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This study evaluated the effects of berberine on growth performance, immunity, haematological parameters, antioxidant capacity, and the expression of immune response-related genes in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-challenged broilers. We assigned 120 one-day-old male broilers (Ross 308) to two treatment groups; each group included two subgroups, each of which included six replicates of five birds per replicate. The experiment used a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement with berberine treatment (0 or 60 mg/kg dietary) and challenge status [injection of saline (9 g/L w/v) or LPS (1.5 mg/kg body weight)] as the main factors. On days 14, 16, 18 and 20, broilers were intraperitoneally injected with LPS or physiological saline. Blood and liver samples were collected on day 21. Dietary berberine supplementation significantly alleviated the compromised average daily gain and average daily feed intake (p < 0.05) caused by LPS. The LPS challenge led to increased lymphocyte and white blood cell (WBC) counts, malondialdehyde (serum and liver) content, and immunoglobulin G and M, tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) expression (p < 0.05) and significantly reduced serum total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD) activity (p < 0.05). Dietary berberine significantly mitigated the LPS-induced decreases in the mRNA expression of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB), TNF-α, IL-1β, inducible nitrite synthase and cyclooxygenase-2 (p < 0.05) in the liver. In conclusion, berberine supplementation has a positive effect on LPS challenge, which may be related to the increase in antioxidant enzyme activity and inhibition of both NF-κB signalling and the expression of inflammatory mediators.

In order to analyze the correlation of tail fat deposition and two SNP loci on Ovis arise chromosome X and provide a theoretical basis for using molecular assisted selection technology in further low-fat sheep breeding, the breeds with extreme differences in tail types (Altay, Small Tail Han Sheep, Hu, Chinese Merino and Suffolk) were used to detect the polymorphisms of two SNP loci on X chromosome and the haplotypes with PCR-RFLP method. The results showed that the TT genotype at 59571364 locus and GG genotype at 59912586 locus were preponderant genotypes in thin-tailed Chinese Merino and Suffolk sheep flocks, while the percentage of the two genotypes in fat-tailed (fat-rmup) Altay and Hu flocks is less than 2%. Haplotype analysis showed that CA haplotype is the main haplotype, the percentage of CA is up to 55%, and the percentage of CA and TA haplotypes together was 88.33% in Altay sheep flock. These results suggest that there are great differences in the SNP distribution of the 59571364 and 59912586 loci among different tail-typed sheep flocks, which can be used as molecular markers in high or low fat sheep breeding.

Fat tail or fat rump is one of essential traits for surviving in harsh environments, and the mechanism of fat deposition and its inheritable characters in sheep are still unclear. Therefore, the 59383635th locus on X chromosome in our unpublished chip data was chosen as candidate SNP, PCR-SSCP method was used to detect genotypes in five sheep breeds which have extreme differences in tail types (Altay, Small Tail Han Sheep, Hu, Chinese Merino and Suffolk), and the mathematical model was employed to analyze the correlation between the polymorphism and the trait of fat tail or fat rump. The results in this study showed that the high frequency of allele T exists in Altay flock, and the frequency of allele C appears to be particularly high in the thin tail sheep breeds. The result of mathematical model showed that the ratio of T/C increased exponentially with the increase of phenotype score. These results suggest that there is a big difference in the SNP distribution between fat tail (rump) and thin tail sheep populations, and the SNP can be used as an ideal molecular marker in high-fat or low-fat sheep breeding. However, the biological function of the SNP remains to be further studied.

Integrin linked kinase (ILK) is a scaffold protein, which plays important roles in hair follicle development. The cDNA sequence of novel ILK gene in sheep was cloned by PCR method and analyzed by bioinformatics. Tissue expression profiling in eight tissues and temporal profiling at different wool follicle anagen stages in skin was analyzed. The results showed that the whole open reading frame (ORF) of ILK gene was 1 359 bp in length, which encoded 452 amino acids. Bioinformatic analysis indicated that the secondary structure of ILK gene was mainly made up of three ankyrin repeats and a kinase domain, and there were multiple phosphorylation and Protein Kinase C sites in this gene. The RT-PCR result confirmed that ILK mRNA was expressed in heart, liver, spleen, lung, skeletal muscle, skin, and small intestine, and the expression level was much higher in skin, spleen, and liver than others. The q-PCR analysis demonstrated that the ex-pression level of ILK was significantly increased from March to May (early follicle anagen initiation) in both sheep breeds, Chinese Merino and Kazakh sheep, and there were certain differences from June to October between the two breeds. The above results indicated that ILK gene may play key roles in regulating secondary follicle growth.

