Population genomic data reveal low genetic diversity,divergence and local adaptation among threatened Reeves's Pheasant(Syrmaticus reevesii)

Population genomic data could provide valuable information for conservation efforts;however,limited studies have been conducted to investigate the genetic status of threatened pheasants.Reeves’s Pheasant(Syrmaticus reevesii)is facing population decline,attributed to increases in habitat loss.There is a knowledge gap in understanding the genomic status and genetic basis underlying the local adaptation of this threatened bird.Here,we used population genomic data to assess population structure,genetic diversity,inbreeding patterns,and genetic divergence.Furthermore,we identified candidate genes linked with adaptation across the current distribution of Reeves’s Pheasant.The present study assembled the first de novo genome sequence of Reeves’s Pheasant and annotated 19,458 genes.We also sequenced 30 individuals from three populations(Dabie Mountain,Shennongjia,Qinling Mountain)and found that there was clear population structure among those populations.By comparing with other threatened species,we found that Reeves’s Pheasants have low genetic diversity.Runs of homozygosity suggest that the Shennongjia population has experienced serious inbreeding.The demographic history results indicated that three populations experienced several declines during the glacial period.Local adaptative analysis among the populations identified 241 candidate genes under directional selection.They are involved in a large variety of processes,including the immune response and pigmentation.Our results suggest that the three populations should be considered as three different conservation units.The current study provides genetic evidence for conserving the threatened Reeves’s Pheasant and provides genomic resources for global biodiversity management.

The ABA synthesis enzyme allele OsNCED2^(T)promotes dryland adaptation in upland rice

Upland rice shows dryland adaptation in the form of a deeper and denser root system and greater drought resistance than its counterpart,irrigated rice.Our previous study revealed a difference in the frequency of the OsNCED2 gene between upland and irrigated populations.A nonsynonymous mutation(C to T,from irrigated to upland rice)may have led to functional variation fixed by artificial selection,but the exact biological function in dryland adaptation is unclear.In this study,transgenic and association analysis indicated that the domesticated fixed mutation caused functional variation in OsNCED2,increasing ABA levels,root development,and drought tolerance in upland rice under dryland conditions.OsNCED2-overexpressing rice showed increased reactive oxygen species-scavenging abilities and transcription levels of many genes functioning in stress response and development that may regulate root development and drought tolerance.OsNCED2^(T)-NILs showed a denser root system and drought resistance,promoting the yield of rice under dryland conditions.OsNCED2^(T)may confer dryland adaptation in upland rice and may find use in breeding dryland-adapted,water-saving rice.

Exercise-induced adaptation of neurons in the vertebrate locomotor system

Vertebrate neurons are highly dynamic cells that undergo several alterations in their functioning and physiologies in adaptation to various external stimuli.In particular,how these neurons respond to physical exercise has long been an area of active research.Studies of the vertebrate locomotor system’s adaptability suggest multiple mechanisms are involved in the regulation of neuronal activity and properties during exercise.In this brief review,we highlight recent results and insights from the field with a focus on the following mechanisms:(a)alterations in neuronal excitability during acute exercise;(b)alterations in neuronal excitability after chronic exercise;(c)exercise-induced changes in neuronal membrane properties via modulation of ion channel activity;(d)exercise-enhanced dendritic plasticity;and(e)exercise-induced alterations in neuronal gene expression and protein synthesis.Our hope is to update the community with a cellular and molecular understanding of the recent mechanisms underlying the adaptability of the vertebrate locomotor system in response to both acute and chronic physical exercise.

