Clinical mastitis (CM) is one of the most common diseases of dairy cows globally, has a complex aetiology and recurs easily. Staphylococcus aureus is a frequently isolated pathogen responsible for bovine mastitis and remains difficult to eradicate. To characterise the transcriptional profiles of dairy cows infected by S. aureus, we performed an RNA-seq analysis of peripheral blood leukocytes in lactating Chinese Holstein dairy cows with CM and did the same with healthy cows’ samples as controls. A total of 4,286 genes were detected in the CM cases infected with S. aureus which were differentially expressed compared to the controls, 3,085 of which were upregulated, the remainder being downregulated. Notably, we observed that some differentially expressed genes (DEGs) had strong protein–protein interaction. Of these, six downregulated DEGs (AKR1C4, PTGS2, HNMT, EPHX2, CMBL, and IDH1) were involved in the metabolic pathway, while eight upregulated DEGs (VWF, GP9, MYLK, GP6, F2RL3, ITGB3, GP5, and PRKG1) were associated with the platelet activation pathway. The transcriptome dataset of CM cases would be a valuable resource for clinical guidance on anti-inflammatory medication and for deeper understanding of the biological processes of CM response to S. aureus infection, and it would enable us to identify specific genes for diagnostic markers and possibly for targeted therapy.

Objective: To elucidate the cellular mechanisms of polyherbal formulation [Kolin PlusTM (KP)], genomics was performed to delineate the genes and pathways associated with lipid regulation through transcriptional profiling of the liver in commercial broilers raised on diets deficient in choline chloride (CCL). Materials and Methods: The gene expression patterns were studied for four groups [normal diet: normal, choline chloride deficient (CCD), KP (400 gm/ton), and CCL (400 gm/ton)] using Agilent microarray on day 42. The hierarchical cluster analysis was carried out on 12,614 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) with a similar expression. Results: Out of 12,614 significant DEGs, 1,926, 448, and 1,330 genes were expressed at higher rates, and 413, 482, and 1,364 were expressed at lower rates than CCD (CCD vs. normal), CCL (CCL vs. CCD), and KP (KP vs. CCD), respectively. GO enrichment analysis of DEG further revealed the significant association of biological process items with the lipid, sterol, and lipoprotein metabolic processes. In particular, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1 alpha, carnitine palmitoyl transferase I, hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase trifunctional multienzyme com¬plex subunit beta, and patatin-like phospholipase domain containing 2 genes involved in fatty acid oxidation and lipase C, ABCG5, ABCG8, acetyl-CoA carboxylase, ATP citrate lyase enzyme, and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma genes involved in lipogenesis were altered by KP intervention for lipid metabolism. Conclusions: These findings reveal that the supplementation of KP prevents fatty liver-associated problems in broiler chickens by modulating the expression of the above-mentioned genes that are responsible for the oxidation of fatty acids and lipogenesis in the liver. [J Adv Vet Anim Res 2022; 9(3.000): 432-439]

OBJECTIVE To identify associations between microbes and host genes in cats with feline chronic gingivostomatitis (FCGS), a debilitating inflammatory oral mucosal disease with no known cause, compared with healthy cats and cats with periodontitis (control cats). ANIMALS 19 control cats and 23 cats with FCGS. PROCEDURES At least 1 caudal oral mucosal swab specimen was obtained from each cat. Each specimen underwent unbiased metatranscriptomic next-generation RNA sequencing (mNGS). Filtered mNGS reads were aligned to all known genetic sequences from all organisms and to the cat transcriptome. The relative abundances of microbial and host gene read alignments were compared between FCGS-affected cats and control cats and between FCGS-affected cats that did and did not clinically respond to primary treatment. Assembled feline calicivirus (FCV) genomes were compared with reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) primers commonly used to identify FCV. RESULTS The only microbe strongly associated with FCGS was FCV, which was detected in 21 of 23 FCGS-affected cats but no control cats. Problematic base pair mismatches were identified between the assembled FCV genomes and RT-PCR primers. Puma feline foamy virus was detected in 9 of 13 FCGS-affected cats that were refractory to treatment and 5 healthy cats but was not detected in FCGS-affected cats that responded to tooth extractions. The most differentially expressed genes in FCGS-affected cats were those associated with antiviral activity. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Results suggested that FCGS pathogenesis has a viral component. Many FCV strains may yield false-negative results on RT-PCR-based assays. Coinfection of FCGS-affected cats with FCV and puma feline foamy virus may adversely affect response to treatment.