Development and application of an efficient genomic mating method to maximize the production performances of three-way crossbred pigs.

Creating synthetic lines is the standard mating mode for commercial pig production. Traditional mating performance was evaluated through a strictly designed cross-combination test at the 'breed level' to maximize the benefits of production. The Duroc-Landrace-Yorkshire (DLY) three-way crossbred production system became the most widely used breeding scheme for pigs. Here, we proposed an 'individual level' genomic mating procedure that can be applied to commercial pig production with efficient algorithms for estimating marker effects and for allocating the appropriate boar-sow pairs, which can be freely accessed to public in our developed HIBLUP software at https://www.hiblup.com/tutorials#genomic-mating. A total of 875 Duroc boars, 350 Landrace-Yorkshire sows and 3573 DLY pigs were used to carry out the genomic mating to assess the production benefits theoretically. The results showed that genomic mating significantly improved the performances of progeny across different traits compared with random mating, such as the feed conversion rate, days from 30 to 120 kg and eye muscle area could be improved by -0.12, -4.64 d and 2.65 cm2, respectively, which were consistent with the real experimental validations. Overall, our findings indicated that genomic mating is an effective strategy to improve the performances of progeny by maximizing their total genetic merit with consideration of both additive and dominant effects. Also, a herd of boars from a richer genetic source will increase the effectiveness of genomic mating further.

A Crystalline-Water Electrolyte Enabled High Depth-of-Discharge Anodes in Aqueous Zinc Metal Batteries.

Aqueous zinc metal batteries are regarded as a promising energy storage solution for a green and sustainable society in the future. However, the practical application of metallic zinc anode is plagued by the thermodynamic instability issue of water molecules in conventional electrolytes, which leads to severe dendrite growth and side reactions. In this work, an ultra-thin and high areal capacity metallic zinc anode is achieved by utilizing crystalline water with a stable stoichiometric ratio. Unlike conventional electrolytes, the designed electrolyte can effectively suppress the reactivity of water molecules and diminish the detrimental corrosion on the metallic zinc anode, while preserving the inherent advantages of water molecules, including great kinetic performance in electrolytes and H+ capacity contribution in cathodes. Based on the comprehensive performance of the designed electrolyte, the 10 µm Zn||10 µm Zn symmetric cell stably ran for 1000 h at the current density of 1 mA cm-2, and the areal capacity of 1 mAh cm-2, whose depth-of-discharge is over 17.1%. The electrochemical performance of the 10 µm Zn||9.3 mg cm-2 polyaniline (PANI) full-cell demonstrates the feasibility of the designed electrolyte. This work provides a crucial understanding of balancing activity of water molecules in aqueous zinc metal batteries.

UBE2C promotes myoblast differentiation and skeletal muscle regeneration through the Akt signaling pathway.

Ubiquitin-conjugation enzyme E2C (UBE2C) is a crucial component of the ubiquitin-proteasome system that is involved in numerous cancers. In this study, we find that UBE2C expression is significantly increased in mouse embryos, a critical stage during skeletal muscle development. We further investigate the function of UBE2C in myogenesis. Knockdown of UBE2C inhibits C2C12 cell differentiation and decreases the expressions of MyoG and MyHC, while overexpression of UBE2C promotes C2C12 cell differentiation. Additionally, knockdown of UBE2C, specifically in the tibialis anterior muscle (TA), severely impedes muscle regeneration in vivo. Mechanistically, we show that UBE2C knockdown reduces the level of phosphorylated protein kinase B (p-Akt) and promotes the degradation of Akt. These findings suggest that UBE2C plays a critical role in myoblast differentiation and muscle regeneration and that UBE2C regulates myogenesis through the Akt signaling pathway.

An ultrasensitive electrochemical sensor for detecting porcine epidemic diarrhea virus based on a Prussian blue-reduced graphene oxide modified glassy carbon electrode.

