PBMCs transcriptome profiles identified breed-specific transcriptome signatures for PRRSV vaccination in German Landrace and Pietrain pigs

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) is a devastating viral disease affecting the swine industry worldwide. Genetic variation in host immunity has been considered as one of the potential determinants to improve the immunocompetence, thereby resistance to PRRS. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the breed difference in innate immune response to PRRSV vaccination between German Landrace (DL) and Pietrain (Pi) pigs. We analyzed microarray-based transcriptome profiles of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) collected before (0 h) and 24 h after PRRSV vaccination from purebred DL and Pi pigs with three biological replicates. In total 4,269 transcripts were identified to be differentially expressed in PBMCs in at least any of four tested contrast pairs (i.e. DL-24h vs. DL-0h, Pi-24h vs. Pi-0h, DL-0h vs. Pi-0h and DL-24h vs. Pi-24h). The number of vaccine-induced differentially expressed genes (DEGs) was much higher (2,459) in DL pigs than that of Pi pigs (291). After 24 h of PRRSV vaccination, 1,046 genes were differentially expressed in PMBCs of DL pigs compared to that of Pi (DL-24h vs. Pi-24h), indicating the breed differences in vaccine responsiveness. The top biological pathways significantly affected by DEGs of both breeds were linked to immune response functions. The network enrichment analysis identified ADAM17, STAT1, MMS19, RPA2, BAD, UCHL5 and APC as potential regulatory genes for the functional network of PRRSV vaccine response specific for DL; while FOXO3, IRF2, ADRBK1, FHL3, PPP2CB and NCOA6 were found to be the most potential hubs of Pi specific transcriptome network. In conclusion, our data provided insights of breed-specific host transcriptome responses to PRRSV vaccination which might contribute in better understanding of PPRS resistance in pigs

Impacts of soil conditions and light availability on natural regeneration of Norway spruce Picea abies (L.) H. Karst. in low-elevation mountain forests

& Key message Natural regeneration of P. abies (L.) H. Karst. may reach high densities in lower mountain elevations. The highest densities were found in sites with moderate light availability, with low pH, and not near the riverbank. However, age-height classes differed in the predicted magnitude of response, but were consistent in response directions. Mosses and understory species typical of coniferous forests were positively correlated with regeneration density. & Context Norway spruce Picea abies (L.) H. Karst. in Central Europe is at risk under climate change scenarios, particularly in mountain regions. Little is known about the impact of environmental factors on the natural regeneration of P. abies in lowelevation mountain forests. & Aims We aimed to assess impacts of distance from the riverbank, soil pH, and light availability on natural P. abies regeneration. We hypothesized that (1) natural P. abiesregeneration would depend on light availability and soil pH and (2) there are understory plant species which may indicate the microsites suitable for natural regeneration of P. abies. & Methods The study was conducted in the Stołowe Mountains National Park (SW Poland, 600–800 m a.s.l.). We established 160 study plots (25 m2 ) for natural regeneration, light availability, soil pH, and understory vegetation assessment

TriGSflow - Active Object-Oriented Workflow Management

We present the multi-paradigm architecture TriGS flow for a workflow management system. TriGS flow is based on an active extension of the commercial object-oriented database system GemStone TM . TriGS flow takes full advantage of the capabilities of the underlying database system such as reliability, recovery, transaction management, and authorization. At the current stage of implementation the novel features of TriGS flow are the seamless integration of ECA rules into an object-oriented model, the flexibility of workflow specification due to rule modeling, and the integration of external applications as part of workflow processing. Keywords: workflow model based on ECA rules, active object-oriented database 1. Introduction A workflow management system (WFMS) supports the design, execution and monitoring of in general long-lasting business processes that typically involve multiple activities and multiple collaborating persons in a distributed environement. WFMSs originate from th..

PBMC transcriptome profiles identifies potential candidate genes and functional networks controlling the innate and the adaptive immune response to PRRSV vaccine in Pietrain pig

The porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) is a devastating viral disease affecting swine production, health and welfare throughout the world. A synergistic action of the innate and the adaptive immune system of the host is essential for mounting a durable protective immunity through vaccination. Therefore, the current study aimed to investigate the transcriptome profiles of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) to characterize the innate and the adaptive immune response to PRRS Virus (PRRSV) vaccination in Pietrain pigs. The Affymetrix gene chip porcine gene 1.0 ST array was used for the transcriptome profiling of PBMCs collected at immediately before (D0), at one (D1) and 28 days (D28) post PRRSV vaccination with three biological replications. With FDR <0.05 and log2 fold change ±1.5 as cutoff criteria, 295 and 115 transcripts were found to be differentially expressed in PBMCs during the stage of innate and adaptive response, respectively. The microarray expression results were technically validated by qRT-PCR. The gene ontology terms such as viral life cycle, regulation of lymphocyte activation, cytokine activity and inflammatory response were enriched during the innate immunity; cytolysis, T cell mediated cytotoxicity, immunoglobulin production were enriched during adaptive immunity to PRRSV vaccination. Significant enrichment of cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, signaling by interleukins, signaling by the B cell receptor (BCR), viral mRNA translation, IFN-gamma pathway and AP-1 transcription factor network pathways were indicating the involvement of altered genes in the antiviral defense. Network analysis revealed that four network modules were functionally involved with the transcriptional network of innate immunity, and five modules were linked to adaptive immunity in PBMCs. The innate immune transcriptional network was found to be regulated by LCK, STAT3, ATP5B, UBB and RSP17. While TGFß1, IL7R, RAD21, SP1 and GZMB are likely to be predictive for the adaptive immune transcriptional response to PRRSV vaccine in PBMCs. Results of the current immunogenomics study advances our understanding of PRRS in term of host-vaccine interaction, and thereby contribute to design a rationale for disease control strategy

COMan - Coexistence of Object-Oriented and Relational Technology

. Applying object-oriented technology to systems development is widely recognized as improving productivity and reducing system maintenance costs. At the same time, relational technology has gained leverage in most businesses. There exist already several proposals to combine object-oriented programming with relational database systems. Yet, existing approaches do not support necessary combinations of object-oriented and relational technology in concert, like reengineering of existing relational data in an object-oriented way, and adding persistence to existing object-oriented applications. COMan (Complex Object Manager) has been developed to fill this gap. The kernel architecture of COMan is based on a set of tables, called meta database, which supports the flexible mapping from a set of object classes to a relational schema and vice versa. Thus, COMan provides necessary infrastructure technology for business reengineering seeking important leverage of legacy databases. Keywords. Repo..