Comparative proteomics reveals the response and adaptation mechanisms of white Hypsizygus marmoreus against the biological stress caused by Penicillium

White Hypsizygus marmoreus is a popular edible mushroom.Its mycelium is easy to be contaminated by Penicillium,which leads to a decrease in its quality and yield.Penicillium could compete for limited space and nutrients through rapid growth and produce a variety of harmful gases,such as benzene,aldehydes,phenols,etc.,to inhibit the growth of H.marmoreus mycelium.A series of changes occurred in H.marmoreus proteome after contamination when detected by the label-free tandem mass spectrometry(MS/MS)technique.Some proteins with up-regulated expression worked together to participate in some processes,such as the non-toxic transformation of harmful gases,glutathione metabolism,histone modification,nucleotide excision repair,clearing misfolded proteins,and synthesizing glutamine,which were mainly used in response to biological stress.The proteins with down-regulated expression are mainly related to the processes of ribosome function,protein processing,spliceosome,carbon metabolism,glycolysis,and gluconeogenesis.The reduction in the function of these proteins affected the production of the cell components,which might be an adjustment to adapt to growth retardation.This study further enhanced the understanding of the biological stress response and the growth restriction adaptation mechanisms in edible fungi.It also provided a theoretical basis for protein function exploration and edible mushroom food safety research.

Complementary-Label Adversarial Domain Adaptation Fault Diagnosis Network under Time-Varying Rotational Speed andWeakly-Supervised Conditions

Recent research in cross-domain intelligence fault diagnosis of machinery still has some problems,such as relatively ideal speed conditions and sample conditions.In engineering practice,the rotational speed of the machine is often transient and time-varying,which makes the sample annotation increasingly expensive.Meanwhile,the number of samples collected from different health states is often unbalanced.To deal with the above challenges,a complementary-label(CL)adversarial domain adaptation fault diagnosis network(CLADAN)is proposed under time-varying rotational speed and weakly-supervised conditions.In the weakly supervised learning condition,machine prior information is used for sample annotation via cost-friendly complementary label learning.A diagnosticmodel learning strategywith discretized category probabilities is designed to avoidmulti-peak distribution of prediction results.In adversarial training process,we developed virtual adversarial regularization(VAR)strategy,which further enhances the robustness of the model by adding adversarial perturbations in the target domain.Comparative experiments on two case studies validated the superior performance of the proposed method.

Bearing Fault Diagnosis Based on Deep Discriminative Adversarial Domain Adaptation Neural Networks

Intelligent diagnosis driven by big data for mechanical fault is an important means to ensure the safe operation ofequipment. In these methods, deep learning-based machinery fault diagnosis approaches have received increasingattention and achieved some results. It might lead to insufficient performance for using transfer learning alone andcause misclassification of target samples for domain bias when building deep models to learn domain-invariantfeatures. To address the above problems, a deep discriminative adversarial domain adaptation neural networkfor the bearing fault diagnosis model is proposed (DDADAN). In this method, the raw vibration data are firstlyconverted into frequency domain data by Fast Fourier Transform, and an improved deep convolutional neuralnetwork with wide first-layer kernels is used as a feature extractor to extract deep fault features. Then, domaininvariant features are learned from the fault data with correlation alignment-based domain adversarial training.Furthermore, to enhance the discriminative property of features, discriminative feature learning is embeddedinto this network to make the features compact, as well as separable between classes within the class. Finally, theperformance and anti-noise capability of the proposedmethod are evaluated using two sets of bearing fault datasets.The results demonstrate that the proposed method is capable of handling domain offset caused by differentworkingconditions and maintaining more than 97.53% accuracy on various transfer tasks. Furthermore, the proposedmethod can achieve high diagnostic accuracy under varying noise levels.

Conservation genomics provides insights into genetic resilience and adaptation of the endangered Chinese hazelnut, Corylus chinensis

Global climate change has increased concerns regarding biodiversity loss.However,many key conservation issues still required further research,including demographic history,deleterious mutation load,adaptive evolution,and putative introgression.Here we generated the first chromosome-level genome of the endangered Chinese hazelnut,Corylus chinensis,and compared the genomic signatures with its sympatric widespread C.kwechowensis-C yunnanensis complex.We found large genome rearrangements across all Corylus species and identified species-specific expanded gene families that may be involved in adaptation.Population genomics revealed that both C.chinensis and the C.kwechowensis-C.yunnanensis complex had diverged into two genetic lineages,forming a consistent pattern of southwestern-northern differentiation.Population size of the narrow southwestern lineages of both species have decreased continuously since the late Miocene,whereas the widespread northern lineages have remained stable(C.chinensis) or have even recovered from population bottlenecks(C.kwechowensis-C.yunnanensis complex) during the Quaternary.Compared with C.kwechowensis-C. yunnanensis complex,C.chinensis showed significantly lower genomic diversity and higher inbreeding level.However,C.chinensis carried significantly fewer deleterious mutations than C.kwechowensis-C. yunnanensis complex,as more effective purging selection reduced the accumulation of homozygous variants.We also detected signals of positive selection and adaptive introgression in different lineages,which facilitated the accumulation of favorable variants and formation of local adaptation.Hence,both types of selection and exogenous introgression could have mitigated inbreeding and facilitated survival and persistence of C.chinensis.Overall,our study provides critical insights into lineage differentiation,local adaptation,and the potential for future recovery of endangered trees.