This study developed a novel, ultrasensitive sandwich-type electrochemical immunosensor for detecting the porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV). By electrochemical co-deposition of graphene and Prussian blue, a Prussian blue-reduced graphene oxide-modified glassy carbon electrode was made, further modified with PEDV-monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to create a new PEDV immunosensor using the double antibody sandwich technique. The electrochemical characteristics of several modified electrodes were investigated using cyclic voltammetry (CV). We optimized the pH levels and scan rate. Additionally, we examined specificity, reproducibility, repeatability, accuracy, and stability. The study indicates that the immunosensor has good performance in the concentration range of 1 × 101.88 to 1 × 105.38 TCID50/mL of PEDV, with a detection limit of 1 × 101.93 TCID50/mL at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3σ. The composite membranes produced via co-deposition of graphene and Prussian blue effectively increased electron transport to the glassy carbon electrode, boosted response signals, and increased the sensitivity, specificity, and stability of the immunosensor. The immunosensor could accurately detect PEDV, with results comparable to real-time quantitative PCR. This technique was applied to PEDV detection and served as a model for developing additional immunosensors for detecting hazardous chemicals and pathogenic microbes.

Nonsynonymous SNPs within C7H15orf39 and NOS2 are associated with boar semen quality.

Spermatogenesis is the developmental process that produces spermatozoa. The aim of this study was to investigate the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within C7H15orf39 and NOS2 genes and to determine the correlations between two SNPs and semen quality in Duroc boars (n = 604). The polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphisms (PCR-RFLP) method was used for genotyping the selected two nonsynonymous SNPs. The significant correlation was observed between two SNPs (rs80969873: g.58385473 G > A within C7H15orf39; rs325865291: g.44175445 G > A within NOS2) and semen traits in Duroc boars. This study indicates the SNPs in C7H15orf39 and NOS2 may be the potential molecular marker for improving the semen quality traits in Duroc boars.

A Standardized Framework for Better Understanding of Phenotypic Differences within Bacterial Phyla Based on Protein Domain.

We propose a standardized framework to classify target species based on their protein domains, which can be utilized in different contexts, like eukaryotes and prokaryotes. In this study, by applying the framework to the bacterial kingdom as an implementation example and comparing the results with the current taxonomy standards at the phylum level, we came to the conclusion that the sequence of domains rather than the content of domains in a protein and the presence of one domain rather than the number of occurrences of one domain play more important roles in deciding bacterial phenotypes as well as matching the current taxonomy. In addition, the comparison also helps us to better focus on the species that conflict with the current phylum category, as well as to further investigate their phenotypic or genotypic differences. IMPORTANCE A 3-step framework was designed which can be applied to clustering species based on their protein domains, and different candidate models are proposed in each step for better adaptation of various scenarios. We show its implementation for the bacterial kingdom as an example, which helps us to find the most appropriate model combination that will best reflect the relationship between domains and phenotypes in this context. In addition, identifying species that are distant in the results but should be closely related phylogenetically can help us to focus on the mismatch for better understanding of their key phenotypic or genotypic differences.

ECG signal classification based on deep CNN and BiLSTM.

BACKGROUND: Currently, cardiovascular disease has become a major disease endangering human health, and the number of such patients is growing. Electrocardiogram (ECG) is an important basis for {medical doctors to diagnose the cardiovascular disease, which can truly reflect the health of the heart. In this context, the contradiction between the lack of medical resources and the surge in the number of patients has become increasingly prominent. The use of computer-aided diagnosis of cardiovascular disease has become particularly important, so the study of ECG automatic classification method has a strong practical significance. METHODS: This article proposes a new method for automatic identification and classification of ECG.We have developed a dense heart rhythm network that combines a 24-layer Deep Convolutional Neural Network (DCNN) and Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory (BiLSTM) to deeply mine the hierarchical and time-sensitive features of ECG data. Three different sizes of convolution kernels (32, 64 and 128) are used to mine the detailed features of the ECG signal, and the original ECG is filtered using a combination of wavelet transform and median filtering to eliminate the influence of noise on the signal. A new loss function is proposed to control the fluctuation of loss during the training process, and convergence mapping of the tan function in the range of 0-1 is employed to better reflect the model training loss and correct the optimization direction in time. RESULTS: We applied the dataset provided by the 2017 PhysioNet/CINC challenge for verification. The experiment adopted ten-fold cross validation,and obtained an accuracy rate of 89.3[Formula: see text] and an F1 score of 0.891. CONCLUSIONS: This article proposes its own method in the aspects of ECG data preprocessing, feature extraction and loss function design. Compared with the existing methods, this method improves the accuracy of automatic ECG classification and is helpful for clinical diagnosis and self-monitoring of atrial fibrillation.

Improving the immunogenicity and protective efficacy of a whole-killed malaria blood-stage vaccine by chloroquine.

