A Review of Ureaplasma diversum: A Representative of the Mollicute Class Associated With Reproductive and Respiratory Disorders in Cattle

Growth Process of Fe-O Nanoclusters with Different Sizes Biosynthesized by Protein Nanocages

All protein-directed syntheses of metal nanoclusters (NCs) and nanoparticles (NPs) have attracted considerable attention because protein scaffolds provide a unique metal coordination environment and can adjust the shape and morphology of NCs and NPs. However, the detailed formation mechanisms of NCs or NPs directed by protein templates remain unclear. In this study, by taking advantage of the ferritin nanocage as a biotemplate to monitor the growth of Fe-O NCs as a function of time, we synthesized a series of iron NCs with different sizes and shapes and subsequently solved their corresponding three-dimensional atomic-scale structures by X-ray protein crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy. The time-dependent structure analyses revealed the growth process of these Fe-O NCs with the 4-fold channel of ferritin as nucleation sites. To our knowledge, the newly biosynthesized Fe35O23Glu12 represents the largest Fe-O NCs with a definite atomic structure. This study contributes to our understanding of the formation mechanism of iron NCs and provides an effective method for metal NC synthesis.

Waldeyer ring microbiome in relation to chemoradiation-induced oral mucositis in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma

BACKGROUND

Waldeyer lymphatic ring surrounds the nasopharynx and oropharynx, and no study to date has correlated its microbiome with the severity of oral mucositis (OM) in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) receiving chemoradiotherapy.

METHODS

We performed 16S rRNA sequencing to characterize bacterial microbiome in tumor-affected nasopharynx and the surrounding normal oropharynx. We plotted the abundance and diversity of bacterial taxa and their phylogenetic distance and networks to visualize and compare the differences in pretreatment overall bacterial communities between the nasopharynx and oropharynx in patients with NPC with varying degrees of chemoradiotherapy-induced OM and quality of life.

RESULTS

We found microbial signatures in nasopharynx around NPC were not only dissimilar to those in the surrounding oropharynx but were almost unique to each patient. The genetic distance metrics further showed that different tumor microbiota distributions in the nasopharynx among patients with NPC were well-correlated with OM severity and quality of life during chemoradiotherapy.

CONCLUSIONS

At Waldeyer ring, the tumor-associated microbiome risk profiles of the respiratory region of nasopharynx, but not commensal microbiota of the alimentary region of oropharynx, could be noninvasive biomarkers for OM susceptibility and might include drug targets for the prevention of chemoradiation-induced OM in patients with Waldeyer ring-derived NPC.

What about the bull? A systematic review about the role of males in bovine infectious infertility within cattle herds

Numerous pathogens affect cow fertility. Nevertheless, little information has been published about microorganisms associated with cattle infertility focusing on bulls. The present review offers a current analysis and highlights potential key aspects on the relevance of bulls in the emergence of infertility problems of infectious origin within herds that are still not completely determined. The present systematic review was conducted using the PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases on December 9, 2022. In total, 2,224 bibliographic records were reviewed and, according to strict inclusion criteria, 38 articles were selected from 1966 to 2022, from which we ranked more than 27 different microorganisms (fungi were not identified). The most cited pathogens were BoHV (described by 26.3% of the papers), Campylobacter fetus (23.7%), Tritrichomonas foetus (18.4%), and BVDV, Ureaplasma spp., and Mycoplasma spp. (10.5% each). Despite the general trend towards an increasing number of publications about bull-infertility problems, a number of pathogens potentially transmitted through both natural breeding and seminal doses given to females and associated with infertility within herds were not ranked in the study (e.g., Chlamydia spp.). This work highlights i) the need to clearly establish the role of certain microorganisms not traditionally associated with reproductive problems in bull infertility (e.g., Staphylococcus spp. or BoHV-4) and ii) the need to perform additional studies on breeding bulls to clarify their role in infertility problems within herds. This would allow monitoring for pathogens that have gone unnoticed and those that are fastidious to diagnose and/or potentially transmitted to females.

