An association of CEP78, MEF2C, VPS13A and ARRDC3 genes with survivability to heat stress in an F2 chicken population.

Heat stress is a serious problem in the poultry industry. An effective tool for improving heat tolerance can be genomic selection based on single nucleotide polymorphisms. This study was performed to identify genomic regions controlling survivability to heat stress in a population of F2 chickens that accidentally experienced acute heat stress, using Illumina 60K Chicken SNP Bead Chip. After quality control in markers, 47,730 SNPs remained for genome-wide association study (GWAS). The GWAS results indicated that markers Gga_rs16111480 (p = 8.503e-08), GGaluGA354375 (p = 5.99e-07) and Gga_rs14748694 (p = 7.085e-07) located on Z chromosome showed significant association with heat stress tolerance trait. The Gga_rs16111480 marker was located inside the CEP78 gene. The marker GGaluGA354375 was located inside the LOC101752071 gene and next to the MEF2C gene. The Gga_rs14748694 marker was adjacent to LOC101752071 and MEF2C genes. Moreover, the SNP maker of Gga_rs16111480 was located on 243 kb downstream of the VPS13A gene, and the GGaluGA354375 and Gga_rs14748694 SNPs were located on 947 kb and 888 kb downstream of the ARRDC3 gene, respectively. The results of this study suggest that apart from the gene LOC101752071, which its function was unknown, each of the two MEF2C and CEP78 genes were found to be closely related to heat stress resistance in bird.

Efficiency of Two Capture Methods Providing Live Sand Flies and Assessment the Susceptibility Status of Phlebotomus papatasi (Diptera: Psychodidae) in the Foci of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis, Lorestan Province, Western Iran.

BACKGROUND: The aims of this study were to evaluate the efficiency of two capture methods for providing live sandflies used for determining the susceptibility level of Phlebotomus papatasi, the main vector of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis in Lorestan Province, west of Iran. METHODS: The sand flies were collected from indoor and outdoor by hand-catch and baited traps during the peak of seasonal activity. The susceptibility level of sand flies was assessed using insecticide-impregnated papers against DDT 4%, bendiocarb 0.1%, permethrin 0.75%, deltamethrin 0.05%, and cyfluthrin 0.15%. RESULTS: A total of 2486 live sandflies were caught from both indoor and outdoor places. Totally 849 sand flies were caught from outdoors with a sex ratio(SR) 0.1 versus 1637 sand flies collected from indoor using the hand-catch method with SR= 0.6. The dominant species of sand flies was Ph. papatasi in the study area. Mortality rates of outdoor-collected sand flies were exposed to DDT 4%, deltamethrin 0.05%, permethrin 0.75%, and bendiocarb 0.1%, and mortality rate ranged from 92.0-97.9% and for indoor-collected sand flies were 87.7-96.8%. Both outdoor and indoor collected sand flies were susceptible to cyfluthrin 0.15% that caused 100% mortality. CONCLUSION: Based on the findings, the most appropriate method for collecting the live female Ph. papatasi is the baited traps due to providing enough females is necessary for conducting the susceptibility tests. The finding indicated that Ph. papatasi was resistant to DDT, under 'verification required' status to deltamethrin, permethrin, bendiocarb, and susceptible to cyfluthrin.