Development of ruminating behavior in Holstein calves between birth and 30 days of age

Ruminating behavior accompanies the development of the rumen and the intake of solid feed in calves. However, few studies have reported on the emergence and development of rumination. In this study, we observed ruminating behavior changes of 56 Holstein calves (body weight at birth = 40.1 ± 3.96 kg; mean ± standard deviation) from birth to 30 d of age under the feeding management of suckling calves that were only fed pelleted concentrate feed and milk. All calves were housed in individual pens equipped with infrared cameras. We explored feed intake within 30 d of age, body weight on 61 d of age, and other apparent indicators, including the age of first eating the bedding, duration of non-nutritive oral behavior at 25 and 30 d of age, total starter feed intake within 30 d of age, average daily starter feed intake within 30 d of age, and duration of ruminating behavior at 25 and 30 d of age for all calves, to further explore the effects of the age of first ruminating behavior (AFR). The AFR fitted the normal distribution and ranged from 15 to 20 d of age for 50% of the experimental population. The AFR was positively correlated with the age of first eating the bedding and duration of non-nutritive oral behavior at 30 d of age. Total starter feed intake within 30 d of age, average daily starter feed intake within 30 d of age, duration of ruminating behavior at 25 and 30 d of age, and duration of eating the bedding at 25 and 30 d of age were negatively correlated with AFR. Overall, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that has analyzed the correlation between AFR and other indicators. We found that earlier AFR was associated with shorter duration of non-nutritive oral behavior, longer durations of rumination and eating the bedding, and higher feed intake by 30 d of age.

Controllable magnetic correlation between two impurities by spin-orbit coupling in graphene

Two magnetic impurities on the edge of a zigzag graphene nanoribbon strongly interact with each other via indirect coupling, which can be mediated by conducting carriers. By means of Quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) simulations, we find that the spin-orbit coupling λ and the chemical potential μ in system can be used to drive the transition of local-spin exchange from ferromagnetism to anti-ferromagnetism. Since the tunable ranges for λ and μ in graphene are experimentally reachable, we thus open the possibilities for its device application. The symmetry in spatial distribution is broken by the vertical and the transversal spin-spin correlations due to the effect of spin-orbit coupling, leading to the spatial anisotropy of spin exchange, which distinguish our findings from the case in normal Fermi liquid.

Comparison of the three aspartokinase isozymes in Bacillus subtilis Marburg and 168

The levels of two aspartokinase isozymes, a lysine-sensitive enzyme and an aspartokinase that is inhibited synergistically by lysine plus threonine, differ strikingly in different strains of Bacillus subtilis. In derivatives of B. subtilis 168 growing in minimal medium, the predominant isozyme is the lysine-sensitive aspartokinase. In B. subtilis ATCC 6051, the Marburg strain, the level of the lysine-sensitive aspartokinase is much lower during growth in minimal medium, and the major aspartokinase activity is the lysine-plus-threonine-sensitive isozyme. Molecular cloning and nucleotide sequence determination of the genes for the lysine-sensitive isozymes from the two B. subtilis strains and their upstream control regions showed these genes to be identical. Evidence that the lysine-sensitive aspartokinase, referred to as aspartokinase II, is distinct from the threonine-plus-lysine-sensitive aspartokinase comes from the observation that disruption of the aspartokinase II gene by recombinational insertion had no effect on the latter. Mutants were obtained from the aspartokinase II-negative strain that also lacked the threonine-plus-lysine-sensitive aspartokinase, which will be referred to as aspartokinase III. Aspartokinase II could be selectively restored to these mutants by transformation with plasmids carrying the aspartokinase II gene. Study of the growth properties of the various mutant strains showed that the loss of either aspartokinase II or aspartokinase III had no effect on growth in minimal medium but that the loss of both enzymes interfered with growth unless the medium was supplemented with the three major end products of the aspartate pathway. It appears, therefore, that aspartokinase I alone cannot provide adequate supplies of precursors for the synthesis of lysine, threonine, and methionine by exponentially growing cells.

Nucleotide sequence of the overlapping genes for the subunits of Bacillus subtilis aspartokinase II and their control regions

The nucleotide sequence of a 2.9-kilobase Bacillus subtilis DNA fragment containing the entire coding region of aspartokinase II and adjacent chromosomal regions (Bondaryk, R. P., and Paulus, H. (1985a) J. Biol. Chem. 260, 585-591) has been determined. The results confirmed the earlier prediction that the two subunits of aspartokinase II, alpha and beta, are encoded by in-phase overlapping genes. The nucleotide sequence showed strong ribosome binding sites before the translation initiation codons of the alpha and beta subunits. Deletion of most of the coding region unique to the alpha subunit had no effect on the synthesis of the smaller beta subunit, demonstrating that the beta subunit is indeed the product of independent translation. The site of transcription initiation of the aspartokinase gene was found to be more than 300 nucleotides upstream from the translation start of the alpha subunit. The intervening region contained a short reading frame capable of encoding a 24-residue lysine-rich polypeptide, which overlaps a region of extensive dyad symmetry culminating in a rho-independent transcription terminator. This region may be an attenuator control element that regulates the expression of the aspartokinase gene in response to the availability of lysine, the end product of the pathway. The coding sequence of the aspartokinase II subunits was immediately followed by a rho-independent transcription terminator. This termination site has an unusual symmetry, which allows it also to serve as transcription terminator for a gene that converges on the aspartokinase II gene from the opposite direction, an interesting example of genetic economy. The deduced amino acid sequence of B. subtilis aspartokinase II was compared with the sequences of the three aspartokinases from Escherichia coli (Cassan, M., Parsot, C., Cohen, G. N., and Patte, J. C. (1986) J. Biol. Chem. 261, 1052-1057). Significant sequence similarities suggest a close evolutionary relationship between the four enzymes.