15 research outputs found
Celebrating 120 Years of Butantan Institute Contributions for Toxinology
This is collection of original and review articles selected in recognition of the contribution of Instituto Butantan to the field of toxinology and its continued and relevant role in this field in the 120 years since its foundation. Congratulations to the Butantan Institute, its house scientists, and collaborators on its 120th anniversary
Veterinary Microbiology & Parasitology
Numerous pathogens affect animal health and wellbeing and production efficiency. These pathogens also have a considerable impact on social economics, food safety and security, and human health. Infectious diseases that originate from both domesticated animals and wildlife represent one of the greatest threats to human health. Recent studies show that domesticated species harbor approximately 84 times more zoonotic viruses than wild species. Eight of the top 10 mammalian species with the highest number of zoonotic viruses are domestic, such as pigs, cattle, and horses. Many animal parasites are also zoonotic, constituting an additional burden on human health. Furthermore, the rapid emergence and spread of drug-resistant pathogen strains pose new threats to animal and human health. Climate changes will undoubtedly alter the interactions between animals and between animals and humans, which will have a huge impact on the transmission rate of existing pathogens and the emergence of new pathogens or the reemergence of old pathogens. In this special collection, interactions of all major pathogen types, including viruses, bacteria, mites and flies, protozoans, and helminths, and their hosts, such as wild and companion animals and livestock species, are discussed. Further, anthelmintic activities of natural products are evaluated. The relevance and utility of cutting-edge tools, such as immunology, genomics and genetics, microbiome studies and metabolomics, and molecular epidemiology, in dissecting host-pathogen interactions are also discussed. This special collection provides a broad knowledge base that encourages dialogue across a wide distribution of the research community in veterinary microbiology and parasitology
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The utility of molecular genetic analysis of museum specimens in studying deep-sea fish
The damaging effect of formalin on DNA and the inhibition of PCR are serious problems in molecular studies. The aims of the project were to investigate the possibility of using formalin-fixed, Steedman's preserved museum specimens in molecular investigations, especially organisms with unstudied genomes. A number of DNA extraction protocols and different pre-washing/drying regimes were tested. These gave different levels of success, but a guanidinium-based protocol developed in this study gave the best results. RAPD-PCR methodology was employed to test its applicability on preserved specimens, and it was used as a test of the efficiency of DNA extraction/amplifications and for developing species-specific PCR primers. Attempts to amplify mitochondrial DNA sequences with the six mitochondrial genes were mostly unsuccessful. Sporadic amplifications were obtained with primers of 16S and COIII genes.
This study provided the first molecular data on deep-sea fish (Nezumia aequalis and N. micronychodon) exclusively using formalin-fixed, Steedman's preserved museum specimens. Two genomic sequences of these fishes were determined and submitted to the GenBank database under accession numbers AY826774 - AY826792. Three specific primer sets (RAPD-derived) for Nezumia aequalis and N. micronychodon were designed to amplify PCR product sizes 300 bp - 350 bp. This study has demonstrated that an appropriate strategy and molecular approach could lead to the successful use of museum and other formalin-fixed archival collections even on organisms with unstudied genomes.
Supplementary evidence, related to the method of preservation, the usage of particular DNA extraction protocol and PCR marker system, was obtained from ten differently preserved mackerel (Scomber scombrus) specimens.
This study confirmed that the DNA extracted from preserved specimens possesses unique characteristics that make molecular investigations very difficult. Because of this, it is proposed that DNA extracted from preserved specimens should be referred to as "archival DNA (arDNA)"