Unveiling the adaptation strategies of woody plants in remnant forest patches to spatiotemporal urban expansion through leaf trait networks

Background:With the expansion of urban areas,the remnants of forested areas play a crucial role in preserving biodiversity in urban environments.This study aimed to explore the impact of spatiotemporal urban expansion on the networks of leaf traits in woody plants within remnant forest patches,thereby enhancing our understanding of plant adaptive strategies and contributing to the conservation of urban biodiversity.Methods:Our study examined woody plants within 120 sample plots across 15 remnant forest patches in Guiyang,China.We constructed leaf trait networks (LTNs) based on 26 anatomical,structural,and compositional leaf traits and assessed the effects of the spatiotemporal dynamics of urban expansion on these LTNs.Results and conclusions:Our results indicate that shrubs within these patches have greater average path lengths and diameters than trees.With increasing urban expansion intensity,we observed a rise in the edge density of the LTN-shrubs.Additionally,modularity within the networks of shrubs decreased as road density and urban expansion intensity increased,and increases in the average path length and average clustering coefficient for shrubs were observed with a rise in the composite terrain complexity index.Notably,patches subjected to‘leapfrog’expansion exhibited greater average patch length and diameter than those experiencing edge growth.Stomatal traits were found to have high degree centrality within these networks,signifying their substantial contribution to multiple functions.In urban remnant forests,shrubs bolster their resilience to variable environmental pressures by augmenting the complexity of their leaf trait networks.

Sleep Quality and Emotional Adaptation among Freshmen in Elite Chinese Universities during Prolonged COVID-19 Lockdown:The Mediating Role of Anxiety Symptoms

Under the effects of COVID-19 and a number of ongoing lockdown tactics,anxiety symptoms and poor sleep quality have become common mental health issues among college freshmen and are intimately related to their emotional adaptation.To explore this connection,this study gathered data from a sample of 256 freshmen enrolled in an elite university in China in September 2022.The association between sleep quality,anxiety symptoms,and emotional adaptation was clarified using correlation analysis.Additionally,the mediating function of anxiety symptoms between sleep quality and emotional adaptation was investigated using a structural equation model.The results reveal that:(1)Chinese elite university freshmen who were subjected to prolonged lockdown had poor sleep quality and mild anxiety symptoms;(2)a significant positive correlation between poor sleep quality and anxiety symptoms was identified;(3)anxiety symptoms were found to have a significant negative impact on emotional adaptation;(4)poor sleep quality had a negative impact on emotional adaptation through anxiety symptoms.This research makes a valuable contribution by offering insights into the intricate relationship between sleep quality and emotional adaptation among freshmen in elite Chinese universities during prolonged lockdown conditions,and it is beneficial for schools and educators to further improve school schedules and psychological health initiatives.

