Molecular characterization of the major outer membrane protein of Haemophilus somnus     

Khan MS  Tanaka A  Ide H  Hoshinoo K  Hanafusa Y  Tagawa Y 《Veterinary microbiology》2005,107(3-4):179-192

The major outer membrane protein (MOMP) of Haemophilus somnus shows antigenic and molecular mass diversity that forms the basis of a preliminary grouping system for H. somnus strains. In this study, the gene encoding MOMP of H. somnus strain 8025 was cloned in three overlapping fragments by PCR techniques, and then sequenced. The gene consists of a 1164-bp open reading frame encoding a deduced 380-amino acid protein with a 19-amino acid signal sequence, giving a mature protein with a calculated molecular mass of 39,913 Da. Significant homology was found between MOMP and porin protein sequences of bacteria in Pasteurellaceae species. When expressed in Escherichia coli, the protein from the MOMP gene directed by the T7 promoter was identical in size (approximately 40 kDa) to native MOMP and reacted with MOMP-specific antibodies. Comparisons of the MOMP gene sequences from six unrelated strains of H. somnus to that of strain 8025 revealed that the genes of three MOMP type 1 strains were highly conserved with that of strain 8025 in length and sequence. However, two MOMP type 3c strains and one MOMP type 3a strain differed markedly from the MOMP of strain 8025 in their 3'-terminal halves. Their deduced MOMP amino acid sequences differed in sequence (3c, 80.5 and 82.7% identity; 3a, 62.4% identity) and in length (3c, 384 and 376; 3a, 316), indicating that the molecular differences are the basis of antigenicity and molecular mass differences of H. somnus MOMP. In the predicted MOMP secondary structure, the variable sequences primarily mapped to putative surface-exposed loops, and a variable and surface-exposed epitope of MOMP-specific antibody was identified in the seventh-largest loop. These findings are useful for understanding the structural and immunological characteristics of H. somnus.  相似文献   

Prediction from ultrasonographic measurements of the expected delivery date in two species of bottlenosed dolphin (Tursiops truncatus and Tursiops aduncus)     

Lacave G  Eggermont M  Verslycke T  Brook F  Salbany A  Roque L  Kinoshita R 《The Veterinary record》2004,154(8):228-233

Ultrasonographic measurements were made at least once a month during 14 gestations in seven Tursiops truncatus and 12 gestations in five Tursiops aduncus (bottlenosed dolphins). The 121 measurements of the fetal biparietal diameter and 139 measurements of the fetal thoracic diameter in T truncatus and the 97 measurements of the biparietal diameter and 97 measurements of the thoracic diameter in Taduncus were used to establish regression lines for the increases in the diameter of the head and thorax of the fetus with time. From these relationships an easy-to-use computer program was developed to predict the date of birth of the two species of bottlenosed dolphin, and its predictions were compared with the actual dates of birth of other calves of both species. The births occurred within the range of predicted dates, and even when only a few measurements were available, the program provided accurate predictions.  相似文献   

A simple calculation for obtaining shunt fractions of portosystemic shunts     

Washizu M  Torisu S  Kondo Y  Shimizu N  Washizu T  Takemura N  Kinoshita G 《The Journal of veterinary medical science / the Japanese Society of Veterinary Science》2004,66(4):449-451

Since the isotopes can not be utilized for veterinary patients in Japan, the authors developed a simple calculation formula of shunt fraction of portosystemic shunt based on the hepatic circulation model. The shunt fraction can be calculated utilizing only 2 portal pressure measurements of pre-shunt ligation and temporary or permanent shunt ligation. The calculated shunt fraction can obtained pre-ligation and post-ligation either temporally or permanent complete shunt ligation: complete ligation group of PSS (n=59) had 48.2 +/- 16.9% of shunt fractions, whereas the partial ligation group (n=48) had 71.6 +/- 10.7% of shunt fractions.  相似文献   

Establishment of a large-scale purification procedure for purified recombinant bovine interferon-tau produced by a silkworm-baculovirus gene expression system     

Nagaya H  Kanaya T  Kaki H  Tobita Y  Takahashi M  Takahashi H  Yokomizo Y  Inumaru S 《The Journal of veterinary medical science / the Japanese Society of Veterinary Science》2004,66(11):1395-1401