A whole-killed malaria blood-stage vaccine (WKV) is promising in reducing the morbidity and mortality of malaria patients, but its efficacy needs to be improved. We found that the antimalarial drug chloroquine could augment the protective efficacy of the WKV of Plasmodium yoelii. The direct antimalarial effect of chloroquine on parasites during immunization could be excluded, as the administration of chloroquine or chloroquine plus alum every two weeks had a slight effect on parasitemia, and an immunization with NP-KLH (4-hydroxy-3-nitrophenylacetyl Keyhole Limpet Hemocyanin) plus chloroquine could significantly promote the generation of NP-specific antibodies. Additionally, alum was required for chloroquine to augment the immunogenicity of the pRBC lysate. Chloroquine did not promote the parasite-specific CD4+ T-cell responses, but significantly enhanced the WKV-induced germinal centre B cell reactions, class-switch recombination and secretion of functionally protective antibodies to plasmodium. The elevated parasite-specific antibodies were demonstrated to largely contribute to the chloroquine-enhanced protective immunity. Thus, we report that chloroquine could be used as an adjuvant to enhance the protective immunity of WKVs through promoting humoral responses.

Weighted single-step GWAS identified candidate genes associated with semen traits in a Duroc boar population.

BACKGROUND: In the pig production industry, artificial insemination (AI) plays an important role in enlarging the beneficial impact of elite boars. Understanding the genetic architecture and detecting genetic markers associated with semen traits can help in improving genetic selection for such traits and accelerate genetic progress. In this study, we utilized a weighted single-step genome-wide association study (wssGWAS) procedure to detect genetic regions and further candidate genes associated with semen traits in a Duroc boar population. Overall, the full pedigree consists of 5284 pigs (12 generations), of which 2693 boars have semen data (143,113 ejaculations) and 1733 pigs were genotyped with 50 K single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array. RESULTS: Results show that the most significant genetic regions (0.4 Mb windows) explained approximately 2%~ 6% of the total genetic variances for the studied traits. Totally, the identified significant windows (windows explaining more than 1% of total genetic variances) explained 28.29, 35.31, 41.98, and 20.60% of genetic variances (not phenotypic variance) for number of sperm cells, sperm motility, sperm progressive motility, and total morphological abnormalities, respectively. Several genes that have been previously reported to be associated with mammal spermiogenesis, testes functioning, and male fertility were detected and treated as candidate genes for the traits of interest: Number of sperm cells, TDRD5, QSOX1, BLK, TIMP3, THRA, CSF3, and ZPBP1; Sperm motility, PPP2R2B, NEK2, NDRG, ADAM7, SKP2, and RNASET2; Sperm progressive motility, SH2B1, BLK, LAMB1, VPS4A, SPAG9, LCN2, and DNM1; Total morphological abnormalities, GHR, SELENOP, SLC16A5, SLC9A3R1, and DNAI2. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, candidate genes associated with Duroc boars' semen traits, including the number of sperm cells, sperm motility, sperm progressive motility, and total morphological abnormalities, were identified using wssGWAS. KEGG and GO enrichment analysis indicate that the identified candidate genes were enriched in biological processes and functional terms may be involved into spermiogenesis, testes functioning, and male fertility.

Motility-related microRNAs identified in pig seminal plasma exosomes by high-throughput small RNA sequencing.

Boar fertility is a key determinant of the production efficiency of the whole pig breeding industry and boar sperm motility is the seminal parameter with the greatest impact on the fecundity of a sow. Exosomes are small, extracellular vesicles found in many body fluids. Seminal plasma exosomes, which are secreted by the epididymis, prostate, seminal vesicles, and testes, contain a large number of miRNAs, the types and levels of which can reflect the physiological state of source cells. It has been shown that the expression profile of seminal plasma exosomal miRNA differs between low-motility semen and normal semen. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between semen motility and exosomal miRNA profiles to obtain information that would allow to predict boar fertility, as well as contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms by which exosomal miRNAs regulate semen motility. Three high-motility (semen motility >90 %) and three low-motility (semen motility <80 %) semen samples were collected from Landrace and Yorkshire boars, respectively, and seminal plasma exosomes were extracted by ultracentrifugation. Exosome characterization was performed using transmission electron microscopy, NTA, and Western blot. The expression profiles of exosomal miRNAs associated with semen motility in the two boar breeds were subsequently determined by small RNA sequencing. The results showed that 297 known miRNAs and 295 novel RNAs were co-expressed in the four groups. Notably, six miRNAs (ssc-miR-122-5p, ssc-miR-486, ssc-miR-451, ssc-miR-345-3p, ssc-miR-362, and ssc-miR-500-5p) were found to be differentially expressed in both boar breeds. Enrichment analysis of the target genes of the differentially expressed miRNAs showed that they were mainly involved in biological processes such as regulation of transcription from RNA polymerase II promoter, regulation of gene expression, and intracellular signal transduction and signaling pathways such as the PI3K-Akt, MAPK, and Ras signaling pathways. The six differentially expressed miRNAs identified in this study have significant potential as noninvasive markers of boar semen motility. Meanwhile, the results of the enrichment analysis provide novel insights into the mechanisms underlying the regulation of semen motility.

