Immunogenicity of extracellular products from an inactivated vaccine against Aeromonas veronii TH0426 in koi, Cyprinus carpio.

Aeromonas veronii is a type of human-livestock-aquatic animal pathogen; it is widely found in nature and causes many deaths among aquatic animals. Extracellular products (ECPs) are secreted by the pathogen during growth and reproduction. These products are considered effective protective antigens that can induce the host to produce an immune response. In this study, the ECPs of A.veronii TH0426 were prepared by ultrafiltration, and then the pathogenicity and enzymatic activity of the ECPs were determined. All the groups were injected intraperitoneally, as follows: group one: ECP protein with an equal volume of Freund's adjuvant; group two: ECPs and formalin-killed cells (FKC) of A.veronii combined with an equal volume of Freund's adjuvant (FKC + ECPs); group three: formalin-killed cells (FKC) of A.veronii combined with an equal volume of Freund's adjuvant (FKC); and, group four: sterile PBS as the control group. The expression levels of IgM, IL-1ß, and TNF-α and the lysozyme activity in blood were examined at 7, 14, and 21 days after the immunizations. The results show that the ECPs can produce protease, lipase, amylase and hemolyase, and there was no lecithinase, urease, or gelatinase activity. The results indicate that the ECPs were clearly pathogenic to koi fish, and the LD50 dose was 391.6 µg/fish. Throughout this study, the RPS of the three experimental groups were 75%, 50%, and 70%. This study indicates that the ECPs of A.veronii can effectively enhance the ability of kio fish to resist bacterial invasion.

The relationship between diaspore characteristics with phylogeny, life history traits, and their ecological adaptation of 150 species from the cold desert of Northwest China.

Diaspore characteristics of 22 families, including 102 genera and 150 species (55 represented by seeds and 95 by fruits) from the Gurbantunggut Desert were analyzed for diaspore biological characteristics (mass, shape, color, and appendage type). The diaspore mass and shape were significantly different in phylogeny group (APG) and dispersal syndromes; vegetative periods significantly affected diaspore mass, but not diaspore shape; and ecotypes did not significantly affect diaspore mass and shape, but xerophyte species had larger diaspore mass than mesophyte species. Unique stepwise ANOVA results showed that variance in diaspore mass and shape among these 150 species was largely dependent upon phylogeny and dispersal syndromes. Therefore, it was suggested that phylogeny may constrain diaspore mass, and as dispersal syndromes may be related to phylogeny, they also constrained diaspore mass and shape. Diaspores of 85 species (56.67%) had appendages, including 26 with wings/bracts, 18 with pappus/hair, 14 with hooks/spines, 10 with awns, and 17 with other types of appendages. Different traits (mass, shape, color, appendage, and dispersal syndromes) of diaspore decided plants forming different adapted strategies in the desert. In summary, the diaspore characteristics were closely related with phylogeny, vegetative periods, dispersal syndromes, and ecotype, and these characteristics allowed the plants to adapt to extreme desert environments.