Adaptive Graph Embedding With Consistency and Specificity for Domain Adaptation

Domain adaptation(DA) aims to find a subspace,where the discrepancies between the source and target domains are reduced. Based on this subspace, the classifier trained by the labeled source samples can classify unlabeled target samples well.Existing approaches leverage Graph Embedding Learning to explore such a subspace. Unfortunately, due to 1) the interaction of the consistency and specificity between samples, and 2) the joint impact of the degenerated features and incorrect labels in the samples, the existing approaches might assign unsuitable similarity, which restricts their performance. In this paper, we propose an approach called adaptive graph embedding with consistency and specificity(AGE-CS) to cope with these issues. AGE-CS consists of two methods, i.e., graph embedding with consistency and specificity(GECS), and adaptive graph embedding(AGE).GECS jointly learns the similarity of samples under the geometric distance and semantic similarity metrics, while AGE adaptively adjusts the relative importance between the geometric distance and semantic similarity during the iterations. By AGE-CS,the neighborhood samples with the same label are rewarded,while the neighborhood samples with different labels are punished. As a result, compact structures are preserved, and advanced performance is achieved. Extensive experiments on five benchmark datasets demonstrate that the proposed method performs better than other Graph Embedding methods.

The genomic and epigenetic footprint of local adaptation to variable climates in kiwifruit

A full understanding of adaptive genetic variation at the genomic level will help address questions of how organisms adapt to diverse climates.Actinidia eriantha is a shade-tolerant species,widely distributed in the southern tropical region of China,occurring in spatially heterogeneous environments.In the present study we combined population genomic,epigenomic,and environmental association analyses to infer population genetic structure and positive selection across a climatic gradient,and to assess genomic offset to climatic change for A.eriantha.The population structure is strongly shaped by geography and influenced by restricted gene f low resulting from isolation by distance due to habitat fragmentation.In total,we identified 102 outlier loci and annotated 455 candidate genes associated with the genomic basis of climate adaptation,which were enriched in functional categories related to development processes and stress response;both temperature and precipitation are important factors driving adaptive variation.In addition to single-nucleotide polymorphisms(SNPs),a total of 27 single-methylation variants(SMVs)had significant correlation with at least one of four climatic variables and 16 SMVswere located in or adjacent to genes,several of whichwere predicted to be involved in plant response to abiotic or biotic stress.Gradient forest analysis indicated that the central/east populations were predicted to be at higher risk of future population maladaptation under climate change.Our results demonstrate that local climate factors impose strong selection pressures and lead to local adaptation.Such information adds to our understanding of adaptive mechanisms to variable climates revealed by both population genome and epigenome analysis.

Climate Change vs Cultural Heritage: An Adaptation Strategy for the Archaeological Site of Ancient Messene

This article examines the effects of climate change on archaeological sites, using as a case study the archaeological site of Ancient Messene in Greece, and proposes an integrated adaptation strategy. In order to determine the site’s most significant risks, a climate data analysis was conducted, taking into account three different climate emission scenarios (Representative Concentration Pathways) and two future periods (2031-2060, 2071-2100). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) vulnerability assessment methodology was adopted to assess the vulnerability of the archaeological site to the effects of climate change. This is the first time such a methodology has been followed in Greece. The analysis revealed that the site’s critical hazards are fire, desertification, and flooding. The geographical location of the site in an intensely dry microclimate and the lack of safe and functional electromechanical and road infrastructure increase its vulnerability. The materials of the monuments are indirectly and directly impacted by climate change, whereas the vegetation is negatively impacted by the frequency of extreme events, especially wildfires. Based on the analysis results, a five-axis adaptation strategy was developed.

Metagenomic analysis reveals hidden links between gut microbes and habitat adaptation among cave and surface dwelling Sinocyclocheilus species

Intestinal microbes are closely related to vital host functions such as digestion and nutrient absorption,which play important roles in enhancing host adaptability.As a natural“laboratory”,caves provide an outstanding model for understanding the significance of gut microbes and feeding habits in the habitat adaptability of hosts.However,research on the relationship between gut microbes,feeding habits,and the adaptability of troglobites remains insufficient.In this study,we compared the characteristics of the intestinal microbes of Sinocyclocheilus cavefish and surface fish and further established the relationship between intestinal and habitat microbes.Furthermore,we conducted environmental DNA(eDNA)(metabarcoding)analysis of environmental samples to clarify the composition of potential food resources in the habitats of the Sinocyclocheilus cavefish and surface fish.Results showed that the structure of the Sinocyclocheilus gut microbes was more related to ecological type(habitat type)than phylogenetic relationships.While horizontal transfer of habitat microbes was a source of gut microbes,hosts also showed strong selection for inherent microbes as dominant microorganisms.Differences in the composition and structure of gut microbes,especially dominant microbes,may enhance the adaptability of the two Sinocyclocheilus fish types from the perspectives of food intake,nutrient utilization,and harmful substance metabolism,suggesting that food resources,predation patterns,intestinal flora,digestive and absorptive capacity,and feeding habits and preferences are linked to habitat adaptability.These results should facilitate our understanding of the significance of fish gut microbes to habitat adaptation and provide a new perspective for studying the adaptive mechanisms of cavefish.

