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Simple Summary: In pig farming, maintaining an optimal temperature for nursing piglets is critical for their health and growth. Traditional localized heating methods, such as heating lamps, often lack precise temperature control, leading to energy waste and suboptimal conditions for piglets as they grow. This study developed a Programmable Logic Controller-based intelligent thermal insulation box that uses a strip heater to automatically adjust its temperature based on the piglets' age and environmental conditions. We tested the system's effectiveness by comparing it to traditional heating in terms of temperature stability, energy consumption, and piglet growth. The new system significantly improved the temperature stability, reduced energy consumption by over 50%, and enhanced piglet growth. This intelligent thermal insulation box could provide an effective, energy-saving solution for improving piglet welfare and farming efficiency. Local heating of the activity area for nursing piglets is crucial for piglet health and the energy efficiency of barn climate control. Traditional heating methods using lamps or covers lack precise control, result in significant energy waste, and cannot be dynamically adjusted according to piglet age or changing environmental temperatures. To address these issues, this study designed a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC)-based thermal insulation box for nursing piglets, utilizing a strip heater instead of the conventional round heating lamp. The design incorporates a movable thermal insulation box that dynamically adjusts the heater's power based on the real-time monitoring of environmental temperatures and target temperatures specific to piglet age. First, in a controlled laboratory environment, the study tested and compared the spatial temperature uniformity, temporal stability, and power consumption of the new thermal insulation box versus traditional heating methods. Subsequently, animal trials were conducted in a farrowing barn using eight sows with similar farrowing dates as test subjects. The new thermal insulation box was installed in one group, and the traditional heating lamp in the control group. During the trial, ambient temperature, insulation area temperature, piglet behavior, growth performance, and power consumption were recorded. The results showed that compared to the control group, the new system reduced average temperature fluctuations in the insulation area by 31.6% and spatial temperature variation by 78.3%. During animal trials, the average temperatures directly under the heater for the new system versus the control in the insulation area were 39.7 ± 0.2 °C and 30.2 ± 1.4 °C in the first week, 40.9 ± 0.5 °C and 31.6 ± 0.7 °C in the second week, and 32.3 ± 1.5 °C and 28.6 ± 1.7 °C in the third week—significantly (p < 0.05) higher in the test group. The new system also reduced total energy consumption by 58.3%. The usage rate of the thermal insulation area by piglets in the test and control groups was 47.5 ± 5.3% and 42.1 ± 6.6%. The daily weight gain of piglets in the test group was 9.8% higher than that of the control group, also significantly (p < 0.05) higher. This intelligent thermal insulation box enables precise and dynamic temperature control, reducing heating energy consumption and supporting improved piglet health and welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we propose an intelligent drinking water controller based on programmable logic controller (PLC) specifically designed for pig breeding, which significantly reduces the water waste caused by the use of traditional drinking bowls by regulating the frequency and flow of water release. In addition, the drinking water system has a tracking and recording function, which can record the frequency and duration with which fattening pigs drink water in each pen in detail, thus providing farmers with a wealth of pig health and behavior data to help optimize breeding management decisions. In order to deeply analyze the effects of the intelligent drinking water controller on the growth, resources environment and economic benefits of fattening pigs under the condition of large-scale breeding, a single factor comparison experiment was designed.In this experiment, 84 fattening pigs were selected and distributed in 12 pens. Among them, six pens were randomly designated as the control group;the pig in this group used ordinary drinking water bowls for the water supply. The other six pens were designated as the experimental group;the pigs in this group used the intelligent drinking water controller. The experimental results showed that in the experimental group with the intelligent drinking water controller, the average daily water waste per finishing pig was only 0.186 L (p < 0.05), accounting for only 25.98% of the average daily water waste per pig in the control group (p < 0.05). In terms of water quality, the intelligent drinking water controller also showed better performance, and the performance indicators were effectively reduced, with the highest reduction reaching 39.86%, which greatly reduced water pollution. Compared with the traditional drinking bowl, the average daily weight increment of fattening pigs in the pen using the intelligent drinking water controller was increased by 0.02 kg. In terms of long-term benefits, the PLC-based intelligent drinking water controller significantly improves the economic returns of the farm and has a positive impact on pig health. The high frequency data collection of the pigs' drinking habits through the intelligent drinking water controller can also provide data support for the subsequent establishment of a pig water-drinking behavior analysis model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study reports the whole-genome sequence of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum