Aims:  To investigate whether the relative abundance of the Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes divisions in pigs is different between obese and lean animals. Methods and Results:  Group‐specific primers were designed to target the 16S rRNA genes of Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes present in the gut. After the validation of their specificity, these primers were used in the real‐time PCR quantification of all Bacteria, Firmicutes division, Bacteroidetes division and Bacteroides spp. in the faecal samples of obese and lean pigs from Banna mini‐pig inbred line. The obese pigs had a ∼61% fewer percentage (based on all Bacteria) of Bacteroidetes division (P = 0·033) and a ∼56% fewer proportion of Bacteroides spp. (P = 0·047) than the lean pigs. The proportions of both Bacteroidetes and Bacteroides had a negative correlation (P < 0·01) with the body weight. Conclusion:  The results suggested that the fat storage might affect the proportion of Bacteroidetes division in the gut. Significance and Impact of the Study:  The real‐time PCR assays developed for Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes will be useful for investigating the composition of gut microbiota.

We study the properties of infrared-selected QSOs (IR QSOs), optically selected Palomar-Green QSOs (PG QSOs), and narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies (NLS1s). We compare their properties from the IR to the optical and examine various correlations among the black hole mass, accretion rate, star formation rate, and optical and IR luminosities. We find that the IR excess in IR QSOs is mostly in the far-IR, and their IR spectral indices suggest that the excess emission is from low-temperature dust heated by starbursts rather than active galactic nuclei (AGNs). The IR excess is therefore a useful criterion to separate the relative contributions of starbursts and AGNs. We further find a tight correlation between the star formation rate and the accretion rate of central AGNs for IR QSOs. The ratio of the star formation rate and the accretion rate is about several hundred for IR QSOs but decreases with the central black hole mass. This shows that the tight correlation between the stellar mass and the central black hole mass is preserved in massive starbursts during violent mergers. We suggest that the higher Eddington ratios of NLS1s and IR QSOs imply that they are in the early stage of evolution toward classical Seyfert 1 galaxies and QSOs, respectively.

Many abiotic stimuli, such as drought and salt stresses, elicit changes in intracellular calcium levels that serve to convey information and activate adaptive responses. Ca²⁺ signals are perceived by different Ca²⁺ sensors, and calmodulin (CaM) is one of the best-characterized Ca²⁺ sensors in eukaryotes. Calmodulin-like (CML) proteins also exist in plants, but their functions at the physiological and molecular levels are largely unknown. In this report, we present data on OsMSR2 (Oryza sativa L. Multi-Stress-Responsive gene 2), a novel calmodulin-like protein gene isolated from rice Pei'ai 64S (Oryza sativa L.). Expression of OsMSR2 was strongly up-regulated by a wide spectrum of stresses, including cold, drought, and heat in different tissues at different developmental stages of rice, as revealed by both microarray and quantitative real-time RT-PCR analyses. Analysis of the recombinant OsMSR2 protein demonstrated its potential ability to bind Ca²⁺ in vitro. Expression of OsMSR2 conferred enhanced tolerance to high salt and drought in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) accompanied by altered expression of stress/ABA-responsive genes. Transgenic plants also exhibited hypersensitivity to ABA during the seed germination and post-germination stages. The results suggest that expression of OsMSR2 modulated salt and drought tolerance in Arabidopsis through ABA-mediated pathways.

We revisit the shapes of isophotes for elliptical (E) and lenticular (S0) galaxies by studying 847 nearby early‐type galaxies selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 4 (DR4) with velocity dispersions above 200 km s−1. The iraf task ellipse was used to derive the deviations of the isophotes from pure ellipses (Fourier coefficients a3/a and a4/a), position angles (PAs) and ellipticities as a function of radius. We show the statistical distributions of the a3/a and a4/a parameters as a function of velocity dispersion, magnitude and colour. The a4/a parameter is correlated with the ellipticity and absolute Petrosian magnitude of galaxies. No significant correlation was found between the a4/a parameter with colour and velocity dispersion. A cross‐correlation between the Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty‐cm (FIRST) survey and the SDSS data reveals a lack of powerful radio emitters in discy E/S0s, as previously found by Bender et al. We also find that boxy E/S0s favour denser environments while discy E/S0s favour more isolated environments. The median values of changes in the ellipticity and PA between one and one and a half Petrosian half‐light radii in the isophotes are about −0.023 and , respectively. The average change in the PA is much larger, about , due to an extended tail. The change in ellipticity is weakly correlated with the ellipticity itself, with an increasing ellipticity for galaxies with higher ellipticity as the radius increases. The isophote parameters for the 847 galaxies are available online.

Expression and function of selenoproteins in endocrine tissues remain unclear, largely due to limited sample availability. Pigs have a greater metabolic similarity and tissue size than rodents as a model of humans for that purpose. We conducted 2 experiments: 1) we cloned 5 novel porcine selenoprotein genes; and 2) we compared the effects of dietary selenium (Se) on mRNA levels of 12 selenoproteins, activities of 4 antioxidant enzymes, and Se concentrations in testis, thyroid, and pituitary with those in liver of pigs. In Experiment 1, porcine Gpx2, Sephs2, Sep15, Sepn1, and Sepp1 were cloned and demonstrated 84-94% of coding sequence homology to human genes. In Experiment 2, weanling male pigs (n = 30) were fed a Se-deficient (0.02 mg Se/kg) diet added with 0, 0.3, or 3.0 mg Se/kg as Se-enriched yeast for 8 wk. Although dietary Se resulted in dose-dependent increases (P < 0.05) in Se concentrations and GPX activities in all 4 tissues, it did not affect the mRNA levels of any selenoprotein gene in thyroid or pituitary. Testis mRNA levels of Txnrd1 and Sep15 were decreased (P < 0.05) by increasing dietary Se from 0.3 to 3.0 mg/kg. Comparatively, expressions of Gpx2, Gpx4, Dio3, and Sep15 were high in pituitary and Dio1, Sepp1, Sephs2, and Gpx1 were high in liver. In conclusion, the mRNA abundances of the 12 selenoprotein genes in thyroid and pituitary of young pigs were resistant to dietary Se deficiency or excess.