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Porcine Circovirus 4 (PCV4) has been detected in pigs from China only in 2019. PCV4 has been found to be associated with several forms of clinical syndromes in pigs. Like other Porcine Circoviruses, the only structural protein of PCV4 is the capsid protein. Therefore, it could be a key vaccine candidate or diagnostic marker. The present study aims to characterize the capsid protein of PCV4 by using several bioinformatics tools. The in-silico analysis revealed that the molecular weight of PCV4 capsid protein is about 27.3 kDa which is made up of 228 amino acids. The capsid protein of PCV4 contains a nuclear localization signal at N-terminal and several post-translational modifications could be predicted at different residues of the protein. The secondary structure of capsid protein contains coil, beta strand, and alpha helix. The 3D structure of the protein was predicted with a high level of confidence. The capsid protein of PCV4 also contains several potential B-cell epitopes. Thus, the in-silico characterization of the capsid protein will be beneficial in designing diagnostics and vaccine candidates in future to combat PCV4 infection in pigs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PCV2 is the primary etiological agent of porcine circovirus-associated diseases (PCVADs) which affect pigs worldwide. Currently, there is a worldwide genotype prevalence switch from PCV2b to PCV2d, which has led to increased virulence of the circulating virus strains leading to vaccine failures and selection pressure. In the present study, the PCV2 genotypes circulating in north eastern region (NER) of India particularly the states of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh was characterized by isolation, sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of cap gene. The phylogenetic analysis revealed that the PCV2 isolates circulating in pigs of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh were mostly of PCV2d genotype. Hence, it can be concluded that PCV2d genotype is the most dominating genotype in NER and priority should be given to this genotype for development of future vaccine candidate against PCV2 in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long postpartum anestrus is one of the factors responsible for low reproductive efficiency. The present study was carried out to identify probable follicular fluid protein markers of postpartum anestrum buffaloes by proteomics approach. Ovum pick-up technique was used to collect follicular fluids from 23 buffaloes pertaining to postpartum estrus, anestrus and cystic follicular fluid. Pooled follicular fluids samples from each group were further divided into supernatant and cell lysate and subjected to two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. Densitometric analyses revealed the presence of 767 total protein spot and out of which 34 were unique in the studied groups. With the aid of mass spectrometry, the 34 protein spots were identified and among them apolipoproteins (A-I, A-II, A-IV), serum amyloid A-4, adenylate kinase 2, alpha-fetoprotein, heat shock protein beta-1, protein kinase C-binding protein, complement C1q subcomponent, integrin beta-7 and cadherin-23 have been established to play one or other role in ovarian endocrinology. Moreover, using bioinformatics tool, gene ontology and protein–protein interactions among the identified protein were also analyzed. To our knowledge, this is the first report on identification of proteins involved in postpartum anestrus of buffaloes from India which are to be validated further to establish its relationship with postpartum anestrus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improper or delayed pregnancy diagnosis has significant impact over animal production, particularly in buffaloes which inherently suffer from several reproductive inefficiencies. Thus the present study has undertaken to identify serum protein markers pertaining to early pregnancy diagnosis in buffaloes. Serum samples were collected from 10 pregnant Murrah Buffalo heifers at weekly intervals from days 0-35 post-artificial insemination and from 12 inseminated non-pregnant cyclic buffalo heifers on days 0, 7, 14 and 21. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and densitometric analysis revealed the presence of five protein spots showing average density fold change of ≥4 during early pregnancy. Mass spectrometry analysis identified these up-regulated proteins as anti-testosterone antibody light chain, apolipoprotein A-II precursor, serum amyloid A, cytokeratin type II, component IV isoform 1, which are have established roles in embryogenesis, but over-expression of the fifth identified protein immunoglobulin lambda light chain in pregnancy has been elucidated as a novel finding in the current study. Further, with bioinformatics analysis, potential antigenic B-cell epitopes were predicted for all these five proteins. An antibody cocktail-based approach involving antibodies against all these five up-regulated entire proteins or their epitopes could be developed for early detection of pregnancy in buffaloes. © 2016 Japanese Society of Animal Science [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current research was conducted to study genetic polymorphism in partial sequence of Luteinizing hormone receptor (LHR) gene and its possible association with postpartum anoestrus (PPA) in buffaloes by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) technique. On the basis of history sixty (n=60) murrah buffaloes were selected and divided into two groups, thirty with PPA (n1=30) and other thirty with normal oestrus cycle (n2=30). Following peripheral blood collection, genomic DNA was isolated. Partial sequence of LHR gene (303 bp) was amplified by PCR and subjected to digestion using HphI restriction enzyme. Resolution of digested product in agarose gel exhibited single pattern of restriction fragments with xx genotype, thereby polymor- phism and possible association of partial LHR gene sequence with PPA in buffaloes could not be established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]