Comparative evolutionary and phylogenomic analysis of Avian avulaviruses 1 to 20

Avian avulaviruses (avulaviruses or AAvVs) infect a wide range of avian species worldwide with variable clinical outcomes and economic impacts. Owing to broad host spectrum, several novel avulaviruses are being reported from both wild and domesticate birds that highlight the potential of the virus to evolve, adapt and emerge in susceptible population. Pathobiological and phylogenetic characterizations of individual avulaviruses are often demonstrated, however, a cumulative and comparative assessment of avulaviruses remains elusive. To assess evolutionary dynamics and potential emergence of novel avulaviruses, we enriched existing databases of all known avulaviruses (specie-type 1-20), and determined their genomics features based on both complete genomes and individual complete genes. While a high nucleotide divergence (up to 65.4%) was observed among avulaviruses, phylogenomic analysis revealed clustering of all avulaviruses into three distinct clades. The major clade (Clade-I) included both oldest and newest avulaviruses (2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 14, 15 and 20) and the second clade (Clade-II) consisted of avulaviruses 1, 9, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18 and 19, whereas the third clade (Clade-III) carried only avulaviruses 3 and 4. Intriguingly, clustering pattern was descriptive for individual gene-based analysis, however, the hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) and polymerase (L) genes showed clear and discrete branching patterns similar to complete genome-based clustering. Therefore, we propose the use of HN, or L genes or complete genome to study epidemiological aspects of the avulaviruses. Genomic and residue characteristics of all genes indicated a continuous evolution of the virus, and substitutions in biologically important motifs warrant future investigations to assess their roles in the pathobiology of the virus. Taken together, this comprehensive analysis of all known avulaviruses ascertains continuous monitoring and surveillance of wild/water-fowls and commercial poultry. These findings further our understanding on the evolutionary dynamics and potential emergence of novel avulaviruses and will establish bases to identify potential of wild-bird origin apathogenic viruses to cause infections in commercial poultry

Rationale to understand anthelmintic resistance in parasitic nematodes

With extensive use of the anthelmintic in many tropical and parasite-endemic countries, the graveness of parasite resistance is exaggerating. The trend in the use of excessive medication in animal is also posing threats to public health. The governmental bodies are either lacking understanding or underestimating the regime of this emergingissue. This brief overview highlights the need, rationale and urgency of the matter to establish foundations for unifiedaction plans at the national levels as well as international levels in mitigating the development of resistance

An overview of the trichostorngyloidea

Among helminthes, the trichostrongyloidea consists of most significant parasites of ruminants, which are posing significant threats to livestock productivity, health and well-being. This brief commentary provides an overview of this important group of parasite to showcase the crucial roles these play in hosts

Genetic characterization of small ruminant morbillivirus from recently emerging wave of outbreaks in Pakistan

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is an endemic and highly infectious disease of several tropical countries, including Pakistan. Despite exhaustive vaccination, outbreaks are on the rise annually across different parts of the country. Clinical outcomes are largely employed to diagnose disease, while comprehensive genomic features of prevailing field strains of SRMV largely remain elusive. Here, we present comparative sequence-based phylogenomics of field strains from three districts representing different agro-livestock production systems during an emerging wave of outbreaks in 2015, together with the first complete genome sequencing of a strain from Pakistan. The analysis revealed clustering of study strain (SRMV/Lahore/UVAS/Pak/2015) to lineage IV, close to isolates characterized previously from India and China. Investigations of inter- and intralineage genetic distances showed a higher genetic distance between SRMV/Lahore/UVAS/Pak/2015 to lineage III viruses than lineages I and II. The characterized Pakistani strain also showed a high percentage of genetic distance from isolates originated from Nigerian and other African small ruminants. Based on these observations, an integrated cross-protection investigation is warranted in the future, not only to define the protective efficacy of currently applied vaccines, but also to continuously elucidate the genomic and evolutionary nature of circulating viruses in the country to achieve disease eradication by 2030

Understanding of the molecular genetics of benzimidazole resistance in haemonchus

Parasitic infestations are continuously posing enormous threats to food security and poverty alleviation. While different drugs are proposed to minimize the impact of parasite, these come with established genetic resistance. Understanding markers of genetic resistance will streamline the process of use of alternative medication as well as assessing the affect of currently applied anthelmintic. This review briefly outlines the roles of parasites in diseases and proposes the use of different genetic markers to mitigate the emerging resistance in parasite

Peste des petits ruminants in wild ungulates

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is a contagious viral disease of domestic small ruminants. It also affects wild ungulates but there are comparatively few studies of the incidence of natural infection, clinical signs and pathology, and confirmation of the virus, and in these species. In this article, we list the wild ungulates in which PPRV infection has been confirmed and summarize available information about the presentation of the disease, its identification, and impact of virus on wildlife populations. Considering recent reports of outbreaks by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), it is important to understand the transmission of this disease within wildlife populations in PPR endemic regions

CRISPR-cas system:biological function in microbes and its use to treat antimicrobial resistant pathogens

The development of antibiotic resistance in bacteria is a major public health threat. Infection rates of resistant pathogens continue to rise against nearly all antimicrobials, which has led to development of different strategies to combat the antimicrobial resistance. In this review, we discuss how the newly popular CRISPR-cas system has been applied to combat antibiotic resistance in both extracellular and intracellular pathogens. We also review a recently developed method in which nano-size CRISPR complex was used without any phage to target themecAgene. However, there is still challenge to practice these methods in field against emerging antimicrobial resistant pathogens