cqf-43 isolated from healthy sow feces. Based on genomic analysis, we performed a comprehensive safety assessment of strain cqf-43, using both in vitro and in vivo experiments, and explored its probiotic potential. The total genome length measures 3,169,201 bp, boasting a GC content of 44.59%. Through phylogenetic analyses, leveraging both 16S rRNA gene and whole-genome sequences, we confidently categorize strain cqf-43 as a member of Lactiplantibacillus. Genome annotation using Prokka unveiled a total of 3141 genes, encompassing 2990 protein-coding sequences, 71 tRNAs, 16 rRNAs, and 1 tmRNA. Functional annotations derived from COG and KEGG databases highlighted a significant abundance of genes related to metabolism, with a notable emphasis on carbohydrate utilization. The genome also revealed the presence of prophage regions and CRISPR-Cas regions while lacking virulence and toxin genes. Screening for antibiotic resistance genes via the CARD database yielded no detectable transferable resistance genes, effectively eliminating the potential for harmful gene transfer. It is worth highlighting that the virulence factors identified via the VFDB database primarily contribute to bolstering pathogen resilience in hostile environments. This characteristic is particularly advantageous for probiotics. Furthermore, the genome is devoid of menacing genes such as hemolysin, gelatinase, and biogenic amine-producing genes. Our investigation also unveiled the presence of three unannotated secondary metabolite biosynthetic gene clusters, as detected by the online tool antiSMASH, suggesting a great deal of unknown potential for this strain. Rigorous in vitro experiments confirmed tolerance of strain cqf-43 in the intestinal environment, its antimicrobial efficacy, sensitivity to antibiotics, absence of hemolysis and gelatinase activity, and its inability to produce biogenic amines. In addition, a 28-day oral toxicity test showed that the strain cqf-43 did not pose a health hazard in mice, further establishing it as a safe strain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: In this study, we investigated the immune and antioxidant properties of Lactobacillus johnsonii RS-7 in weaned pigs. We found that dietary supplementation of Lactobacillus johnsonii RS-7 can effectively improve growth performance, enhance immune function, and improve the antioxidant performance of weaned pigs. The results of this study provide a feasible nutritional means to solve the weaning stress of piglets effectively. We investigated the effects of dietary supplementation of lactic acid bacteria on the immune and antioxidant performance of weaned pigs. A total of 128 Duroc × Landrace × Yorkshire piglets weaned on day 28 with an average body weight of 8.95 ± 1.15 kg were selected and randomly divided into four treatment groups according to body weight and sex for a 28-day study. The four dietary treatments were basal diet (CON), and CON with 0.05% (LJ0.05), 0.1% (LJ0.1), and 0.2% (LJ0.2) Lactobacillus johnsonii RS-7, respectively. The lowest feed-to-gain ratio (F:G) was found when LJ0.1 was added to the diet. The addition of compound lactic acid bacteria to the diet increased the concentrations of TP, ALB, IgA, and IgM on day 14 and IgG, IgA, and IgM on day 28 (p < 0.05) in the blood, with trait values greater for pigs fed LJ0.1 than CON pigs (p < 0.05). Concentrations of antioxidants (CAT, T-AOC, MDA, T-SOD, and GSH) in serum, intestinal mucosa, spleen, liver, and pancreas improved. In summary, dietary supplementation of Lactobacillus johnsonii RS-7 improved the antioxidant and immune function of weaned piglets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clostridium sporogenes (C. sporogenes), as a potential probiotic, metabolizes tryptophan and produces an anti-inflammatory metabolite, indole-3-propionic acid (IPA). Herein, we studied the effects of C. sporogenes and its bioactive metabolite, IPA, on skeletal muscle development and chronic inflammation in mice. In the in vivo study, the muscle tissues and serum samples of mice with C. sporogenes supplementation were used to analyze the effects of C. sporogenes on muscle metabolism; the IPA content was determined by metabonomics and ELISA. In an in vitro study, C2C12 cells were exposed to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) alone or LPS + IPA to verify the effect of IPA on muscle cell inflammation by transcriptome, and the involved mechanism was revealed by different functional assays. We observed that C. sporogenes colonization significantly increased the body weight and muscle weight gain, as well as the myogenic regulatory factors' (MRFs) expression. In addition, C. sporogenes significantly improved host IPA content and decreased pro-inflammatory cytokine levels in the muscle tissue of mice. Subsequently, we confirmed that IPA promoted C2C12 cells' proliferation by activating MRF signaling. IPA also effectively protected against LPS-induced C2C12 cells inflammation by activating Pregnane X Receptor and restoring the inhibited miR-26a-2-3p expression. miR-26a-2-3p serves as a novel muscle inflammation regulatory factor that could directly bind to the 3′-UTR of IL-1β, a key initiator factor in inflammation. The results suggested that C. sporogenes with its functional metabolite IPA not only helps muscle growth development, but also protects against inflammation, partly by the IPA/ miR-26a-2-3p /IL-1β cascade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Myoblasts could transdifferentiate into adipocytes or adipocyte-like cells, which have the capability of producing and storing intracellular lipids. Long-chain non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have many important physiological functions in eukaryotes, which include regulating gene expression, chromosome silencing, and nuclear transport. However, changes in the expression of lncRNAs in muscle cells