Genome-Wide Association Study Reveals Novel Candidate Genes Influencing Semen Traits in Landrace Pigs.

Artificial insemination plays a crucial role in pig production, particularly in enhancing the genetic potential of elite boars. To accelerate genetic progress for semen traits in pigs, it is vital to understand and identify the underlying genetic markers associated with desirable traits. Herein, we genotyped 1238 Landrace boars with GeneSeek Porcine SNP50 K Bead chip and conducted genome-wide association studies to identify genetic regions and candidate genes associated with 12 semen traits. Our study identified 38 SNPs associated with the analyzed 12 semen traits. Furthermore, we identified several promising candidate genes, including HIBADH, DLG1, MED1, APAF1, MGST3, MTG2, and ZP4. These candidate genes have the potential function to facilitate the breeding of boars with improved semen traits. By further investigating and understanding the roles of these genes, we can develop more effective breeding strategies that contribute to the overall enhancement of pig production. The results of our study provide valuable insights for the pig-breeding industry and support ongoing research efforts to optimize genetic selection for superior semen traits.

miR-423-5p Regulates Skeletal Muscle Growth and Development by Negatively Inhibiting Target Gene SRF.

The process of muscle growth directly affects the yield and quality of pork food products. Muscle fibers are created during the embryonic stage, grow following birth, and regenerate during adulthood; these are all considered to be phases of muscle development. A multilevel network of transcriptional, post-transcriptional, and pathway levels controls this process. An integrated toolbox of genetics and genomics as well as the use of genomics techniques has been used in the past to attempt to understand the molecular processes behind skeletal muscle growth and development in pigs under divergent selection processes. A class of endogenous noncoding RNAs have a major regulatory function in myogenesis. But the precise function of miRNA-423-5p in muscle development and the related molecular pathways remain largely unknown. Using target prediction software, initially, the potential target genes of miR-423-5p in the Guangxi Bama miniature pig line were identified using various selection criteria for skeletal muscle growth and development. The serum response factor (SRF) was found to be one of the potential target genes, and the two are negatively correlated, suggesting that there may be targeted interactions. In addition to being strongly expressed in swine skeletal muscle, miR-423-5p was also up-regulated during C2C12 cell development. Furthermore, real-time PCR analysis showed that the overexpression of miR-423-5p significantly reduced the expression of myogenin and the myogenic differentiation antigen (p < 0.05). Moreover, the results of the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) demonstrated that the overexpression of miR-423-5p led to a significant reduction in SRF expression (p < 0.05). Furthermore, miR-423-5p down-regulated the luciferase activities of report vectors carrying the 3' UTR of porcine SRF, confirming that SRF is a target gene of miR-423-5p. Taken together, miR-423-5p's involvement in skeletal muscle differentiation may be through the regulation of SRF.

Detecting genetic gain and loss events in terms of protein domain: Method and implementation.

Continuous gain and loss of genes are the primary driving forces of bacterial evolution and environmental adaptation. Studying bacterial evolution in terms of protein domain, which is the fundamental function and evolutionary unit of proteins, can provide a more comprehensive understanding of bacterial differentiation and phenotypic adaptation processes. Therefore, we proposed a phylogenetic tree-based method for detecting genetic gain and loss events in terms of protein domains. Specifically, the method focuses on a single domain to trace its evolution process or on multiple domains to investigate their co-evolution principles. This novel method was validated using 122 Shigella isolates. We found that the loss of a significant number of domains was likely the main driving force behind the evolution of Shigella, which could reduce energy expenditure and preserve only the most essential functions. Additionally, we observed that simultaneously gained and lost domains were often functionally related, which can facilitate and accelerate phenotypic evolutionary adaptation to the environment. All results obtained using our method agree with those of previous studies, which validates our proposed method.

