There are massive bacteria in the raw milk, especially the lactic acid bacteria (LABs), which have been considered probiotics in humans and animals for a long time. Novel probiotics are still urgently needed because of the rapid development of the probiotic industry. To obtain new LABs with high probiotic potential, we obtained 26 LAB isolates, named L1 ~ L26, from local Holstein raw milk collected from a farm whose milk had never been used for LAB isolation. We identified them at the species level by biochemical and 16S rDNA sequencing methods. Their antagonistic activities against four target pathogens (Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923, Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1, and Salmonella enterica H9812), co-aggregative ability with these target pathogens, survivability in the simulated gastrointestinal tract conditions and phenol, auto-aggregation and hydrophobicity, hemolytic activity, and antibiotic susceptibility, were evaluated in vitro. Five Lactiplantibacillus plantarum isolates (L5, L14, L17, L19, and L20) showed more promising probiotic potential than others. Specifically, these five isolates conglutinated with and inhibited all the target pathogens, and survived in the simulated gastric juice (92.55 ~ 99.69%), intestinal juice (76.18 ~ 83.39%), and 0.4% phenol (76.95 ~ 88.91%); possessed considerable auto-aggregation (83.91 ~ 90.33% at 24 h) and hydrophobicity (79.32 ~ 92.70%); and were non-hemolytic, sensitive to kinds of common antimicrobials. Our findings demonstrated that these five isolates could be preliminarily determined as probiotic candidates because they have better probiotic potential than those previously reported. Again, this study highlighted the potential of raw milk for probiotic isolating and screening and provided the probiotic industry with five new LAB candidates.

ABSTRACT. Grafting influences scion photosynthetic capacity and fruit quality. Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco), which strongly affects photosynthetic rate, and Rubisco activase (RCA), which regulates Rubisco activity, are two key photosynthetic enzymes. However, little information is available regarding the effect of grafting on the concentration and expression of Rubisco and RCA in the citrus cultivar Huangguogan. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of grafting Huangguogan plants onto trifoliate orange, tangerine, and orange on: 1) the concentration of Rubisco and RCA; 2) the mRNA levels of rbcL, rbcS, and rca; and 3) fruit quality. Overall, the results showed that when Huangguogan plants budded on tangerine and orange, they had better fruit quality, while on trifoliate orange they had higher Rubisco concentration. Tangerine and orange are probably the most suitable rootstocks for Huangguogan plants given the environmental conditions of Sichuan Province, China.

Disruption of myostatin (MSTN) gene in pigs may improve porcine lean meat percentage (LMP), and create an animal model for certain human diseases. Using zinc-finger nucleases (ZFNs) technology, MSTN gene was deleted in Wuzhishan miniature pig fibroblasts by transfection of either ZFNs plasmids or ZFNs mRNA in high efficiency. Strikingly, ZFNs encoding mRNA could produce MSTN+/-and MSTN-/- cell colonies with single or double allele deletion by single transfection. Sequencing results demonstrated that 92.18% of the mutations were short fragment deletions or insertions (≤10 bp). Prediction of amino acids sequences indicated that more than half of the mutations cause premature transla-tional-termination codon. MSTN+/+, MSTN+/-, and MSTN-/- cell colonies were used as nuclear donor for somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), and developmental potential of SCNT embryos were measured by the blastocyst rate. The results revealed no significant difference in development competence among the three kinds of reconstructed embryos (14.29% vs. 19.64% vs. 16.13%), which provides the possibility of making myostatin knock out pigs in the future.

The present work aimed to assess the effects of meloxicam on the behavior, feed intake, physiology and pain sensitivity in calves following dehorning. Calves were randomly allocated to four groups: dehorning by amputation with saline (ADNM) or meloxicam (ADM) and chemical disbudding with saline (CDNM) or meloxicam (CDM). Significant differences in the frequencies of all behaviors and activity levels were not observed for the treatment*time interaction (p ≥ 0.05) but were observed for time points (p < 0.05), and the total intake, foraging, hay or milk intake, rectal temperatures, respiration and heart rates and mechanical nonreceptive thresholds (MNTs) in calves were all noted (p < 0.05). For the treatment*time interaction, significant differences were showed between the CDNM and CDM groups in the total intake (at d 0 and 1), foraging (at d 1), hay or milk intake (at d 0 and 1), rectal temperatures (at 24 hr), heart rates (at 4 and 6 hr), and MNTs ( right horn at 2, 6, 24, 48 and 72 hr; left horn at 6 and 24 hr); and significant differences were found between the ADNM and ADM groups in the rectal temperatures (at 6 hr), respiration rates (at 4, 6 and 24 hr), heart rates (at 2, 4 and 6 hr), and MNT (right horn at 2 to 72 hr; left horn at 24 hr). Our results indicated that meloxicam relieves pain after calf dehorning and helps restore feed intake.

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