Decreased expression of <i>TLR4</i>, <i>TLR21</i> and <i>TLR2-1</i> genes in susceptible chickens.

<p>The relative expression of <i>TLR4</i>, <i>TLR21</i>, <i>TLR2-1</i> and <i>TLR2-2</i> in leukocytes of susceptible (□ ---- □) and resistant (⧫——⧫) chickens at 8 h, 16 h, 24 h, 3 d, and 12 d after infection with <i>S.enteritidis</i> is shown. Relative values, normalized using <i>β-actin</i> mRNA levels and the average expression levels in both groups at 0 h, are shown. The data are means (SD shown by the vertical bars) of 6 birds (*P<0.05; **P<0.01). TPI is time post-infection.</p

Kinetics of <i>Salmonella Enteritidis</i> loads in inoculated SPF chickens determined by qPCR across all the times.

<p>Data are presented as the mean bacterial loads and is expressed as log₁₀ of the bacterial genome copy number per ml of blood (± SD) obtained from susceptible (S) and resistant (R) chickens.</p

qPCR primers used in this study.

<p>qPCR primers used in this study.</p

DNA methyltransferase inhibitor 5-Aza-dc and/or the histone deacetylase inhibitor TSA increased <i>TLR4</i>, <i>TLR21</i> and <i>TLR2-1</i> expression.

<p>Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were inoculated with <i>S. enteritidis</i> without additions (controls) or in the presence of 5-Aza-dc, TSA or TSA plus 5-Aza-dc. Relative abundances of <i>TLR4</i>, <i>TLR21</i> and <i>TLR2-1</i> mRNA were analyzed by qPCR and normalized to <i>β-actin</i> mRNA. Data are means (n = 3) and comparisons were made to expression in the controls (-,-). The vertical bar is the SD from the error mean square of the ANOVA, * indicates P<0.05.</p

Genome-Wide Specific Selection in Three Domestic Sheep Breeds

<div><p>Background</p><p>Commercial sheep raised for mutton grow faster than traditional Chinese sheep breeds. Here, we aimed to evaluate genetic selection among three different types of sheep breed: two well-known commercial mutton breeds and one indigenous Chinese breed.</p><p>Results</p><p>We first combined locus-specific branch lengths and <i>d_i</i> statistical methods to detect candidate regions targeted by selection in the three different populations. The results showed that the genetic distances reached at least medium divergence for each pairwise combination. We found these two methods were highly correlated, and identified many growth-related candidate genes undergoing artificial selection. For production traits, <i>APOBR</i> and <i>FTO</i> are associated with body mass index. For meat traits, <i>ALDOA</i>, <i>STK32B</i> and <i>FAM190A</i> are related to marbling. For reproduction traits, <i>CCNB2</i> and <i>SLC8A3</i> affect oocyte development. We also found two well-known genes, <i>GHR</i> (which affects meat production and quality) and <i>EDAR</i> (associated with hair thickness) were associated with German mutton merino sheep. Furthermore, four genes (<i>POL</i>, <i>RPL7</i>, <i>MSL1</i> and <i>SHISA9</i>) were associated with pre-weaning gain in our previous genome-wide association study.</p><p>Conclusions</p><p>Our results indicated that combine locus-specific branch lengths and <i>d_i</i> statistical approaches can reduce the searching ranges for specific selection. And we got many credible candidate genes which not only confirm the results of previous reports, but also provide a suite of novel candidate genes in defined breeds to guide hybridization breeding.</p></div

Three-branch phylogeny constructed from pairwise F_ST.

<p>Three-branch phylogeny constructed from pairwise F_ST.</p