultry and causes heavy economic losses in the poultry industry worldwide [3] (Murthy et al., 2008). In recent years, metagenomics is powerful analyzing tool for detection of pathogens directly from clinical samples without any prior knowledge of the organism in a given sample [4], [5] (Schuster, 2008; Pereira et al., 2010). High throughput Next-Generation-Sequencing technology was used for sequencing the isolated genomic DNA. These data provides an insight about taxonomic and functional status of microorganisms responsible for causing respiratory infection in broiler. The data of these metagenome are available in the BioSample Submission Portal as Bioproject PRJNA339659 and SRA accession number SRR5997823, SRR5992854, SRR6037376, SRR6024702, SRR6012248 and SRR6008913.

Genotyping of Indian antigenic, vaccine, and field Brucella spp. using multilocus sequence typing

INTRODUCTION

Brucellosis is one of the most important zoonotic diseases that affects multiple livestock species and causes great economic losses. The highly conserved genomes of Brucella, with > 90% homology among species, makes it important to study the genetic diversity circulating in the country.

METHODOLOGY

A total of 26 Brucella spp. (4 reference strains and 22 field isolates) and 1 B. melitensis draft genome sequence from India (B. melitensis Bm IND1) were included for sequence typing. The field isolates were identified by biochemical tests and confirmed by both conventional and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) targeting bcsp 31Brucella genus-specific marker. Brucella speciation and biotyping was done by Bruce ladder, probe qPCR, and AMOS PCRs, respectively, and genotyping was done by multilocus sequence typing (MLST).

RESULTS

The MLST typing of 27 Brucella spp. revealed five distinct sequence types (STs); the B. abortus S99 reference strain and 21 B. abortus field isolates belonged to ST1. On the other hand, the vaccine strain B. abortus S19 was genotyped as ST5. Similarly, B. melitensis 16M reference strain and one B. melitensis field isolate were grouped into ST7. Another B. melitensis field isolate belonged to ST8 (draft genome sequence from India), and only B. suis 1330 reference strain was found to be ST14.

CONCLUSION

The sequences revealed genetic similarity of the Indian strains to the global reference and field strains. The study highlights the usefulness of MLST for typing of field isolates and validation of reference strains used for diagnosis and vaccination against brucellosis.

Comparison of molecular and microscopic technique for detection of Theileria annulata from the field cases of cattle

AIM

Tropical theileriosis is fatal hemoprotozoal disease of dairy animals caused by Theileria annulata. The aim of the present study was to detect the T. annulata and comparison of results of molecular and microscopic techniques.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A total of 52 blood samples were collected from the cattle suspected for theileriosis across the Banaskantha district. All the samples were screened for theileriosis using Giemsa's staining technique and polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

RESULTS

Total of 17 (32.69%) and 24 (46.15%) samples were found positive for theileriosis by microscopic examination and PCR test, respectively. It revealed that the study area is endemic for theileriosis, and the microscopic technique has 70.83% sensitivity and 100% specificity with respect to PCR technique.

CONCLUSION

It may be concluded from the present study that the PCR is comparatively sensitive technique than microscopic examination and may be recommended to use in the field for screening of theileriosis in the study area, where a high prevalence of diseases have been reported due to intensive dairy farming.

Isolation of bluetongue virus serotype 1 from aborted goat fetuses

Abortions and stillbirths were noticed in pregnant goats on a farm in the state of Gujarat, India. About 50% of the pregnant goats aborted or gave birth to dead kids. Bluetongue virus (BTV) antibody in the sera of affected goats was detected using a competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Viral antigen in the blood of these goats and in the aborted fetal spleens was detected using a sandwich ELISA. Two viruses (SKN-9, SKN-10) were isolated in cell culture from aborted fetal spleens and were confirmed as Orbivirus by demonstration of ten bands in RNA polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and identified as BTV-1 by sequencing of the VP2 gene. Sequence analyses revealed thatthese isolates were very closely related to a BTV-1 (strain SKN-8) isolated from Culicoides vectors captured on the same farm one month after the occurrence of abortion. Isolation of BTV-1 from fetuses is probably evidence of transplacental transmission of the wild-type strain, because attenuated or laboratory-adapted BTV-1 strains have never been used in this region. This may have important implications in the epidemiology of bluetongue, considering the presence of many BTV serotypes in India.

Zoonotic infections of buffalopox in India

Four outbreaks of buffalopox in domestic buffaloes, with considerable mortality with high case fatality rates in young buffalo calves and high morbidity with significant productivity loss in terms of reduction in milk yield in adult animals along with severe zoonotic infection in milk attendants were recorded at various places in India, during 2006-2008. In buffaloes, the pox lesions were confined to udder and teats of the majority of the affected animals, and in few animals the lesions were appeared on the hindquarters, indicating generalized infection. The overall disease morbidity, mortality and case fatality rate were 6.8%, 0.7% and 11.4% respectively. Milkers developed pox-like lesions on the hands, forearms and forehead accompanied by fever, axillary lymphadenopathy and general malaise. The causative agent of the outbreaks, buffalopox virus (BPXV), was confirmed upon virus isolation in cell culture, electron microscopy, A-type inclusion (ATI) and ankyrin repeat protein (C18L) gene-specific polymerase chain reactions (PCR). Further, sequence analysis of the BPXV isolates from human and buffalo showed more identity of ATI and C18L genes sequences with that of other orthopoxviruses at nucleotide and amino acid levels and confirmed a close relationship of BPXV with Vaccinia virus (VACV) or VACV-like viruses. Considering the zoonotic impact and productivity losses of buffalopox infection, the control measures are imperative in curtailing economic and public health impact of the disease.

Comparison of the standard AGID test and competitive ELISA for detecting bluetongue virus antibodies in camels in Gujarat, India

The performance of the standard agar gel immunodiffusion (AGID) test and the competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (cELISA) for the detection of serum antibody against bluetongue virus (BTV) in clinically healthy and diseased camels in Gujarat state were compared. Out of 176 sera tested, 22 (12.5%) and 34 (19.3%) were positive for group-specific bluetongue antibodies by AGID and cELISA, respectively. Maximum seropositivities of 18.0% by AGID and 25.8% by cELISA were recorded in the Kutchhi breed, and of 6.9% and 12.6%, respectively, in the Marwari breed. The seroprevalence detected by AGID and cELISA in clinically healthy and diseased camels did not differ significantly with regard to bluetongue disease in these breeds.