Gene Polymorphisms in African Buffalo Associated with Susceptibility to Bovine Tuberculosis Infection

<div><p>Bovine tuberculosis (BTB) is a chronic, highly infectious disease that affects humans, cattle and numerous species of wildlife. In developing countries such as South Africa, the existence of extensive wildlife-human-livestock interfaces poses a significant risk of <i>Mycobacterium bovis</i> transmission between these groups, and has far-reaching ecological, economic and public health impacts. The African buffalo (<i>Syncerus caffer</i>), acts as a maintenance host for <i>Mycobacterium bovis</i>, and maintains and transmits the disease within the buffalo and to other species. In this study we aimed to investigate genetic susceptibility of buffalo for <i>Mycobacterium bovis</i> infection. Samples from 868 African buffalo of the Cape buffalo subspecies were used in this study. SNPs (n = 69), with predicted functional consequences in genes related to the immune system, were genotyped in this buffalo population by competitive allele-specific SNP genotyping. Case-control association testing and statistical analyses identified three SNPs associated with BTB status in buffalo. These SNPs, SNP41, SNP137 and SNP144, are located in the SLC7A13, DMBT1 and IL1α genes, respectively. SNP137 remained significantly associated after permutation testing. The three genetic polymorphisms identified are located in promising candidate genes for further exploration into genetic susceptibility to BTB in buffalo and other bovids, such as the domestic cow. These polymorphisms/genes may also hold potential for marker-assisted breeding programmes, with the aim of breeding more BTB-resistant animals and herds within both the national parks and the private sector.</p></div

Bovine TB in livestock and wildlife: what's in the genes?

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N–C–Ar–He Isotopic Systematics of Quenched Tholeiitic Glasses from the Bouvet Triple Junction Area

The paper presents pioneering data on the isotopic composition and elemental ratios of nitrogen, carbon (carbon dioxide), helium, and argon in the fluid phase of quenched tholeiitic glasses from different segments of the Bouvet Triple Junction area (BTJ). The data reflect a complicated geodynamic and tectonic history of the area evolution and indicate that the variations in the elemental ratios of the volatile components of the fluid–gas phase were controlled by a number of various factors: elemental fractionation during melt degassing, mixing of gases from different sources, postmagmatic diffusion-controlled helium loss. The nitrogen–argon and noble gas isotope systematics suggest a significant contribution of the atmospheric component to the mantle source of fluids for the samples from the Spiess Ridge and the segment of the Southwest Indian Ridge (SWIR) and a smaller contribution for the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) samples. For the Spiess Ridge and SWIR, the most probable contaminating agent was water fluid with dissolved gases of atmospheric composition. This fluid may have been brought to the mantle with ancient crustal rocks involved in magma generation. These crustal rocks may represent small fragments of the Gondwana continent with which sedimentary organic matter could be brought into the magma source