We developed a procedure for the large-scale purification of bovine interferon-tau (boIFN-tau) by means of a silkworm-baculovirus gene expression system. Recombinant boIFN-tau (rboIFN-tau) was efficiently produced in the silkworm infected with boIFN-tau cDNA recombinant baculovirus and accumulated in the haemolymph. To establish a purification method suitable for mass production, we tried three crude purification methods, namely, an acidification and neutralization treatment (ANT), silica gel column chromatography (SGCC), and Blue sepharose column chromatography (BSCC) with a combination of Q-sepharose (QSC) and chelating sepharose column chromatographies (CSCC). As a result, the acidification and neutralization treatment was found to be the most efficient and cost effective. With this combination, we obtained 91% pure products. To confirm the applicability of the procedure for mass production, we inoculated 100 silkworms with the recombinant virus, and recovered about 4.55 mg (1.26 x 10(8)U/mg) of 91% pure rboIFN-tau by means of a combination of the ANT, followed by QSC and CSCC.  相似文献   

Comparative studies on lipid analysis and ultrastructure in porcine and southern minke whale (Balaenoptera bonaerensis) oocytes     

Fujihira T  Kinoshita M  Sasaki M  Ohnishi M  Ishikawa H  Ohsumi S  Fukui Y 《The Journal of reproduction and development》2004,50(5):525-532

The present study was conducted to clarify the difference in the color of the cytoplasm in immature follicular oocytes from prepubertal and adult minke whales. The four lipid contents (triglyceride, total cholesterol, phospholipids and non-esterified fatty acids) in vitrified immature oocytes from prepubertal and adult minke whales, and also in fresh and vitrified immature porcine oocytes, were measured. The lipid contents in vitrified-warmed minke whale oocytes were similarly high compared with those in vitrified-warmed porcine oocytes. In particular, the total cholesterol and phospholipid contents in the vitrified immature oocytes from prepubertal and adult minke whales were significantly (P<0.05) higher than those from prepubertal pigs. Furthermore, the distribution of lipid droplets in fresh and vitrified immature oocytes was observed in transmission electron microscopy. Lipid droplets in the prepubertal minke whale oocytes were distributed throughout the cytoplasm. In contrast, adult minke whales had larger lipid droplets which were distributed mainly in the central portion of the cytoplasm. The lipid droplets of immature oocytes from prepubertal pigs were larger than those in minke whale oocytes. These results indicated that the difference in the distribution of the cytoplasmic lipid droplets may result in the difference in the color tone of both prepubertal and adult whale oocyte cytoplasm.  相似文献   

Occurrence of swine salmonellosis in postweaning multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS) affected pigs concurrently infected with porcine reproduction and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV)   总被引：4，自引：0，他引：4  

Murakami S  Ogawa A  Kinoshita T  Matsumoto A  Ito N  Nakane T 《The Journal of veterinary medical science / the Japanese Society of Veterinary Science》2006,68(4):387-391

Fourteen diseased pigs from four farms in which there had been an outbreak of salmonellosis were investigated. Granulomatous inflammation with depletion of lymphocytes was observed in the swollen lymph nodes in these pigs. Antigens to porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) were immunolabeled in the lesions along with detection of viral DNA as PCV2 by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). In addition, antigens to porcine reproductive respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) were immunodetected in the lungs and Salmonella Choleraesuis was isolated from the affected pigs. The nine salmonellosis affected pigs, five (55.6%) with salmonellosis and PMWS concurrently infected with PRRSV were much higher than those infected with salmonellosis and PMWS (22.2%) or with salmonellosis and PPPRV (22.2%).  相似文献   

Depth perception from image defocus in a jumping spider     

Nagata T  Koyanagi M  Tsukamoto H  Saeki S  Isono K  Shichida Y  Tokunaga F  Kinoshita M  Arikawa K  Terakita A 《Science (New York, N.Y.)》2012,335(6067):469-471

The principal eyes of jumping spiders have a unique retina with four tiered photoreceptor layers, on each of which light of different wavelengths is focused by a lens with appreciable chromatic aberration. We found that all photoreceptors in both the deepest and second-deepest layers contain a green-sensitive visual pigment, although green light is only focused on the deepest layer. This mismatch indicates that the second-deepest layer always receives defocused images, which contain depth information of the scene in optical theory. Behavioral experiments revealed that depth perception in the spider was affected by the wavelength of the illuminating light, which affects the amount of defocus in the images resulting from chromatic aberration. Therefore, we propose a depth perception mechanism based on how much the retinal image is defocused.  相似文献   

