No abstract

With increasing age, the rumen microbiota of new-born ruminants become central in the translation of fibrous feed substances into essential nutrients. However, the colonization process of the microbial community (especially fungal community) remains poorly understood in ruminants at pre-weaning stages. In this study, the rumen bacterial and fungal colonization processes were investigated in goats at eight stages using amplicon sequencing. For bacteria, we found 36 common core genera at D0, D3, D14, D28, and D56, including mainly Bacillus, Alloprevotella, Bacteroides, Prevotella_1, Lactococcus, and Ruminococcaceae_NK4A214. Firmicutes was the dominant phylum among the total microbiota in newborn goat kids (prior to nursing), while Bacillus, Lactococcus, and Pseudomonas were predominant genera. Interestingly, the proportion of Bacillus was as high as 55% in newborn animals. After milk nursing, the predominant phylum changed to Bacteroidetes, while the proportion of Bacillus and Lactobacillus was very low. CowPi was used to predict the functional gene pathways and we found increases in the abundance of genes associated with amino acid related enzymes, DNA repair and recombination proteins, aminoacyl tRNA biosynthesis, and peptidases after D3. With regard to fungi, we found that there were 51 common genera at day 0 (D0), D3, D14, D28, and D56, including mainly Cryptococcus, Aspergillus, and Caecomyces. Aspergillus occupied approximately 47% at day 0, but then it decreased from day 3 to day 14. This study indicates that the core microbes of rumen emerged shortly after birth, but the abundance was very different from the core genus of the adult rumen. In addition, we also report a detailed scheme of the bacterial and fungal colonization process in rumens and propose three distinct stages during the rumen colonization process in pre-weaning goats, which will offer a reference for the development of milk substitutes for small ruminants.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is associated with gut dysbiosis and can lead to colitis-associated malignancies. Bacteroides uniformis (Bu) regulates animal intestinal homeostasis; however, the mechanism by which it alleviates colitis in mice remains unknown. We investigated the effects of B. uniformis JCM5828 and its metabolites on female C57BL/6J mice with dextran sulfate sodium salt (DSS) induced colitis. Treatment with Bu considerably alleviated colitis progression and restored the mechanical and immune barrier protein expression. Additionally, Bu increased the abundance of the symbiotic bacteria Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus vaginalis while decreasing that of pathogenic Escherichia-Shigella, and modulated intestinal bile acid metabolism. Bu largely regulated the expression of key regulatory proteins of the NF-κB and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathways in colonic tissues and the differentiation of TH17 cells. However, Bu could not directly inhibit TH17 cell differentiation in vitro; it modulated the process in the lamina propria by participating in bile acid metabolism and regulating key metabolites (alpha-muricholic, hyodeoxycholic, and isolithocholic acid), thereby modulating the intestinal immune response. Our findings suggest that Bu or bile acid supplements are potential therapies for colitis and other diseases associated with intestinal barrier dysfunction.

Background Dermal papilla cells (DPCs), the “signaling center” of hair follicle (HF), delicately master continual growth of hair in mammals including cashmere, the fine fiber annually produced by secondary HF embedded in cashmere goat skins. Such unparalleled capacity bases on their exquisite character in instructing the cellular activity of hair-forming keratinocytes via secreting numerous molecular signals. Past studies suggested microRNA (miRNAs) and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play essential roles in a wide variety of biological process, including HF cycling. However, their roles and related molecular mechanisms in modulating DPCs secretory activities are still poorly understood. Results Here, we separately cultivated DPCs and their functionally and morphologically distinct dermal fibroblasts (DFs) from cashmere goat skins at anagen. With the advantage of high throughput RNA-seq, we synchronously identified 2540 lncRNAs and 536 miRNAs from two types of cellular samples at 4th passages. Compared with DFs, 1286 mRNAs, 18 lncRNAs, and 42 miRNAs were upregulated, while 1254 mRNAs, 53 lncRNAs and 44 miRNAs were downregulated in DPCs. Through overlapping with mice data, we ultimately defined 25 core signatures of DPCs, including HOXC8 and RSPO1 , two crucial activators for hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs). Subsequently, we emphatically investigated the impacts of miRNAs and lncRNAs ( cis - and trans - acting) on the genes, indicating that ncRNAs extensively exert negative and positive effects on their expressions. Furthermore, we screened lncRNAs acting as competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs) to sponge miRNAs and relief their repressive effects on targeted genes, and constructed related lncRNAs-miRNAs- HOXC8 / RSPO1 interactive lines using bioinformatic tools. As a result, XR_310320.3-chi-miR-144-5p- HOXC8 , XR_311077.2-novel_624- RSPO1 and others lines appeared, displaying that lncRNAs might serve as ceRNAs to indirectly adjust HFSCs status in hair growth. Conclusion The present study provides an unprecedented inventory of lncRNAs, miRNAs and mRNAs in goat DPCs and DFs. We also exhibit some miRNAs and lncRNAs potentially participate in the modulation of HFSCs activation via delicately adjusting core signatures of DPCs. Our report shines new light on the latent roles and underlying molecular mechanisms of ncRNAs on hair growth. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12864-019-5861-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The effects of different N level in combination with organic fertilizer on carotenoids, phenols and flavonoids contents in tomato fruits were studied. The N mixed with organic fertilizer treatment had higher the content of βcarotene, and AN2 achieved 34.20 µg/g. At red ripening stage, the content of lycopene of BN1 and BN2 were very close to, respectively 180.79 µg/g and 182.50 µg/g. The content of lutein at red ripening stage was nearly three times than that at turning stage. At red ripening stage, content of lutein ranged from 2.85 µg/g to 8.87 µg/g. In the all of phenolic acid, coffeic acid was the highest levels. The highest caffeic acid content (73.74 µg/g) was observed in the AN2 (double N and organic fertilizer), and only organic fertilizer (AN0) was no significant difference with BN1 (single N). Rutin content in tomato fruit had no difference in three N levels (N0, N1, N2). AN0 had the highest quercetin content in tomato fruits in all treatment, by 66.39 µg/ g.