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FecB (also known as BMPR1B) is a crucial gene in sheep reproduction, which has a mutation (A746G) that was found to increase the ovulation rate and litter size. The FecB mutation is associated with reproductive endocrinology, such mutation can control external estrous characteristics and affect follicle-stimulating hormone during the estrous cycle. Previous researches showed that the FecB mutation can regulate the transcriptomic profiles in the reproductive-related tissues including hypothalamus, pituitary, and ovary during the estrous cycle of small-tailed Han (STH) sheep. However, little research has been reported on the correlation between FecB mutation and the estrous cycle in STH sheep oviduct. To investigate the coding and noncoding transcriptomic profiles involved in the estrous cycle and FecB in the sheep oviduct, RNA sequencing was performed to analyze the transcriptomic profiles of mRNAs and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) in the oviduct during the estrous cycle of STH sheep with mutant (FecB BB) and wild-type (FecB ++) genotypes. In total, 21,863 lncRNAs and 43,674 mRNAs were screened, the results showed that mRNAs had significantly higher expression levels than the lncRNAs, and the expression levels of these screened transcripts were lower in the follicular phase than they were in the luteal phase. Among them, the oviductal glycoprotein gene (OVGP1) had the highest expression level. In the comparison between the follicular and luteal phases, 57 differentially expressed (DE) lncRNAs and 637 DE mRNAs were detected, including FSTL5 mRNA and LNC_016628 lncRNA. In the comparison between the FecB BB and FecB ++ genotypes, 26 DE lncRNAs and 421 DE mRNAs were detected, including EEF1D mRNA and LNC_006270 lncRNA. Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes functional enrichment analysis indicated that the DE mRNAs were enriched mainly in terms related to reproduction such as the tight junction, SAGA complex, ATP-binding cassette, nestin, and Hippo signaling pathway. The interaction network between DE lncRNAs and DE mRNAs indicated that LNC_018420 may be the key regulator in sheep oviduct. Together, our results can provide novel insights into the oviductal transcriptomic function against a FecB mutation background in sheep reproduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The performances of ventilation in the buildings with quadrate and cylindrical cross-sections are compared numerically. The incoming jet in the cylindrical unsheltered-building is more horizontal in comparison to the quadrate unsheltered-building. The dimensionless volume flow rates in the quadrate and cylindrical unsheltered-buildings are respectively 0.503 and 0.553. The incoming jet in the sheltered-buildings flows to the floors immediately. The velocity near the floor in the cylindrical sheltered-building is greater than that in the quadrate sheltered-building. The dimensionless volume flow rates in the quadrate and cylindrical sheltered-buildings are respectively 0.130 and 0.210.Comparing with the quadrate buildings, the ventilation rates in the cylindrical unsheltered and sheltered buildings increased by 10% and 61%.

Dorper and Hu sheep exhibit different characteristics in terms of reproduction, growth, and meat quality. Comparison of the genomes of two breeds help to reveal important genomic information. In this study, whole genome resequencing of 30 individuals (Dorper, DB and Hu sheep, HY) identified 15,108,125 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Population differentiation (Fst) and cross population extended haplotype homozygosity (XP-EHH) were performed for selective signal analysis. In total, 106 and 515 overlapped genes were present in both the Fst results and XP-EHH results in HY vs DB and in DB vs HY, respectively. In HY vs DB, 106 genes were enriched in 12 GO terms and 83 KEGG pathways, such as ATP binding (GO:0005524) and PI3K-Akt signaling pathway (oas04151). In DB vs HY, 515 genes were enriched in 109 GO terms and 215 KEGG pathways, such as skeletal muscle cell differentiation (GO:0035914) and MAPK signaling pathway (oas04010). According to the annotation results, we identified a series of candidate genes associated with reproduction (UNC5C, BMPR1B, and GLIS1), meat quality (MECOM, MEF2C, and MYF6), and immunity (GMDS, GALK1, and ITGB4). Our investigation has uncovered genomic information for important traits in sheep and provided a basis for subsequent studies of related traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Escherichia coli (E. coli) F17 is one of the main pathogens causing diarrhea in young livestock. The specific F17 fimbriae and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in the surface components of E. coli F17 induces immune activation via interacting with the intestinal epithelial cells (IECs)-expressed innate immune toll-like receptors (TLRs) signaling pathway. In this study, the expression patterns of eight canonical genes from the TLR signaling pathway (IL-6, IL-8, IL-1β, TLR4, MyD88, CD14, TNF-α and TRAF6) were analyzed in LPS-induced IECs, E. coli F17-infected IECs and ileum tissue of E. coli F17-infected lambs. The results showed that increased expression levels of all the studied genes were observed following post-LPS-induced and E. coli F17-infected treatment, with TLR4 having the highest up-regulated expression multiple (compared to NC, fold change = 17.94 and 20.11, respectively), and CD14 having the lowest up-regulated expression multiple (fold change = 2.68 and 1.59, respectively), and higher expression levels of all the studied TLR signaling pathway genes were observed in ileum tissue of E. coli F17 antagonistic (AN) lambs than in E. coli F17 sensitive (SE) lambs. Furthermore, when compared to LPS-induced IECs, E. coli F17-infected IECs showed a more pronounced increase in the expression of IL6, TLR4 and TNF-α, indicating the different roles of these genes in the IECs resistance to E. coli F17 infection. Our results demonstrate that the TLR signaling pathway likely promotes immune activation and provide the first evidence that TLRs have a significant potential to protect against E. coli F17 infections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to complex dynamic coupling relationships in the system, the research that couples pendulum and vibrators in the same system is rarely found. Especially in the vibrating system with spatial motion, the theoretical derivation may be too complex to be easy to implement. In this paper, we present a vibrator-pendulum coupling system with spatial motion characteristics; here, the pendulum is driven by the two vibrators mounted on it. The synchronization of the vibrators and the motion characteristics of the system are studied via theory, numeric, and experiment. In theory, the synchronization and stability criteria of the two vibrators are deduced. According to the theoretical results, some numerical qualitative analyses are given to further reveal the synchronous stable states and spatial motion characteristics of the system. The validity of the theoretical methods and the correctness of the numerical qualitative results are examined by simulation and experiment. Taking the pendulum as the working rigid frame, the proposed dynamic model and research results can be applied to design a new kind of vibrating jaw crusher with spatial motion characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chemical investigation of the EtOAc extract from the solid rice medium cultured with a sponge-associated fungus Penicillium sp. SCSIO41033 led to the isolation of two quinolones including a new one, penicinolone (1), three xanthone derivatives (3–5), and four anthraquinones (6–9). Their structures were determined by comprehensive analysis of 1H and 13C NMR, COSY, HSQC, and HMBC spectroscopic, and HRESIMS mass spectrometric data. The bioactive assays revealed that compounds 1 and 2 showed no antimicrobial activities against five bacteria and eight fungi, and compounds 5, 8 and 9 exhibited inhibition against AChE with IC50 values of 45.9, 42.5 and 40.5 μg/mL. Molecular docking analysis was performed to explore the interactions between active molecules and AChE protein, which indicated that xanthone and anthraquinone derivatives had the potential for developing AChE inhibitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]