Potential Use for Serosurveillance of Feral Swine to Map Risk for Anthrax Exposure, Texas, USA.

Anthrax is a disease of concern in many mammals, including humans. Management primarily consists of prevention through vaccination and tracking clinical-level observations because environmental isolation is laborious and bacterial distribution across large geographic areas difficult to confirm. Feral swine (Sus scrofa) are an invasive species with an extensive range in the southern United States that rarely succumbs to anthrax. We present evidence that feral swine might serve as biosentinels based on comparative seroprevalence in swine from historically defined anthrax-endemic and non-anthrax-endemic regions of Texas. Overall seropositivity was 43.7% (n = 478), and logistic regression revealed county endemicity status, age-class, sex, latitude, and longitude were informative for predicting antibody status. However, of these covariates, only latitude was statistically significant (ß = -0.153, p = 0.047). These results suggests anthrax exposure in swine, when paired with continuous location data, could serve as a proxy for bacterial presence in specific areas.

Overexpression of AtAHL20 causes delayed flowering in Arabidopsis via repression of FT expression.

BACKGROUND: The 29-member Arabidopsis AHL gene family is classified into three main classes based on nucleotide and protein sequence evolutionary differences. These differences include the presence or absence of introns, type and/or number of conserved AT-hook and PPC domains. AHL gene family members are divided into two phylogenetic clades, Clade-A and Clade-B. A majority of the 29 members remain functionally uncharacterized. Furthermore, the biological significance of the DNA and peptide sequence diversity, observed in the conserved motifs and domains found in the different AHL types, is a subject area that remains largely unexplored. RESULTS: Transgenic plants overexpressing AtAHL20 flowered later than the wild type under both short and long days. Transcript accumulation analyses showed that 35S:AtAHL20 plants contained reduced FT, TSF, AGL8 and SPL3 mRNA levels. Similarly, overexpression of AtAHL20's orthologue in Camelina sativa, Arabidopsis' closely related Brassicaceae family member species, conferred a late-flowering phenotype via suppression of CsFT expression. However, overexpression of an aberrant AtAHL20 gene harboring a missense mutation in the AT-hook domain's highly conserved R-G-R core motif abolished the late-flowering phenotype. Data from targeted yeast-two-hybrid assays showed that AtAHL20 interacted with itself and several other Clade-A Type-I AHLs which have been previously implicated in flowering-time regulation: AtAHL19, AtAHL22 and AtAHL29. CONCLUSION: We showed via gain-of-function analysis that AtAHL20 is a negative regulator of FT expression, as well as other downstream flowering time regulating genes. A similar outcome in Camelina sativa transgenic plants overexpressing CsAHL20 suggest that this is a conserved function. Our results demonstrate that AtAHL20 acts as a photoperiod-independent negative regulator of transition to flowering.

Loci Associated With Antibody Response in Feral Swine (Sus scrofa) Infected With Brucella suis.

Feral swine (Sus scrofa) are a destructive invasive species widespread throughout the United States that disrupt ecosystems, damage crops, and carry pathogens of concern for the health of domestic stock and humans including Brucella suis-the causative organism for swine brucellosis. In domestic swine, brucellosis results in reproductive failure due to abortions and infertility. Contact with infected feral swine poses spillover risks to domestic pigs as well as humans, companion animals, wildlife, and other livestock. Genetic factors influence the outcome of infectious diseases; therefore, genome wide association studies (GWAS) of differential immune responses among feral swine can provide an understanding of disease dynamics and inform management to prevent the spillover of brucellosis from feral swine to domestic pigs. We sought to identify loci associated with differential antibody responses among feral swine naturally infected with B. suis using a case-control GWAS. Tissue, serum, and genotype data (68,516 bi-allelic single nucleotide polymorphisms) collected from 47 feral swine were analyzed in this study. The 47 feral swine were culture positive for Brucella spp. Of these 47, 16 were antibody positive (cases) whereas 31 were antibody negative (controls). Single-locus GWAS were performed using efficient mixed-model association eXpedited (EMMAX) methodology with three genetic models: additive, dominant, and recessive. Eight loci associated with seroconversion were identified on chromosome 4, 8, 9, 10, 12, and 18. Subsequent bioinformatic analyses revealed nine putative candidate genes related to immune function, most notably phagocytosis and induction of an inflammatory response. Identified loci and putative candidate genes may play an important role in host immune responses to B. suis infection, characterized by a detectable bacterial presence yet a differential antibody response. Given that antibody tests are used to evaluate brucellosis infection in domestic pigs and for disease surveillance in invasive feral swine, additional studies are needed to fully understand the genetic component of the response to B. suis infection and to more effectively translate estimates of Brucella spp. antibody prevalence among feral swine to disease control management action.

Synopsis of the SOFL Plant-Specific Gene Family.

SUPPRESSOR OF PHYB-4#5DOMINANT (sob5-D) was previously identified as a suppressor of the phyB-4 long-hypocotyl phenotype in Arabidopsis thaliana Overexpression of SOB5 conferred dwarf phenotypes similar to those observed in plants containing elevated levels of cytokinin (CK) nucleotides and nucleosides. Two SOB-FIVE- LIKE (SOFL) proteins, AtSOFL1 and AtSOFL2, which are more similar at the protein level to each other than they are to SOB5, conferred similar phenotypes to the sob5-D mutant when overexpressed. We used protein sequences of founding SOFL gene family members to perform database searches and identified a total of 289 SOFL homologs in genomes of 89 angiosperm species. Phylogenetic analysis results implied that the SOFL gene family emerged during the expansion of angiosperms and later evolved into four distinct clades. Among the newly identified gene family members are four previously unreported Arabidopsis SOFLs Multiple sequence alignment of the 289 SOFL protein sequences revealed two highly conserved domains; SOFL-A and SOFL-B. We used overexpression and site-directed mutagenesis studies to demonstrate that SOFL domains are necessary for SOB5 and AtSOFL1's overexpression phenotypes. Examination of the subcellular localization patterns of founding Arabidopsis thaliana SOFLs suggested they may be localized in the cytoplasm and/or the nucleus. Overall, we report that SOFLs are a plant-specific gene family characterized by two conserved domains that are important for function.