To study the effect and mechanism of ginsenoside Rg1 on the spatial learning-memory ability in rats with Alzheimer's disease after transplanted with bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs).Using digital randomization table method, seventy-five male SD rats were divided into the bilateral FF transection model group (as the model group: ambi-hippocampal fimbria-fomix transected), the sham-operative control group (the SOC group: receiving the same modeling process as the model group, but without ambi-hippocampal fimbria-fomix transected), the ginsenoside Rg1 treatment group (as the treatment group: Two weeks after modeling ginsenoside Rg1 was peritoneally injected at the dose of 5 mg/kg, once daily for four weeks in total), the BMSCs transplanted treatment group [as the control group: Two weeks after modeling every rat received transplantation of BMSCs (10 microL, 1 x 10(6) cells)], and the ginsenoside Rg1 + BMSCs treatment group (as the combination group: They received both transplantation of BMSCs and peritoneal injection of ginsenoside Rgl). The spatial learning-memory ability of rats was detected by Morris water maze and the escape latency (s) was recorded, mRNA expression of nerve growth factor (NGF) was detected using Real-time PCR.Six weeks after the hippocampal fimbria-fomix (FF) transection, the escape latency o feach medication group was obviously shorter than that of the model group, and the spatial learning-memory ability of dementia rats was somewhat improved. The spatial learning-memory ability of rats in the combination group was (29.95 +/- 2.03) and the mRNA expression level of NGF was (1.13 +/- 0.15), better than those in the BMSCs group (44.36 +/- 1.43, 0.78 +/- 0.09, P0.05).Ginsenoside Rg1 could strengthen the spatial learning-memory ability in dementia rats after transplanted with BMSCs. Its mechanism might be possibly correlated with up-regulating mRNA expression of NGF in basal forebrain after BMSCs transplantation.

Domestic sheep and their wild relatives harbor substantial genetic variants that can form the backbone of molecular breeding, but their genome landscapes remain understudied. Here, we present a comprehensive genome resource for wild ovine species, landraces and improved breeds of domestic sheep, comprising high-coverage (∼16.10×) whole genomes of 810 samples from 7 wild species and 158 diverse domestic populations. We detected, in total, ∼121.2 million single nucleotide polymorphisms, ∼61 million of which are novel. Some display significant (P < 0.001) differences in frequency between wild and domestic species, or are private to continent-wide or individual sheep populations. Retained or introgressed wild gene variants in domestic populations have contributed to local adaptation, such as the variation in the HBB associated with plateau adaptation. We identified novel and previously reported targets of selection on morphological and agronomic traits such as stature, horn, tail configuration, and wool fineness. We explored the genetic basis of wool fineness and unveiled a novel mutation (chr25: T7,068,586C) in the 3′-UTR of IRF2BP2 as plausible causal variant for fleece fiber diameter. We reconstructed prehistorical migrations from the Near Eastern domestication center to South-and-Southeast Asia and found two main waves of migrations across the Eurasian Steppe and the Iranian Plateau in the Early and Late Bronze Ages. Our findings refine our understanding of genome variation as shaped by continental migrations, introgression, adaptation, and selection of sheep., This study was financially supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 32061133010, 31825024, 31661143014, and 31972527), the National Key Research and Development Program-Key Projects of International Innovation Cooperation between Governments (2017YFE0117900), the External Cooperation Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (152111KYSB20150010), and the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program (STEP) (No. 2019QZKK0501), and the Special Funds of the State Key Laboratory of Sheep Genetic Improvement and Healthy Production (Nos. 2018CA001, and 2019CA009, 2020CA001).