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Southern Mexico is particularly rich in natural resources, yet unemployment has risen to 8% during the COVID-19 pandemic. The effect of the pandemic on the use and abundance of Tabasco's wild resources was examined through personal surveys. By using Microsoft Forms® with cell phones 1,963 surveys were collected. Cronbach's alpha, Z-value, and chi2 were calculated using the MAXQDA Analytics Pro program. A higher abundance of wild resources before the pandemic than today (57% vs. 11%) was observed. During the pandemic, people referred more to a high use (28%) of resources than to a low use (20%). This caused the low abundance or scarcity of wild products to be greater during the pandemic than before the pandemic (43% vs. 4%). Wild foods and timber were the most used products. The pandemic has produced a greater use of natural resources probably due to the high unemployment rate in rural areas. Future studies of wild products should address the relevant products in the locality and their even sampling. Finding suitable respondents is highly recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) is an intestinal disease caused by the porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) and affects Mexico's swine industry. Despite the disease initially being described in Mexico in 2013, there has been no research into the virus's seroepidemiology carried out in Mexico. Thus, the goal of this study was to develop an indirect ELISA (iELISA) based on a recombinant N-terminal domain truncated spike (S) protein (rNTD-S) of PEDV to evaluate serum obtained from different pig-producing states in Mexico. A total of 1054 sera were collected from pig farms, slaughterhouses, and backyard production in the states of Aguascalientes, Guanajuato, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Morelos, Queretaro, Sinaloa, and Veracruz between 2019 and 2021. The rNTD-S protein was expressed in E. coli BL21 (DE3) cells. Negative and positive serum samples used in the iELISA were previously tested by Western blot. According to our findings, 61.66% of the serum samples (650/1054) were positive, with Jalisco having the highest percentage of positive samples, at a rate of 21.44% (226/1054). This is the first seroepidemiology study of PEDV carried out in Mexico, revealing that the virus is still circulating since the initial outbreak; furthermore, it provides an overview of PEDV's spread and high level of persistence across the country's key swine-producing states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV) is an emergent swine coronavirus which infects cells from the small intestine and induces watery diarrhea, vomiting and dehydration, causing mortality in piglets (>40%). The aim of this study was to evaluate the antigenicity and immunogenicity of the recombinant membrane protein (M) of PDCoV (rM-PDCoV), which was developed from a synthetic gene obtained after an in silico analysis with a group of 138 GenBank sequences. A 3D model and phylogenetic analysis confirmed the highly conserved M protein structure. Therefore, the synthetic gene was successfully cloned in a pETSUMO vector and transformed in E. coli BL21 (DE3). The rM-PDCoV was confirmed by SDS-PAGE and Western blot with ~37.7 kDa. The rM-PDCoV immunogenicity was evaluated in immunized (BLAB/c) mice and iELISA. The data showed increased antibodies from 7 days until 28 days (p < 0.001). The rM-PDCoV antigenicity was analyzed using pig sera samples from three states located in "El Bajío" Mexico and positive sera were determined. Our results show that PDCoV has continued circulating on pig farms in Mexico since the first report in 2019; therefore, the impact of PDCoV on the swine industry could be higher than reported in other studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blue eye disease (BED) is a swine viral infection that affects the pork industry of Mexico. Porcine orthorubulavirus (PRV) is the etiological agent, and the hemagglutinin-neuraminidase protein (HN) is characterized as the best antigen for serological tests, although other structural proteins, including the nucleoprotein (NP) and the matrix (M) protein, have been investigated during the infection of members of the Paramyxoviridae family, generating promising results. Herein, for the first time, we successfully produced and characterized both the NP and M proteins of PRV by using a recombinant strategy in the E. coli heterologous system. The ORF of the NP and M genes were cloned in-frame with the pET-SUMO expression vector. Recombinant proteins proved to be a sensitive target to detect seroconversion at 7 days until 28 days in vaccinated mice (BALB/c) by indirect ELISAs. Immunoreactivity was also tested using porcine serum samples, in which antibodies were recognized from early stages to a persistence of PRV infection, which is indicative that these proteins contain properties similar to native antigens. The predicted tertiary structure showed that both proteins have a conserved structure that resembles those found in others Paramyxovirus. Our results pave the way for developing biotechnological tools based on these proteins for the control and prevention of BED. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sugarcane aphid, Melanaphis sacchari, is a worldwide pest that significantly affects sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench. In the USA this pest can cause up to 100% yield losses, mainly when no action is taken to control this pest. In this study, the potential of three species of Chrysoperla for biological control of M. sacchari was assessed by comparing predation capacity and functional responses of the three species. Individuals of Chrysoperla carnea were collected in a crop of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in the State of Guanajuato, México, while C. externa and C. comanche were obtained from a laboratory colony reared on cereal moth, Sitotroga cerealella (Olivier), and from a commercial planting of pecan, Carya illinoensis (Wangenh), respectively. Our results suggested that C. carnea is a good option for an augmentative biological control program against M. sacchari in sorghum because the species had a mean predation capacity of 119.4 nymphs in 24 hours, and a type II functional response; they were able to locate and consume 80% of their prey even at the low prey density of 64. C. carnea had a high coefficient of attack (0.10) and a short handling time (0.10 hour) compared to the other Chrysoperla species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]