A half a century of measuring ungulate body condition using indices: is it time for a change?

From a literature review of five wildlife ecology journals since 1937, we document how using indices to monitor ungulate body condition is common practice, with the kidney fat index (KFI = weight of fat around the kidneys/weight of kidneys without fat × 100) as the favoured tool (82% of studies). In this context, we highlight the problems of using indices when underlying statistical assumptions are not met (isometry, parallel slopes between treatments). We show, with real and simulated data for two cervids with contrasting fat storage strategies, how results from analysis of variance of KFI values differ from analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) of raw data. We conclude that the KFI is affected by the restrictions typically associated with derived index values, and as a consequence, statistical analysis of the KFI could generate spurious results leading to erroneous interpretations concerning variation in body condition of ungulate populations. Thus, we recommend analysing fat weight as an untransformed variable in ANCOVA (kidney weight as covariate) to describe body condition variation in ungulates. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Exploring the Gastrointestinal “Nemabiome”: Deep Amplicon Sequencing to Quantify the Species Composition of Parasitic Nematode Communities

Parasitic helminth infections have a considerable impact on global human health as well as animal welfare and production. Although co-infection with multiple parasite species within a host is common, there is a dearth of tools with which to study the composition of these complex parasite communities. Helminth species vary in their pathogenicity, epidemiology and drug sensitivity and the interactions that occur between co-infecting species and their hosts are poorly understood. We describe the first application of deep amplicon sequencing to study parasitic nematode communities as well as introduce the concept of the gastro-intestinal “nemabiome”. The approach is analogous to 16S rDNA deep sequencing used to explore microbial communities, but utilizes the nematode ITS-2 rDNA locus instead. Gastro-intestinal parasites of cattle were used to develop the concept, as this host has many well-defined gastro-intestinal nematode species that commonly occur as complex co-infections. Further, the availability of pure mono-parasite populations from experimentally infected cattle allowed us to prepare mock parasite communities to determine, and correct for, species representation biases in the sequence data. We demonstrate that, once these biases have been corrected, accurate relative quantitation of gastro-intestinal parasitic nematode communities in cattle fecal samples can be achieved. We have validated the accuracy of the method applied to field-samples by comparing the results of detailed morphological examination of L3 larvae populations with those of the sequencing assay. The results illustrate the insights that can be gained into the species composition of parasite communities, using grazing cattle in the mid-west USA as an example. However, both the technical approach and the concept of the ‘nemabiome’ have a wide range of potential applications in human and veterinary medicine. These include investigations of host-parasite and parasite-parasite interactions during co-infection, parasite epidemiology, parasite ecology and the response of parasite populations to both drug treatments and control programs.     

The upscaling of transpiration from individual trees to areal transpiration in tree belts

Sap flow measurements have long been used to measure transpiration in individual trees and there exist some well established methods for upscaling individual tree volumetric transpiration to areal transpiration in plantation and forest plots. However, where edge effects are significant, such as in tree belts, the area the volumetric transpiration is to be projected upon is unknown. This paper provides a methodology for estimating the area that a tree belt hydrologically occupies by using either measurements of tree root density or soil moisture distribution. An application of the proposed methodology shows that simply assuming that the area of the tree belt is the crown projected area could lead to an overestimation of the areal transpiration of 100%. The online version of the original article can be found at .     

Development of a Multiple Loci Variable Number of Tandem Repeats Analysis (MLVA) to Unravel the Intra-Pathovar Structure of Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae Populations Worldwide

