There is an urgent need for early sex identification to support field planting in Ginkgo biloba L., due to the different economic and medicinal values between male and female trees. An easy, rapid and reliable molecular method for sex type determination of G. biloba was reported in the paper. Random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and sequence-characterized amplified region (SCAR) were used to search for specific molecular markers linked to the sex locus. A total of 48 primers were used for screening of specific RAPD markers in six male and three female samples. Only one primer, S10, showed different amplification band patterns associated with sex types. Then the sex-specific bands, S10-BandA and S10-BandB, were cloned and sequenced. Based on the sequences two pairs of SCAR primers, GBA and GBB, were designed. The GBA primers amplify a single 571 bp band in male samples but not in female samples, and DNA amplification using GBB primers could generate a 688 bp band only in the female individuals. Finally, the SCAR primers were used to test 16 sex-unknown samples. SCAR primers developed in this paper can be used as effective, convenient and reliable molecular markers for sex identification in G. biloba.
Chlamydophila psittaci (C. psittaci) is an avian pathogen associated with systemic wasting disease in birds, as well as a public health risk. Although duck‐related cases of psittacosis have been reported, the pathogenicity and shedding status of C. psittaci in ducks are unclear. In this study, we reported that C. psittaci (genotype A) is responsible for a disease outbreak characterized by poor laying performance and severe lesions in multiple organs of ducks. Oral administration of antibiotic, doxycycline, was found to effectively control the C. psittaci infection in laying ducks. Collectively, our new findings provide evidence that C. psittaci was the major pathogen responsible for the outbreak of this disease in ducks. In order to reduce economic losses incurred by this disease, effective control measures must be taken to prevent infection in laying duck farms.
Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans is an important microorganism used in biomining operations for metal recovery. Whole-genomic diversity analysis based on the oligonucleotide microarray was used to analyze the gene content of 12 strains of A. ferrooxidans purified from various mining areas in China. Among the 3100 open reading frames (ORFs) on the slides, 1235 ORFs were absent in at least 1 strain of bacteria and 1385 ORFs were conserved in all strains. The hybridization results showed that these strains were highly diverse from a genomic perspective. The hybridization results of 4 major functional gene categories, namely electron transport, carbon metabolism, extracellular polysaccharides, and detoxification, were analyzed. Based on the hybridization signals obtained, a phylogenetic tree was built to analyze the evolution of the 12 tested strains, which indicated that the geographic distribution was the main factor influencing the strain diversity of these strains. Based on the hybridization signals of genes associated with bioleaching, another phylogenetic tree showed an evolutionary relationship from which the co-relation between the clustering of specific genes and geochemistry could be observed. The results revealed that the main factor was geochemistry, among which the following 6 factors were the most important: pH, Mg, Cu, S, Fe, and Al.
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