Interfacial Biomacromolecular Engineering Toward Stable Ah-Level Aqueous Zinc Batteries.

Interfacial instability within aqueous zinc batteries (AZBs) spurs technical obstacles including parasitic side reactions and dendrite failure to reach the practical application standards. Here, an interfacial engineering is showcased by employing a bio- derived zincophilic macromolecule as the electrolyte additive (0.037 wt%), which features a long-chain configuration with laterally distributed hydroxyl and sulfate anion groups, and has the propensity to remodel the electric double layer of Zn anodes. Tailored Zn2+-rich compact layer is the result of their adaptive adsorption that effectively homogenizes the interfacial concentration field, while enabling a hybrid nucleation and growth mode characterized as nuclei-rich and space-confined dense plating. Further resonated with curbed corrosion and by-products, a dendrite-free deposition morphology is achieved. Consequently, the macromolecule-modified zinc anode delivers over 1250 times of reversible plating/stripping at a practical area capacity of 5 mAh cm-2, as well as a high zinc utilization rate of 85%. The Zn//NH4V4O10 pouch cell with the maximum capacity of 1.02 Ah can be steadily operated at 71.4 mA g-1 (0.25 C) with 98.7% capacity retained after 50 cycles, which demonstrates the scale-up capability and highlights a "low input and high return" interfacial strategy toward practical AZBs.

Electrochromic windows with fast response and wide dynamic range for visible-light modulation without traditional electrodes.

Electrochromic (EC) devices represent an emerging energy-saving technology, exhibiting the capability to dynamically modulate light and heat transmittance. Despite their promising potential, the commercialization of EC devices faces substantial impediments such as high cost, intricate fabrication process, and low optical contrast inherent in conventional EC materials relying on the ion insertion/extraction mechanism. In this study, we introduce an innovative "electrode-free" electrochromic (EC) device, termed the EECD, which lacks an EC-layer on the electrodes during device assembling and in the bleached state. This device features a simplified fabrication process and delivers superior optical modulation. It achieves a high optical contrast ranging from 68-85% across the visible spectrum and boasts a rapid response time, reaching 90% coloring in just 17 seconds. In addition, EECD exhibits stable cycling for over 10,000 cycles without noticeable degradation and maintains functionality across a broad temperature range (0 °C to 50 °C). Furthermore, the fabricated large-area devices (40 cm × 40 cm) demonstrate excellent tinting uniformity, suggesting excellent scalability of this approach. Our study establishes a paradigmatic breakthrough for EC smart windows.

Additive and Dominance Genome-Wide Association Studies Reveal the Genetic Basis of Heterosis Related to Growth Traits of Duhua Hybrid Pigs.

Heterosis has been extensively used for pig genetic breeding and production, but the genetic basis of heterosis remains largely elusive. Crossbreeding between commercial and native breeds provides a good model to parse the genetic basis of heterosis. This study uses Duhua hybrid pigs, a crossbreed of Duroc and Liangguang small spotted pigs, as materials to explore the genetic basis underlying heterosis related to growth traits at the genomic level. The mid-parent heterosis (MPH) analysis showed heterosis of this Duhua offspring on growth traits. In this study, we examined the impact of additive and dominance effects on 100 AGE (age adjusted to 100 kg) and 100 BF (backfat thickness adjusted to 100 kg) of Duhua hybrid pigs. Meanwhile, we successfully identified SNPs associated with growth traits through both additive and dominance GWASs (genome-wide association studies). These findings will facilitate the subsequent in-depth studies of heterosis in the growth traits of Duhua pigs.

Expression patterns of insulin-like growth factor system members and their correlations with growth and carcass traits in Landrace and Lantang pigs during postnatal development.

