scholarly journals Whole-genome sequence analysis unveils different origins of European and Asiatic mouflon and domestication-related genes in sheep

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ze-Hui Chen ◽  
Ya-Xi Xu ◽  
Xing-Long Xie ◽  
Dong-Feng Wang ◽  
Diana Aguilar-Gómez ◽  
...  

AbstractThe domestication and subsequent development of sheep are crucial events in the history of human civilization and the agricultural revolution. However, the impact of interspecific introgression on the genomic regions under domestication and subsequent selection remains unclear. Here, we analyze the whole genomes of domestic sheep and their wild relative species. We found introgression from wild sheep such as the snow sheep and its American relatives (bighorn and thinhorn sheep) into urial, Asiatic and European mouflons. We observed independent events of adaptive introgression from wild sheep into the Asiatic and European mouflons, as well as shared introgressed regions from both snow sheep and argali into Asiatic mouflon before or during the domestication process. We revealed European mouflons might arise through hybridization events between a now extinct sheep in Europe and feral domesticated sheep around 6000–5000 years BP. We also unveiled later introgressions from wild sheep to their sympatric domestic sheep after domestication. Several of the introgression events contain loci with candidate domestication genes (e.g., PAPPA2, NR6A1, SH3GL3, RFX3 and CAMK4), associated with morphological, immune, reproduction or production traits (wool/meat/milk). We also detected introgression events that introduced genes related to nervous response (NEURL1), neurogenesis (PRUNE2), hearing ability (USH2A), and placental viability (PAG11 and PAG3) into domestic sheep and their ancestral wild species from other wild species.

1988 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 97 ◽  
Author(s):  
DR Lindsay

The recorded behaviour of wild species of Ovis at the beginning of the breeding season supports the proposal that mating is synchronized by the 'ram effect', a phenomenon already described in domestic sheep. Animals separate into exclusive male flocks, and flocks of females and young animals for most of the year. They reunite just before the rutting season. At lambing there appear to be behavioural mechanisms that ensure that ewes lamb in close proximity to one another. It is hypothesized that these behavioural characteristics of wild sheep help protect the newborn and that much of the reproductive and maternal behaviour of domestic sheep may be traced to comparable behaviour in wild species.


Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 1534
Author(s):  
Chandra Mohan Singh ◽  
Poornima Singh ◽  
Chandrakant Tiwari ◽  
Shalini Purwar ◽  
Mukul Kumar ◽  
...  

Drought stress is considered a severe threat to crop production. It adversely affects the morpho-physiological, biochemical and molecular functions of the plants, especially in short duration crops like mungbean. In the past few decades, significant progress has been made towards enhancing climate resilience in legumes through classical and next-generation breeding coupled with omics approaches. Various defence mechanisms have been reported as key players in crop adaptation to drought stress. Many researchers have identified potential donors, QTLs/genes and candidate genes associated to drought tolerance-related traits. However, cloning and exploitation of these loci/gene(s) in breeding programmes are still limited. To bridge the gap between theoretical research and practical breeding, we need to reveal the omics-assisted genetic variations associated with drought tolerance in mungbean to tackle this stress. Furthermore, the use of wild relatives in breeding programmes for drought tolerance is also limited and needs to be focused. Even after six years of decoding the whole genome sequence of mungbean, the genome-wide characterization and expression of various gene families and transcriptional factors are still lacking. Due to the complex nature of drought tolerance, it also requires integrating high throughput multi-omics approaches to increase breeding efficiency and genomic selection for rapid genetic gains to develop drought-tolerant mungbean cultivars. This review highlights the impact of drought stress on mungbean and mitigation strategies for breeding high-yielding drought-tolerant mungbean varieties through classical and modern omics technologies.