Bovine neonatal microbiome origins: a review of proposed microbial community presence from conception to colostrum

In recent years, there has been an influx of research evaluating the roles of the reproductive tract microbiota in modulating reproductive performance. These efforts have resulted in a breadth of research exploring the bovine reproductive tract microbiota. The female reproductive tract microbiota has been characterized during the estrus cycle, at timed artificial insemination, during gestation, and postpartum. Additionally, there are recently published studies investigating in-utero inoculation of the bovine fetus. However, critical review of the literature to understand how the microbial shifts during a dam's lifecycle could impact neonatal outcomes is limited. This review demonstrates a consistency at the phyla level throughout both the maternal, paternal, and neonatal microbiomes. Moreover, this review challenges the current gestational inoculation hypothesis and suggests instead a maturation of the resident uterine microbiota throughout gestation to parturition. Recent literature is indicative of microbial composition influencing metabolomic parameters that have developmental programming effects in feed utilization and metabolic performance later in life. Thus, this review enumerates the potential origins of neonatal microbial inoculation from conception, through gestation, parturition, and colostrum consumption while introducing clear paucities where future research is needed to better understand the ramifications of the reproductive microbiome on neonates.

Characterizing the vaginal microbiota of high and low producing Poll Merino and White Suffolk ewes

There is a substantial, and growing, body of research focused on manipulating gastrointestinal microbes to affect health and production. However, the maternal vaginal microbiota and its effects on neonatal inoculation and lifetime production have received little attention. We aimed to characterize the vaginal microbes of domesticated sheep to determine whether they differ across sheep breeds with differing meat and wool growth potentials and to determine a link between vaginal microbes and high and low producing animals. A flock of White Suffolk (n = 136) and Poll Merino (n = 210) ewes were sorted by the Australian Sheep Breeding Values (ASBV), for yearling fleece weight in the Merino and by post-weaning weight in the Suffolk ewes. The top and bottom ASBV sheep were selected for sampling and the resulting treatment groups were; High Suffolk (n = 12), Low Suffolk (n = 12), High Merino (n = 12), and Low Merino (n = 12) ewes. A double guarded culture swab was used to sample from the surface of the vaginal epithelium. Diversity profiling analysis of vaginal bacterial communities was conducted using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. Breed and ASBV group differences in bacterial communities were tested. Within breed, there were no significant differences in ewe vaginal bacterial communities associated with ewe production parameters; however, there was a significant difference in ewe vaginal bacterial communities between breeds. We have been able to characterize the normal vaginal microbiota of nonpregnant ewes and demonstrate a rich microbial community.

Heterologous Expression, Purification, and Immunomodulatory Effects of Recombinant Lipoprotein GUDIV-103 Isolated from Ureaplasma diversum

Ureaplasma diversum is a bacterial pathogen that infects cattle and can cause severe inflammation of the genital and reproductive systems. Lipid-associated membrane proteins (LAMPs), including GUDIV-103, are the main virulence factors in this bacterium. In this study, we heterologously expressed recombinant GUDIV-103 (rGUDIV-103) in Escherichia coli, purified it, and evaluated its immunological reactivity and immunomodulatory effects in bovine peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Samples from rabbits inoculated with purified rGUDIV-103 were analysed using indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and dot blotting to confirm polyclonal antibody production and assess kinetics, respectively. The expression of this lipoprotein in field isolates was confirmed via Western blotting with anti-rGUDIV-103 serum and hydrophobic or hydrophilic proteins from 42 U. diversum strains. Moreover, the antibodies produced against the U. diversum ATCC 49783 strain recognised rGUDIV-103. The mitogenic potential of rGUDIV-103 was evaluated using a lymphoproliferation assay in 5(6)-carboxyfluorescein diacetate succinimidyl ester−labelled bovine PBMCs, where it induced lymphocyte proliferation. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis revealed that the expression of interleukin-1β, toll-like receptor (TLR)-α, TLR2, TLR4, inducible nitric oxide synthase, and caspase-3−encoding genes increased more in rGUDIV-103−treated PBMCs than in untreated cells (p < 0.05). Treating PBMCs with rGUDIV-103 increased nitric oxide and hydrogen peroxide levels. The antigenic and immunogenic properties of rGUDIV-103 suggested its suitability for immunobiological application.