The IGF system plays important roles in growth. Nevertheless, few data have been reported so far on the expression of IGF system members and their relationship with growth in domestic animals, especially pigs. In this study, hepatic transcript level of IGF1, IGF2, IGF binding protein 2 (IGFBP2), IGFBP3 and IGF 1 receptor (IGF1R), plasma protein level of IGF1 and IGFBP3, and eight growth or carcass traits, including chest circumference, body length, body height (BH), body weight, carcass weight, loin muscle area (LMA), back fat thickness and average daily gain, were measured in fast-growing Landrace and slow-growing Lantang pigs at the age of 1, 27, 90, 150 and 180 days. The results showed that liver mRNA level of IGF1, IGF2 and IGF1R, and blood protein level of IGF1 have a similar developmental profile in both Landrace and Lantang pigs. Their levels were higher at the early age than that at other older ages. Hepatic transcript abundances of the two growth inhibitors, IGFBP2 and IGFBP3, were mostly higher in Lantang pigs than that in Landrace pigs, at 5 examined postnatal stages. The IGF system members' liver mRNA level and/or serum protein level have significant correlation with each other in different age of Landrace or Lantang pigs. Hepatic mRNA level or serum protein level of IGF system members also has significant correlation with investigated traits, especially with BH and LMA, in different age of Lantang or Landrace pigs. Our results revealed the change profiles of porcine IGF system members' liver transcript level and plasma protein level between different pig breeds and different postnatal developmental ages. Moreover, the correlation analysis results suggest that the IGF system members act coordinately to regulate the growth performance and carcass composition in pigs. The information obtained from the present study is important for elucidation of the regulatory mechanism of IGF system underlying growth, and for genetic improvement in pigs.

Tailoring grain boundary stability of zinc-titanium alloy for long-lasting aqueous zinc batteries.

The detrimental parasitic reactions and uncontrolled deposition behavior derived from inherently unstable interface have largely impeded the practical application of aqueous zinc batteries. So far, tremendous efforts have been devoted to tailoring interfaces, while stabilization of grain boundaries has received less attention. Here, we demonstrate that preferential distribution of intermetallic compounds at grain boundaries via an alloying strategy can substantially suppress intergranular corrosion. In-depth morphology analysis reveals their thermodynamic stability, ensuring sustainable potency. Furthermore, the hybrid nucleation and growth mode resulting from reduced Gibbs free energy contributes to the spatially uniform distribution of Zn nuclei, promoting the dense Zn deposition. These integrated merits enable a high Zn reversibility of 99.85% for over 4000 cycles, steady charge-discharge at 10 mA cm-2, and impressive cyclability for roughly 3500 cycles in Zn-Ti//NH4V4O10 full cell. Notably, the multi-layer pouch cell of 34 mAh maintains stable cycling for 500 cycles. This work highlights a fundamental understanding of microstructure and motivates the precise tuning of grain boundary characteristics to achieve highly reversible Zn anodes.

Isolation of Limosilactobacillus reuteri Strain with Anti-porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus from Swine Feces.

Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) causes severe diarrhea diseases in piglets, which has brought huge economic losses to the pig industry. As the dominant Lactobacillus species in the piglet intestine, the antiviral effect of Limosilactobacillus reuteri (L. reuteri) has been reported. Nine L. reuteri strains were isolated and identified from swine feces in this study. The CCK-8 assay examined the anti-PEDV potential of their cell-free supernatant (CFS). Among the nine L. reuteri isolates examined, LRC8 had a higher inhibition rate to PEDV than the other strains. Thus, the biological properties of the LRC8 strain, such as growth ability, acid production ability, acid and bile salt tolerance, and adhesion to IPEC-J2 cells, were evaluated. Besides, the anti-PEDV activity of LRC8-CFS (LRC8 metabolites, LRM) was assessed using plaque reduction assays, indirect immunofluorescence assays, RT-qPCR, and western blotting. The mRNA relative expression levels of inflammatory factors including IL-1ß, IL-6, IL-8, MCP1, and TNF-α were determined by RT-qPCR. The results showed that the LRC8 strain grew well, was resistant to acid, tolerated bile salts, and adhered strongly to IPEC-J2 cells. In addition, treatment with its CFS (LRM) dramatically downregulated the mRNA expression levels of inflammatory cytokines, and in the Vero cell culture, prophylactic, therapeutic, competitive, and direct-inhibitory actions were seen against PEDV. Finally, we explored the anti-PEDV effects of the LRC8 strain in piglets and found that the LRC8 strain effectively relieved the clinical symptoms and intestinal damage of piglets infected by PEDV. To sum up, we found a L. reuteri strain with an anti-PEDV effect.