Unique and conserved MicroRNAs in wheat chromosome 5D revealed by next-generation sequencing

MicroRNAs are a class of short, non-coding, single-stranded RNAs that act as post-transcriptional regulators in gene expression. miRNA analysis of Triticum aestivum chromosome 5D was performed on 454 GS FLX Titanium sequences of flow sorted chromosome 5D with a total of 3,208,630 good quality reads representing 1.34x and 1.61x coverage of the short (5DS) and long (5DL) arms of the chromosome respectively. In silico and structural analyses revealed a total of 55 miRNAs; 48 and 42 miRNAs were found to be present on 5DL and 5DS respectively, of which 35 were common to both chromosome arms, while 13 miRNAs were specific to 5DL and 7 miRNAs were specific to 5DS. In total, 14 of the predicted miRNAs were identified in wheat for the first time. Representation (the copy number of each miRNA) was also found to be higher in 5DL (1,949) compared to 5DS (1,191). Targets were predicted for each miRNA, while expression analysis gave evidence of expression for 6 out of 55 miRNAs. Occurrences of the same miRNAs were also found in Brachypodium distachyon and Oryza sativa genome sequences to identify syntenic miRNA coding sequences. Based on this analysis, two other miRNAs: miR1133 and miR167 were detected in B. distachyon syntenic region of wheat 5DS. Five of the predicted miRNA coding regions (miR6220, miR5070, miR169, miR5085, miR2118) were experimentally verified to be located to the 5D chromosome and three of them : miR2118, miR169 and miR5085, were shown to be 5D specific. Furthermore miR2118 was shown to be expressed in Chinese Spring adult leaves. miRNA genes identified in this study will expand our understanding of gene regulation in bread wheat

Control freaks

WOS: 000229857500020

Dairy cattle farming in Kars district, Turkey: II. Health status

This study was designed to determine the health status of dairy cattle, and the rates of and reasons for culling on dairy farms in Kars. A 2-stage stratified sampling strategy was used to select localities and farms. The study involved an interview with the farmers and regular visits to the farms. The farm prevalence levels of abortion, foot- and -mouth disease (FMD), respiratory problems, leptospirosis, blackleg, hardware (TRP), bloat and anthrax were 46.7%, 57.8%, 4.4%, 13.3%, 4.4%, 11.1%, 8.8% and 0% in 2001 and 53.3%, 62.2%, 17.8%, 17.8%, 4.4%, 11.1%, 11.1% and 8.8% in 2002, respectively. Incidence rates (animal-years/100) for abortion, leptospirosis, blackleg and anthrax were 7.7, 0.5, 0.2, and 0 in all herds and 20, 3, 8.7, and 0 in affected herds in 2001, and 6.7, 2.1, 0.2. and 0.4 in all herds and 12.5, 11, 6.1, and 1.9 in affected herds in 2002, respectively. Vaginal discharge (84.4%), infertility (40%), mastitis (55.6%), retained placenta (42.2%), dystocia (31.1%), weight loss (46.7%) and anorexia (31.1%) were the most common clinical problems encountered at farm level and animal level in the postpartum period. Around 11% of the farmers reported culling of their animals. The most common reasons for culling were old age (34.7% and 30.5%). abortion (22.6% and 19.5%), FMD (14.5% and 7.6%), infertility (1.6% and 14.4%), respiratory problems (4.8% and 5.1%), TRP (5.6% and 2.5%) and leptospirosis (0.8% and 3.4%) in 2001 and 2002, respectively. It is concluded that more detailed epidemiological studies addressing each disease are a prerequisite if profitable farming and preventive measures are planned