Vultures as a model for testing molecular adaptations of dietary specialization in birds

Vultures are the only obligate scavengers among extant vertebrates.They provide valuable ecological services in ecosystems through removing carcasses,thus preventing the growth of other scavenger populations and the spread of pathogens.Moreover,their specific diets expose them to various deadly pathogens,which makes them potential candidates for studying molecular adaptations required to survive this extremely specialized scavenging habit.In this review,we summarize the morphological characteristics and behavioral habits,origin and phylogeny,and molecular adaptations to scavenging in both Old and New World vultures.The two groups of vultures share a similar appearance,indicative of convergent evolution.Vultures have experienced different degrees of specialization in their sensory organs;Old World vultures depend on sight,while New World ones depend on both smell and sight.Combined fossil records and molecular data suggest that vultures evolved independently,with distinct phylogenetic positions.We also explored their adaptation to scavenging in facial and intestinal microbiomes,gastric acid secretion and immunity.Compared with the facial microbiome,the intestinal microbiome had a lower diversity,dominated by Fusobacteria and Clostridia.The phages and single invertebrate species Adineta vaga,which feeds on dead bacteria and protozoa,present in the gut suggest a possible alternative defense mechanism.Several genes involved in gastric acidic secretion(including ATP4B,SLC26A7 and SST)and immunity(including BCL6,STING,and TLRs) undergoing positive selection likely have essential roles in eliminating invasive pathogens and initiating an innate immune response.Taken together,this review presents the current research status of vultures and highlights the use of vultures as a model for exploring molecular adaptations of dietary specialization in birds.It also provides a theoretical basis for the study of the genetic mechanisms of vultures to scavenging,and contributes to the formulation of vulture conservation strategies.

Effects of Different Feedback Conditions on Sensorimotor Adaptation Revealed in a Mirror Reversal Paradigm

Humans are able to overcome sensory perturbations imposed on their movements through motor learning. One of the key mechanisms to accomplish this is sensorimotor adaptation, an implicit, error-driven learning mechanism. Past work on sensorimotor adaptation focused mainly on adaptation to rotated visual feedback—A paradigm known as visuomotor rotation. Recent studies have shown that sensorimotor adaptation can also occur under mirror-reversed visual feedback. In visuomotor rotation, sensorimotor adaptation can be driven by both endpoint and online feedback [1] [2]. However, it’s not been clear whether both kinds of feedback can similarly drive adaptation under a mirror reversed perturbation. We performed a study to establish what kinds of feedback can drive adaptation under mirror reversal. In the first two conditions, the participants were asked to ignore visual feedback. In the first condition, we provided mirror reversed online feedback and endpoint feedback. We reproduced previous findings showing that online feedback elicited adaptation under mirror reversal. In a second condition, we provided mirror reversed endpoint feedback. However, in the second condition, we found that endpoint feedback alone failed to elicit adaptation. In a third condition, we provided both types of feedback at the same time, but in a conflicting way: endpoint feedback was non-reversed while online feedback was mirror reversed. The participants were asked to ignore online visual feedback and try to hit the target with help from veridical endpoint feedback. In the third condition, in which veridical endpoint feedback and mirror reversed online feedback were provided, adaptation still occurred. Our results showed that endpoint feedback did not elicit adaptation under mirror reversal but online feedback did. This dissociation between effects of endpoint feedback and online feedback on adaptation under mirror reversal suggests that adaptation under these different kinds of feedback might in fact operate via distinct mechanisms.