Modern Italy ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Omar Mazzotti ◽  
Massimo Fornasari

This article examines the dissemination of agricultural education in primary schools in the Romagna, an important rural area in post-unification Italy. The topic is explored within a wider perspective, analysing the impact of institutional changes – at both the national and local levels – on the transmission of agricultural knowledge in primary education during the final quarter of the nineteenth century. Two particular elements of the process are examined: students, as the intended beneficiaries of the educational process; and teachers, who as well as having a key role in reducing the extent of illiteracy were sometimes also involved in disseminating agricultural knowledge. The transfer of that knowledge appears to have been a very challenging task, not least because of the scant interest that Italy's ruling class showed towards this issue. However, increasing importance seems to have been given to agricultural education in primary schools during the economic crisis of the 1880s, when the expansion of this provision was thought to be among the factors that might help to prepare the ground for the hoped-for ‘agricultural revolution’.


Author(s):  
Kuan Chen ◽  
James Cheng-Chung Wei ◽  
Hei-Tung Yip ◽  
Mei-Chia Chou ◽  
Renin Chang

Mycoplasma pneumoniae (M. pneumoniae) is not only one of the most common pathogenic bacteria for respiratory infection but also a trigger for many autoimmune diseases. Its infection process shared many similarities with the pathogenesis of myasthenia gravis (MG) at cellular and cytokine levels. Recent case reports demonstrated patients present with MG after M. pneumoniae infection. However, no epidemiological studies ever looked into the association between the two. Our study aimed to investigate the relationship between M. pneumoniae infection and subsequent development of MG. In this population-based retrospective cohort study, the risk of MG was analyzed in patients who were newly diagnosed with M. pneumoniae infection between 2000 and 2013. A total of 2428 M. pneumoniae patients were included and matched with the non-M. pneumoniae control cohort at a 1:4 ratio by age, sex, and index date. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was applied to analyze the risk of MG development after adjusting for sex, age, and comorbidities, with hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals. The incidence rates of MG in the non-M. pneumoniae and M. pneumoniae cohorts were 0.96 and 1.97 per 10,000 person-years, respectively. Another case–control study of patients with MG (n = 515) was conducted to analyze the impact of M. pneumoniae on MG occurrence as a sensitivity analysis. The analysis yielded consistent absence of a link between M. pneumoniae and MG. Although previous studies have reported that M. pneumoniae infection and MG may share associated immunologic pathways, we found no statistical significance between M. pneumoniae infection and subsequent development of MG in this study.


2020 ◽  
pp. 132-136
Author(s):  
Hiroshi Ikeda ◽  
Shigeyuki Minami

Hearing impaired persons are required to drive with hearing aids to supplement their hearing ability, however, there has not been sufficient discussion regarding the impact of the use of a hearing aid on driving a vehicle. In order to investigate the actual usage and driving conditions of using hearing aids while driving a vehicle, this paper uses a questionnaire to survey (1) how easy it is to drive when wearing hearing aids, and (2) how often hearing aids are not worn while driving. Concerning the ease of driving when wearing a hearing aid, it was suggested that people with congenital hearing loss were more likely to rely on visual information, and those with acquired hearing loss continue to use their experience of hearing. When the level of disability is high, it is difficult to drive when using the hearing aid, and when the disability level is low, it is easier to drive. Regarding the frequency of driving without wearing hearing aids, about 60 % of respondents had such an experience. Those who often drive without hearing aids had experienced headaches due to noise from wearing hearing aids compared to those who wear hearing aids at all times. Hearing aids are necessary assistive devices for hearing impaired persons to obtain hearing information, and to provide a safe driving environment. Therefore, this paper addresses issues to maintain a comfortable driving environment while wearing a hearing aid.


