High-starch diets alter equine faecal microbiota and increase behavioural reactivity

Gut microbiota have been associated with health, disease and behaviour in several species and are an important link in gut-brain axis communication. Diet plays a key role in affecting the composition of gut microbiota. In horses, high-starch diets alter the hindgut microbiota. High-starch diets are also associated with increased behavioural reactivity in horses. These changes in microbiota and behaviour may be associated. This study compares the faecal microbiota and behaviour of 10 naïve ponies. A cross-over design was used with experimental groups fed high-starch (HS) or high-fibre (HF) diets. Results showed that ponies were more reactive and less settled when being fed the HS diet compared to the HF diet. Irrespective of diet, the bacterial profile was dominated by two main phyla, Firmicutes, closely followed by Bacteroidetes. However, at lower taxonomic levels multivariate analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequencing data showed diet affected faecal microbial community structure. The abundance of 85 OTUs differed significantly related to diet. Correlative relationships exist between dietary induced alterations to faecal microbiota and behaviour. Results demonstrate a clear link between diet, faecal microbial community composition and behaviour. Dietary induced alterations to gut microbiota play a role in affecting the behaviour of the host

The Neuro Bureau ADHD-200 Preprocessed repository

In 2011, the “ADHD-200 Global Competition” was held with the aim of identifying biomarkers of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder from resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) and structural MRI (s-MRI) data collected on 973 individuals. Statisticians and computer scientists were potentially the most qualified for the machine learning aspect of the competition, but generally lacked the specialized skills to implement the necessary steps of data preparation for rs-fMRI. Realizing this barrier to entry, the Neuro Bureau prospectively collaborated with all competitors by preprocessing the data and sharing these results at the Neuroimaging Informatics Tools and Resources Clearinghouse (NITRC) (http://www.nitrc.org/frs/?group_id=383). This “ADHD-200 Preprocessed” release included multiple analytical pipelines to cater to different philosophies of data analysis. The processed derivatives included denoised and registered 4D fMRI volumes, regional time series extracted from brain parcellations, maps of 10 intrinsic connectivity networks, fractional amplitude of low frequency fluctuation, and regional homogeneity, along with grey matter density maps. The data was used by several teams who competed in the ADHD-200 Global Competition, including the winning entry by a group of biostaticians. To the best of our knowledge, the ADHD-200 Preprocessed release was the first large public resource of preprocessed resting-state fMRI and structural MRI data, and remains to this day the only resource featuring a battery of alternative processing paths

The association between glutamine repeats in the androgen receptor gene and personality traits in dromedary camel (<i>Camelus dromedarius</i>)

<div><p>Temperament traits such as fearfulness are important as they define an animal’s responses to its environment and handling. The increasing automation of daily tasks and growing population limits contact between camels and humans. Such limitations contribute to fear of humans and changes in physical environment. Monoamine oxidase A (<i>MAOA</i>) and androgen receptor (<i>AR</i>) genes are important candidates associated with mammal personality. In our analysis, <i>MAOA</i> exon 15 showed no polymorphism but a novel polymorphism was seen in the camel <i>AR</i> exon 1; 16, 17, 18, and 19 glutamine repeats were detected. We genotyped 138 camels belonging to four Egyptian breeds: Maghrabi (<i>n</i> = 90), Sudani (<i>n</i> = 15), Somali (<i>n</i> = 23), and Baladi (<i>n</i> = 10) for <i>AR</i>. Out of the 90 genotyped Maghrabi camels, we evaluated responses of 33 and 32 mature females to a novel object and exposure to an unfamiliar person, respectively. <i>AR</i> gene showed a significant association based on the principal component (PC) score, which indicated the fear of human touch, and the PC score indicates fear during interaction with novel objects. Individuals carrying a shorter genotype in homozygote (<i>S/S</i>) were found to be more fearful. Furthermore, we found that Sudani and Somali breeds had a higher frequency of shorter genotype (<i>S/S</i>), which was associated with increased fearfulness. These findings reflect the behavioral tendency and consequently, affect the use of this breed. This is the first report showing the role of <i>AR</i> glutamine repeats influencing a behavioral trait in dromedary camels and leading to inter-breed differences. Fear-related traits reported here are important because camels cope with various types of stresses and fear, resulting from the demands of intensive production systems and racing events. However, further studies, employing functional genomics and linkage analysis are necessary for confirming the relationship between fearfulness and genetic variation.</p></div