The bacterial canker of kiwifruit by Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae is an emblematic example of a catastrophic disease of fruit crops. In 2008 a new, extremely virulent form of the pathogen emerged and rapidly devastated many Actinidia spp. orchards all over the world. In order to understand differences in populations within this pathovar and to elucidate their diffusion and movements on world scale, it is necessary to be able to quickly and on a routine basis compare new isolates with previous records. In this report a worldwide collection of 142 strains was analyzed by MLVA, chosen as investigative technique for its efficacy, reproducibility, simplicity and low cost. A panel of 13 Variable Number of Tandem Repeats (VNTR) loci was identified and used to describe the pathogen population. The MLVA clustering is highly congruent with the population structure as previously established by other molecular approaches including whole genome sequencing and correlates with geographic origin, time of isolation and virulence. For convenience, we divided the VNTR loci in two panels. Panel 1 assay, using six loci, recognizes 23 different haplotypes, clustered into ten complexes with highest congruence with previous classifications. Panel 2, with seven VNTR loci, provides discriminatory power. Using the total set of 13 VNTR loci, 58 haplotypes can be distinguished. The recent hypervirulent type shows very limited diversity and includes, beside the strains from Europe, New Zealand and Chile, a few strains from Shaanxi, China. A broad genetic variability is observed in China, but different types are also retrievable in Japan and Korea. The low virulent strains cluster together and are very different from the other MLVA genotypes. Data were used to generate a public database in MLVAbank. MLVA represents a very promising first-line assay for large-scale routine genotyping, prior to whole genome sequencing of only the most relevant samples.     

The amino acid sequence of the alpha subunit of mouse salivary androgen-binding protein (ABP), with a comparison to the partial sequence of the beta subunit and to other ligand-binding proteins

It has been suggested that three distinct genes,Abpa, Abpb, andAbpg, determine the three subunits of mouse salivary androgen-binding protein (ABP) (Dlouhy, S. R.,et al., Genetics 115, 535, 1987). We report the putative amino acid sequence of the subunit common to all forms of ABP, the Alpha subunit, and the partial amino acid sequence of the Beta subunit. These sequences have little in common, supporting the notion of at least two distinct genes coding for the subunits of the most common form of salivary ABP, the A:B dimer. A search of GenBank showed that these sequences have not been reported previously. The Beta subunit shows significant homology with helospectin, a member of the glucagon superfamily, but not enough homology to assign it to the family. No homology exists between ABP subunits and members of the ligand-binding carrier family of proteins nor does ABP show homology with other androgen-binding proteins. Particularly interesting is the observation that there is no relationship to rat prostatic steroid binding protein (PBP), given the similarities in protein tertiary structure, the numbers of subunits and their genes, and the earlier observation of ABP cross-reactive material in mouse prostate.Partial support for this work was provided by a PHS AREA award and by the Butler Academic Grants program. Both sources of support are greatly appreciated.A portion of this work constituted partial fulfillment of the honors thesis requirement for Butler University.     

Characterization of cDNA clones for differentially expressed genes in embryos of dormant and nondormant Avena fatua L. caryopses

The molecular regulation of seed dormancy was investigated using differential display to visualize and isolate cDNAs representing differentially expressed genes during early imbibition of dormant and nondormant Avena fatua L. embryos. Of about 3000 cDNA bands examined, 5 cDNAs hybridized with mRNAs exhibiting dormancy-associated expression patterns during the first 48 h of imbibition, while many more nondormancy-associated cDNAs were observed. Dormancy-associated clone AFD1 hybridized with a 1.5 kb mRNA barely detectable in dry dormant and nondormant embryos that became more abundant in dormant embryos after 24 h of imbibition. Clone AFD2 hybridized with two mRNAs, a 1.3 kb message constitutively expressed in dormant and nondormant embryos and a 0.9 kb message present at higher levels in dormant embryos after 3 h of imbibition. Nondormancy-associated clones AFN1, AFN2 and AFN3 hybridized with 1.5 kb, 1.7 kb and 1.1 kb mRNAs, respectively, that were more abundant in nondormant embryos during imbibition. Expression patterns of some mRNAs in dormant embryos induced to germinate by GA₃ treatment were different than water controls, but were not identical to those observed in nondormant embryos. DNA sequence analysis revealed 76% sequence identity between clone AFN3 and a Citrus sinensis glutathione peroxidase-like cDNA, while significant sequence similarities with known genes were not found for other clones. Southern hybridization analyses showed that all clones represent low (1 to 4) copy number genes.