during adipogenic transdifferentiation have not been investigated to date. Here, C2C12 myoblasts were seeded and then induced to undergo myogenic and adipogenic transdifferentiation. The expression profiles of lncRNAs in various differentiated cells were analyzed and then compared by digital gene expression (DGE) RNA sequencing. A total of 114 core lncRNAs from 836 differentially expressed lncRNAs in adipogenic cells were identified. Further investigation by in silico analysis revealed that the target genes of core lncRNAs significantly enriched various signaling pathways that were related to glucose and lipid metabolism and muscle growth. The lncRNA-GM43652 gene was a potential regulator of adipogenesis in muscle cells. It showed the highest levels of expression in adipogenic cells, and the knocking down lncRNA-GM43652 negatively influenced lipid deposition in transdifferentiated myoblasts. This study has identified the novel candidate regulators that may be assessed in future molecular studies on adipogenic conversion of muscle cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Skeletal muscle satellite cells (SMSCs), which are multifunctional muscle-derived stem cells, can differentiate into adipocytes. Long-chain non-coding RNA (lncRNA) has diverse biological functions, including the regulation of gene expression, chromosome silencing, and nuclear transport. However, the regulatory roles and mechanism of lncRNA during adipogenic transdifferentiation in muscle cells have not been thoroughly investigated. Here, porcine SMSCs were isolated, cultured, and induced for adipogenic differentiation. The expressions of lncRNA and mRNA at different time points during transdifferentiation were analysed using RNA-seq analysis. In total, 1005 lncRNAs and 7671 mRNAs showed significant changes in expression at differential differentiation stages. Time-series expression analysis showed that the differentially expressed (DE) lncRNAs and mRNAs were clustered into 5 and 11 different profiles with different changes, respectively. GO, KEGG, and REACTOME enrichment analyses revealed that DE mRNAs with increased expressions during the trans-differentiation were mainly enriched in the pathways for lipid metabolism and fat cell differentiation. The genes with decreased expressions were mainly enriched in the regulation of cell cycle and genetic information processing. In addition, 1883 DE mRNAs were regulated by 193 DE lncRNAs, and these genes were related to the controlling in cell cycle mainly. Notably, three genes in the fatty acid binding protein (FABP) family significantly and continuously increased during trans-differentiation, and 15, 13, and 11 lncRNAs may target FABP3, FABP4, and FABP5 genes by cis- or trans-regulation, respectively. In conclusion, these studies identify a set of new potential regulator for adipogenesis and cell fate and help us in better understanding the molecular mechanisms of trans-differentiation.

Conjugated linoleic acids (CLAs) play a major role in adipocyte differentiation and lipid metabolism in animals. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) appear to be involved in many biological processes in adipose tissue. However, the specific influence on miRNAs by CLA supplementation in porcine adipose tissue remains unclear. Thus, we continuously added 1.5% CLA to the pig diet from the embryo stage to the finishing period and conducted a high-throughput sequencing approach to analyse the changes in adipose tissue miRNAs. We identified 283 known porcine miRNAs, and 14 miRNAs were differentially expressed in response to CLA treatment. A Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis showed that the targets of the 14 differentially expressed miRNAs were involved in the Wnt signalling pathway. The CLA treatment downregulated the gene expression of PPARγ, C/EBPα, FAS, and FATP1 in both subcutaneous and abdominal fat tissues; the analysis showed that ssc-miR-21 expression was significantly correlated with PPARγ expression ( p <0.05), and speculated that ssc-miR-21 might influence adipogenesis through PPARγ. In conclusion, our study analysed the miRNA profiles in porcine adipose tissues by CLA treatment, and demonstrated that miRNAs are important regulators of fat lipogenesis. This study provides valuable information for the molecular regulatory mechanism of CLA on adipose tissue., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNA molecules that regulate growth, development, and programmed death of cells. A newly-published study has shown that miRNA-23a could regulate 3T3-L1 adipocyte differentiation. Here, we identified miRNA-23a as a negative regulator of 3T3-L1 adipocyte differentiation again. Over-expression of miRNA-23a inhibited differentiation and decreased lipogenesis as well as down-regulated mRNA and protein expression of both peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) γ and fatty acid binding protein (FABP) 4, whereas knock down of miRNA-23a showed the opposite effects on differentiation as well as increasing the number of apoptotic cells. Additionally, digital gene expression profiling sequencing (DGE-Seq) was used to assay changes in gene expression profiles following alterations in the level of miR-23a. In total, over-expression or knock down of miRNA-23a significantly changed the expression of 313 and 425 genes, respectively. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyses indicated that these genes were mainly involved in the stress response, immune system, metabolism, cell cycle, among other pathways. Additionally, the signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (Stat1) was shown to be a target of miRNA-23a by computational and dual-luciferase reporter assays that indicated Janus Kinase (Jak)-Stat signal pathway was implicated in regulating adipogenesis mediated by miRNA-23a in adipocytes., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.