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 920-926
Author(s):  
Cristian Ploscaru ◽  
IonuČ› Nistor

This study proposes a theoretical approach to the idea of a platform for research and education on the historical substance of regionalization in Romania, with reference to the case of the historical province of Moldova. Furthermore, to identify the consequences, reactions, weaknesses, opportunities afforded by administrative restructuring from a post-regionalization demographic and socioeconomic viewpoint. An inter-disciplinary analysis – historical, demographic, economic – the traits of a Romanian society stemming from Moldova, the historical dynamics that underpin the modern Romanian state, will provide a picture of the current situation, focused mainly on its causes while trying to find explanations rooted in economic and social behaviours and attitudes which came to define and inform the subsequent development strategy of regionalization, allowing Moldova to play a central economic role in relation to other territories, similar to the role it played in the past two centuries, in the context of European integration strategies, in neighbouring parts of the continent (Republic of Moldova, Ukraine). The theoretical approach involves three components, expanding concentrically: 1) component of knowledge / research; 2) digital platform; 3) e-learning component. The research component seeks dynamic historical development of Moldova, from the time after the Union of the Romanian Principalities until today, focusing on specific regional elements. We will try to identify and analyze the specific features of Moldova, links with other areas of historical Moldavia, as the interaction between them and the Romanian public policy. Within the demographic component, we look at the historical population dynamics of Moldova, including various ethnic and religious communities, rural-urban ratios, social and professional structures. Another issue concerns the economic and comparative analysis in space and time, with respect to Moldova historical economic dynamics parameters - resources, infrastructure, industry, agriculture, trade, transport, etc. Both aspects will be analyzed in correlation with the impact of a permanent political factor, pursuing public policies promoted by the political regimes in their chronological sequence.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ranganathan Kamalakkannan ◽  
Satish Kumar ◽  
Karippadakam Bhavana ◽  
Vandana R. Prabhu ◽  
Carolina Barros Machado ◽  
...  

AbstractIndia ranks the second in the world in terms of its sheep population with approximately 74.26 million represented by 44 well-described breeds in addition to several non-descript populations. Genetic diversity and phylogeography of Indian sheep breeds remain poorly understood, particularly for south Indian breeds. To have a comprehensive view of the domestication history of Indian sheep, we sequenced the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region (D-loop) and cytochrome b gene (CYTB) of 16 Indian domestic sheep breeds, most of them (13) from the south India. We analysed these sequences along with published data of domestic and wild sheep from different countries, including India. The haplotype diversity was relatively high in Indian sheep, which were classified into the three known mtDNA lineages, namely A, B and C. Lineage A was predominant among Indian sheep whereas lineages B and C were observed at low frequencies but C was restricted to the breeds of north and east India. The median joining network showed five major expanding haplogroups of lineage A (A1–A5). Out of which, A2, A4 and A5 were more frequent in Indian sheep in contrast to breeds from other parts of the world. Among the 27 Indian sheep breeds analysed, Mandya and Sonadi breeds were significantly different from other Indian breeds in the MDS analyses. This was explained by a very high contribution of lineage B into these two breeds. The Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC) provided evidence for the domestication of lineage A sheep in the Indian subcontinent. Contrary to the current knowledge, we also found strong support for the introduction of lineage B into Indian subcontinent through sea route rather than from the Mongolian Plateau. The neighbour-joining tree of domestic and wild sheep revealed the close genetic relationship of Indian domestic sheep with Pakistani wild sheep O. vignei blanfordi. Based on our analyses and archaeological evidences, we suggest the Indian subcontinent as one of the domestication centres of the lineage A sheep, while lineage B sheep might have arrived into India from elsewhere via Arabian sea route. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive study on Indian sheep where we have analysed more than 740 animals belonging to 27 sheep breeds raised in various regions of India. Our study provides insight into the understanding of the origin and migratory history of Indian sheep.


Genes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 1830
Author(s):  
Victor B. Pedrosa ◽  
Flavio S. Schenkel ◽  
Shi-Yi Chen ◽  
Hinayah R. Oliveira ◽  
Theresa M. Casey ◽  
...  