Evaluation of soybean germplasm conserved in NIAS genebank and development of mini core collections     

Akito Kaga  Takehiko Shimizu  Satoshi Watanabe  Yasutaka Tsubokura  Yuichi Katayose  Kyuya Harada  Duncan A. Vaughan  Norihiko Tomooka 《Breeding Science》2012,61(5):566-592

Genetic variation and population structure among 1603 soybean accessions, consisted of 832 Japanese landraces, 109 old and 57 recent Japanese varieties, 341 landrace from 16 Asian countries and 264 wild soybean accessions, were characterized using 191 SNP markers. Although gene diversity of Japanese soybean germplasm was slight lower than that of exotic soybean germplasm, population differentiation and clustering analyses indicated clear genetic differentiation among Japanese cultivated soybeans, exotic cultivated soybeans and wild soybeans. Nine hundred ninety eight Japanese accessions were separated to a certain extent into groups corresponding to their agro-morphologic characteristics such as photosensitivity and seed characteristics rather than their geographical origin. Based on the assessment of the SNP markers and several agro-morphologic traits, accessions that retain gene diversity of the whole collection were selected to develop several soybean sets of different sizes using an heuristic approach; a minimum of 12 accessions can represent the observed gene diversity; a mini-core collection of 96 accession can represent a major proportion of both geographic origin and agro-morphologic trait variation. These selected sets of germplasm will provide an effective platform for enhancing soybean diversity studies and assist in finding novel traits for crop improvement.  相似文献   

Factors affecting the infiltration capacity in bamboo groves   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Marino Hiraoka  Yuichi Onda 《Journal of Forest Research》2012,17(5):403-412

To determine the effects of the characteristics of litter and surface soil on the infiltration capacity in bamboo groves, infiltration rates were measured on a plot-scale using an oscillating-nozzle rainfall simulator at seven Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys pubescens) sites and one Madake (P. bambusoides) site in Japan. The maximum final infiltration rate (FIR_max), which was defined in this study as the infiltration capacity, was calculated, and the correlation between FIR_max and earth surface properties was analyzed. The FIR_max ranged from 9 to 308?mm?h^?1, showing little correlation with litter as surface cover, and a weak correlation with bulk density (0.3–0.9?g?cm^?3) and organic matter content (10.4–45.9%). These results suggest that the bulk density and organic matter content of surface soil, rather than surface cover, can be the controlling factors of infiltration capacity in bamboo groves. The bulk density of surface soil correlated significantly with the soil organic matter content, represented by bamboo rhizomes, suggesting that the infiltration capacity can increase with the amount of root networks present, related to macropore formation. The stand density showed a weak positive correlation, although not significant, with the soil organic matter content and a positive correlation with FIR_max. Thus, the infiltration capacity of bamboo groves can increase as the stand density of culms and bamboo rhizomes increase.  相似文献   

Abundance and use of cavity trees at the tree- and stand-levels in natural and plantation forests in Hokkaido, Japan     

Kokoro Kikuchi  Takumi Akasaka  Yuichi Yamaura  Futoshi Nakamura 《Journal of Forest Research》2013,18(5):389-397

The conservation of cavity trees in plantations is important for maintaining biodiversity because cavity trees are one of the forest attributes most strongly affected by forestry operations. We surveyed the occurrence of cavities at the tree-level and the abundance of cavity trees and the number of uses by secondary cavity users at the stand-level in natural and conifer plantation forests in Hokkaido, Japan. We classified cavities into two types by their formation processes: excavated and non-excavated. Excavated cavities were more common in dead trees than in live trees. Non-excavated cavities showed high occurrence in dead and live broad-leaved trees. The abundance of non-excavated cavity trees was two times greater than that of excavated cavity trees in natural forests, but, in plantations, excavated cavity trees were dominant. The abundance of non-excavated cavity trees was lower in thinned plantations than in not-thinned plantations. The number of cavity uses increased with the number of cavity trees, indicating the importance of maintaining cavity trees. Conifer plantations are established by removing native broad-leaved trees, which results in a lower abundance of non-excavated cavity trees in these locations. The conservation of broad-leaved trees is important for maintaining the current and future resource of non-excavated cavity trees in plantation forests, as is the conservation of dead trees, which showed a high occurrence of excavated cavities.  相似文献