Signatures of positive selection for local adaptation of African native cattle populations:A review

Cattle are central to the lives and diverse cultures of African people.It has played a crucial role in providing valuable protein for billions of households and sources of income and employment for producers and other actors in the livestock value chains.The long-term natural selection of African cattle typically signals signatures in the genome,contributes to high genetic differentiations across breeds.This has enabled them to develop unique adaptive traits to cope with inadequate feed supply,high temperatures,high internal and external parasites,and diseases.However,these unique cattle genetic resources are threatened by indiscriminate cross-breeding,breed replacements with exotic cosmopolitan breeds,and climate change pressures.Although there are no functional genomics studies,recent advancements in genotyping and sequencing technologies have identified and annotated limited functional genes and causal variants associated with unique adaptive and economical traits of African cattle populations.These genome-wide variants serve as candidates for breed improvement and support conservation efforts for endangered cattle breeds against future climate changes.Therefore,this review plans to collate comprehensive information on the identified selection footprints to support genomic studies in African cattle to confirm the validity of the results and provide a framework for further genetic association and QTL fine mapping studies.

Hierarchical pattern recognition of landform elements considering scale adaptation

Landform elements with varying morphologies and spatial arrangements are recognized as feature indicator of landform classification and play a critical role in geomorphological studies.Differential geometry method has been extensively applied in prior landform element research,while its efficacy in differentiating similar morphological characteristics remains inadequate to date.To reduce reliance on geomorphometric variables and increase awareness of landform patterns,geomorphons method was generated in previous study corresponding to specific landform reclassification map based on lookup table.Besides,to address the problem of feature similarity,hierarchical classification was proposed and effectively utilized for terrain recognition through the analytical strategy of fuzzy gradient features.Thus,combining the advantages of these two aspects,a hierarchical framework was proposed in this study for landform element pattern recognition considering the morphology and hierarchy factors.First,the local triplet patterns derived from geomorphons were enhanced by setting the flatness threshold,and subsequently adopted for the primary landform element recognition.Then,as geomorphic units with the same morphology possess different spatial analytical scales,the unidentified landform elements under the principle of scale adaptation were determined by calculating the spatial correlation and entropy information.To ensure the effectiveness of this proposed method,the sampling points were randomly selected from NASADEM data and then validated against a real 3D terrain model.Quantitative results of landform element pattern recognition demonstrate that our approach can reach above 77%average accuracy.Additionally,it delineates local details more effectively than geomorphons in visual assessment,resulting in a 7%accuracy improvement in overall scale.

Framework for Mainstreaming Climate Change into African Blue Economy Strategies to Enhance Adaptation, Mitigation, and Resilience in Sustainable Development

This article outlines a framework for mainstreaming climate change into African blue economy Strategies. We underscore that the proliferation of the blue economy in climate change has gained momentum, however, there remains no standardized approach, mechanism or framework for mainstreaming and integrating climate change into blue economy. The economic pillars of economic development, social equity, and environmental management, conservation and sustainability are at the center of the blue economy frontier. The surrounding blue economy components have led to discrepancies in how the blue economy is mainstreamed, integrated, implemented and what is prioritized on agile basis. This article takes a continental overview of current approaches to regional and national levels of blue economy realignment. In doing so this article provides the continental, regional and national assessments of blue economy implementation approaches, through the development of a stepwise innovative process. Using the available literature, data and information from blue economy strategies and other publicly available online information, we analyzed each region and national blue economy strategies to assess the levels of blue economy components mainstreamed into climate change. Throughout this article we outline the methodological approach we took in order to develop a stepwise process innovation for mainstreaming climate change into blue economy at national and regional levels This approach will allow for ongoing and continued mainstreaming and integrating of climate change into blue economy realignment, operationalization and implementation as the concept of blue economy continues to evolve. The approach entails a collective action process for an informed decision making to direct, guide and inform actions for climate change that will effectively and efficiently enhance adaptation, mitigation and resiliency anchored to sustainable development. It establishes linkages to blue economy strategies through an integrated approach. The article addresses the question “How does mainstreaming climate change into African blue economy strategies contribute to achieving sustainable development?” The methodology is based on desk-top study and literature review. This explores the process of mainstreaming, drawing on the countries and regional blue economy strategies, that have made progress in development of blue economy strategies, plans, guidelines and frameworks for governance coordination mechanism. In conclusion, the article states that mainstreaming climate change in Africa reflects a complex pathway of processes and stakeholders that need to be taken into consideration in further research, with particular focus on institutional policy change, administrative structures and transformation.