Lactation persistency and milk production are among the most economically important traits in the dairy industry. In this study, we explored the association of over 6.1 million imputed whole-genome sequence variants with lactation persistency (LP), milk yield (MILK), fat yield (FAT), fat percentage (FAT%), protein yield (PROT), and protein percentage (PROT%) in North American Holstein cattle. We identified 49, 3991, 2607, 4459, 805, and 5519 SNPs significantly associated with LP, MILK, FAT, FAT%, PROT, and PROT%, respectively. Various known associations were confirmed while several novel candidate genes were also revealed, including ARHGAP35, NPAS1, TMEM160, ZC3H4, SAE1, ZMIZ1, PPIF, LDB2, ABI3, SERPINB6, and SERPINB9 for LP; NIM1K, ZNF131, GABRG1, GABRA2, DCHS1, and SPIDR for MILK; NR6A1, OLFML2A, EXT2, POLD1, GOT1, and ETV6 for FAT; DPP6, LRRC26, and the KCN gene family for FAT%; CDC14A, RTCA, HSTN, and ODAM for PROT; and HERC3, HERC5, LALBA, CCL28, and NEURL1 for PROT%. Most of these genes are involved in relevant gene ontology (GO) terms such as fatty acid homeostasis, transporter regulator activity, response to progesterone and estradiol, response to steroid hormones, and lactation. The significant genomic regions found contribute to a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms related to LP and milk production in North American Holstein cattle.


2005 ◽  
Vol 35 (10) ◽  
pp. 1493-1503 ◽  
Author(s):  
PETER M. LEWINSOHN ◽  
THOMAS M. OLINO ◽  
DANIEL N. KLEIN

Background. Offspring of depressed parents experience impairment in a number of domains of functioning. Few studies have examined the impact of both maternal and paternal depression and co-morbid psychopathology on offspring functioning.Method. Oregon Adolescent Depression Project participants were administered diagnostic interviews and completed measures of psychosocial functioning during adolescence (mean=16·6, S.D.=1·19) and again during young adulthood (mean=24·5, S.D.=0·51). Diagnostic interviews were also conducted with the mothers and fathers of the target individual.Results. After controlling for relevant demographic characteristics, parental co-morbid psychopathology, and offspring psychopathology, maternal depression was associated with higher levels of physical symptoms (β=0·14, S.E.=0·07) during adolescence, and higher levels of minor stressors (β=2·52, S.E.=1·07) and a greater risk for using mental health services (OR 1·86, 95% CI 1·14–3·03) in young adulthood. Paternal depression was associated with offspring experiencing more major stressors (β=0·27, S.E.=0·07), having lower perceived social competence (β=−0·17, S.E.=0·08), and being more likely to attempt suicide (OR 2·65, 95% CI 1·19–5·92) during adolescence, as well as lower perceived social competence (β=−1·21, S.E.=0·49) in young adulthood.Conclusions. Offspring of depressed parents demonstrate impairment in a variety of domains, even after controlling for the effects of their own psychopathology. Further research on the mechanisms that lead to these impairments, as well as the role of these impairments in the subsequent development of psychopathology, is warranted.


2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 477-491 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura C. Pratchett ◽  
Rachel Yehuda

AbstractThe effects of childhood abuse are diverse, and although pathology is not the only outcome, psychiatric illness, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), can develop. However, adult PTSD is less common among those who experienced single-event traumas as children than it is among those who experienced childhood abuse. In addition, PTSD is more common among adults than children who experienced childhood abuse. Such evidence raises doubt about the direct, causal link between childhood trauma and adult PTSD. The experience of childhood trauma, and in particular abuse, has been identified as a risk factor for subsequent development of PTSD following exposure to adult trauma, and a substantial literature identifies revictimization as a factor that plays a pivotal role in this trajectory. The literature on the developmental effects of childhood abuse and pathways to revictimization, when considered in tandem with the biological effects of early stress in animal models, may provide some explanations for this. Specifically, it seems possible that permanent sensitization of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis and behavioral outcomes are a consequence of childhood abuse, and these combine with the impact of retraumatization to sustain, perpetuate, and amplify symptomatology of those exposed to maltreatment in childhood.


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