A chimera of the two immunodominant African swine fever (ASF) virus proteins p54 and p30 was constructed by insertion of the gene CP204L into a Not I restriction site of E183L gene. The resulting chimeric protein p54/30, expressed by a recombinant baculovirus in insect cells and in Trichoplusia ni larvae, retained antigenic determinants present in both proteins and reacted in Western blot with a collection of sera from inapparent ASF virus carrier pigs. Remarkably, pigs immunized with the chimeric protein developed neutralizing antibodies and survived the challenge with a virulent African swine fever virus, presenting a reduction of about two logs in maximum viremia titers with respect to control pigs. In conclusion, this study revealed that the constructed chimeric protein may have utility as a serological diagnostic reagent and for further immunological studies that may provide new insights on mechanisms of protective immunity to ASFV.
3 SUMMARYAnimal health surveillance enables the detection and control of animal diseases including zoonoses.Under the EU-FP7 project RISKSUR, a survey was conducted in 11 EU Member States and Switzerland to describe active surveillance components in 2011 managed by the public or private sector and identify gaps and opportunities. Information was collected about the hazard, target population, geographical focus, legal obligation, management, surveillance design, risk-based sampling, and multi-hazard surveillance. Two countries were excluded due to incompleteness of data. Most of the 664 components targeted cattle (26.7%), pigs (17.5%) or poultry (16.0%). The most common surveillance objectives were demonstrating freedom from disease (43.8%) and case detection (26.8%). Over half of components applied risk-based sampling (57.1%), but mainly focused on a single population stratum (targeted risk-based) rather than differentiating between risk levels of different strata (stratified risk-based). About a third of components were multi-hazard (37.3%). Both risk-based sampling and multi-hazard surveillance were used more frequently in privately funded components. The study identified several gaps (e.g. lack of systematic documentation, inconsistent application of terminology) and opportunities (e.g. stratified risk-based sampling). The greater flexibility provided by the new EU Animal Health Law means that systematic evaluation of surveillance alternatives will be required to optimize cost-effectiveness. 4
Dispersal and reproductive traits of successful plant invaders are expected to undergo strong selection during biological invasions. Numerous Asteraceae are invasive and display dimorphic fruits within a single flower head, resulting in differential dispersal pathways -wind-dispersed fruits vs. nondispersing fruits. We explored ecotypic differentiation and phenotypic plasticity of seed output and fruit dimorphisms in exotic Chilean and native Spanish populations of Leontodon saxatilis subsp. rothii. We collected flower heads from populations in Spain and Chile along a rainfall gradient. Seeds from all populations were planted in reciprocal transplant trials in Spain and Chile to explore their performance in the native and invasive range. We scored plant biomass, reproductive investment and fruit dimorphism. We observed strong plasticity, where plants grown in the invasive range had much greater biomass, flower head size and seed output, with a higher proportion of wind-dispersed fruits, than those grown in the native range. We also observed a significant ecotype effect, where the exotic populations displayed higher proportions of wind-dispersed fruits than native populations. Together, these patterns reflect a combination of phenotypic plasticity and ecotypic differentiation, indicating that Leontodon saxatilis has probably increased propagule pressure and dispersal distances in its invasive range to enhance its invasiveness.The impacts of invasive plant species on resident communities and ecosystem functions are a global concern, which has led to considerable resources being invested into studying invasiveness. Of particular importance is predicting which plants will become invasive. The invasiveness of alien plants depends on the habitat characteristics of the recipient area (e.g. the fluctuating resource availability theory 1 ), as well as on species traits 2 . The characteristics of recipient habitats have received considerable attention 3, 4 , highlighting that the habitats more prone to be invaded are those that are more productive or more disturbed 5,6 . However, despite some recent attention, understanding the role played by species traits in the invasion process still remains a key knowledge gap in invasion biology 7,8 .These knowledge gaps exist because invasion success is primarily studied species-by-species 9, 10 , but these gaps also exist because most studies do not compare species traits in native and invasive ranges 11 . Nevertheless, some plant traits related to reproductive and dispersal characteristics have been suggested to be of key importance to invasiveness, such as plant growth rate, seed size, and distance of seed dispersal 7, 12-14 . For example, previous studies have shown that greater plant growth accounts for the invasiveness of many alien plant species 15 . Likewise,
African swine fever (ASF) is currently the most threatening disease for domestic and wild pigs worldwide. Wild boar has been the main affected species in all EU countries except for Romania, where most notifications occur in domestic pigs. The spread of ASF in wild boar is challenging to control; risk factors are harder to identify and establish than in domestic pigs, which, together with an underestimation of the disease and the lack of treatment or an effective vaccine, are hindering control and eradication efforts. We distributed two online questionnaires, one for domestic pigs and one for wild boar, to experts of different background and countries in Europe, to explore risk factors in relation to ASF control connected to farming, hunting, trade, the environment, and domestic pig and wild boar populations. Overall, wild boar movements were estimated to pose the highest risk of ASF introduction and spread. The movement of pork and pork products for own consumption also ranked high. Here we explored, in addition to the assessment of risk pathways, the identification of risks of transmission at the domestic/wild boar interface, the importance of biosecurity practices and improved control efforts, and controversial opinions that require further attention.
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