Impact of Chromium Propionate Supplementation and Days of Adaptation on Energy Status in Newly Weaned Steer Calves*

The objective of this research was to evaluate the influences that supplemental dietary chromium propionate (CrP;0 or 0.4 mg·kg-1 added to the total diet on a DM basis) has on plasma indicators of energy status in newly weaned steers upon introduction to the feedlot. For this experiment single source, Angus steers (n = 28;BW = 289 ± 12.0 kg) from a ranch in Western South Dakota were weaned and immediately shipped 579 km to the Ruminant Nutrition Center (RNC) in Brookings, SD. Steers were allotted to one of four 7.6 m × 7.6 m pens (2 pens/diet;7 steers/pen) at 4 d post-arrival to the RNC and test diets were initiated. No anabolic implant was used in this study. Subsequent BW measurements were obtained at 1400 h, to accommodate a post-prandial timing for blood sampling. This was 4 h after initial access to feed, and immediately prior to the afternoon feed delivery. Weights and blood sampling occurred on d 5, 12, 19, and 33. Whole blood samples were collected from all steers via jugular venipuncture and separated as plasma. There were no diet x day interactions (P ≥ 0.51) for plasma glucose, insulin, or urea-N. Plasma glucose, insulin, and urea-n levels were similar between diets (P ≥ 0.35). Plasma glucose and urea-n levels were not different across days (P ≥ 0.59). Insulin levels differed as a result of days of adaptation and were greatest (P = 0.01) on d 12 regardless of diet. There tended (P = 0.12) to be a diet x day interaction for NEFA levels. Plasma NEFA levels tended to be lower (P = 0.13) for calves fed CrP on d 5, and were greater (P = 0.09) on d 12 in calves fed CrP. The shift in NEFA on d 12 coincided with the spike in insulin levels. Both events occurred at the time that NEg intake was approaching the acclimated plateau and neither event impacted glucose status. In non-ruminants, elevated insulin concentrations decrease circulating NEFA levels. We detected minimal differences in regard to plasma indicators of lipid metabolism in this study due to chromium supplementation. These data indicate that ruminants may differ from non-ruminants in the regulation and maintenance of glucose status and body fat catabolism during the post-absorptive state.

Cross-protective effect of acid adaptation on ethanol tolerance in Salmonella Enteritidis

Cross protection can undermine the effectiveness of control measures on foodborne pathogens,and therefore brings major implications for food safety.In this work,the capacity of Salmonella Enteritidis to mount ethanol tolerance following acid adaptation was characterized by analysis of cell viability and cell membrane property.It was observed that preadaptation to pH 4.5 significantly(P<0.05)increased the tolerance of log-phase cells to ethanol;in contrast,stationary-phase cells displayed reduced ethanol tolerance after acid adaptation.However,acid adaptation did not cause cell leakage and morphological change in both log-phase and stationary-phase S.Enteritidis.Fatty acid analysis further revealed that the amount of C_(14:0),C_(17:0 cyclo) and C_(19:0 cyclo) fatty acids was increased,while that of C_(16:1ω7c) and C_(18:1ω7c) fatty acids was decreased,respectively,in response to acid adaptation,regardless of bacterial growth phase.Notably,acid adaptation significantly(P<0.05)increased the proportion of C_(16:0) fatty acid in log-phase cells,but this effect did not occur in stationary-phase cells.Moreover,exogenous addition of C_(16:0) fatty acid to stationary-phase acid-adapted cultures was able to enhance bacterial ethanol tolerance.Taken together,C_(16:0) fatty acid is involved in the growth-phase-dependent protective effect of acid adaptation on ethanol tolerance in S.Enteritidis.