Niranjana Sahoo

Seroprevalence of Capripoxvirus infection in sheep and goats among different agro-climatic zones of Odisha, India

Aim: The study was undertaken to assess the prevalence of antibodies to Capripoxviruses among small ruminants of Odisha, India. Materials and Methods: A total of 500 random serum samples collected from 214 sheep and 286 goats across 10 agro-climatic zones of Odisha, were screened using whole virus antigen-based indirect ELISA for antibodies against Capripoxviruses. Results were analyzed by suitable statistical methods. Results: Screening of 500 serum samples showed seropositivity of 8.88% and 31.47% in sheep and goats, respectively, for Capripoxviruses. The prevalence rate according to agro-climatic zone ranged from 0% (North Eastern coastal plain zone) to 48.57% (North central plateau zone) for goat pox, and 0% (Western undulating zone and North central plateau) to 22.22% (South Eastern ghat zone) for sheep pox. The difference in prevalence rates among the various agro-climatic zones was statistically significant (p<0.05) for goats, but not for sheep. Antibody prevalence rates among various districts were recorded to be the highest in Jagatsinghpur (30%) for sheep pox and Dhenkanal (80%) for goat pox. Conclusions: The study revealed serological evidence of Capripoxvirus infection in sheep and goat populations in the study area, in the absence of vaccination. Systematic investigation, monitoring, and reporting of outbreaks are necessary to devise control strategies.

Seroprevalence of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) in Goat Population of Bhubaneswar, Odisha

Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) infection in ruminants results in chronic inflammatory condition of intestine commonly known as paratuberculosis or Johne’s disease characterized by poor body condition, progressive weight loss with or without diarrhoea and emaciation(Patel and Shah, 2010). MAP has been incriminated as the cause of Crohn’s disease (CD), a chronic inflammatory bowel condition in human beings (Singh et al., 2016). MAP is the cause of considerable concern to the dairy industry worldwide due to the economic losses caused by reduced milk production and food safety situation as a result of postpasteurization survival in milk and subsequent transmission to humans (Patel and Shah, 2011). India is International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 7 Number 01 (2018) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com

Effect of Inbreeding on Several Fitness Traits and Disease Susceptibility in Captive Tiger (Panthera Tigris) Population at Nandankanan Zoological Park, Odisha

The captive tiger population of Nandankanan Zoological Park, Odisha was taken into study to identify the deleterious effect of inbreeding on litter size, mortality, survivability, death due to different diseases and other fitness traits. The path of pedigree and inbreeding coefficient for 342 tigers were calculated from the available information of tiger national studbook. The correlation values between inbreeding coefficient and different fitness traits were estimated. The litter size of tiger was found to be positively and significantly (p < 0.05) correlated with inbreeding coefficient. However, age at death, survivability of cubs upto weaning and total numbers of cubs born throughout lifetime were negatively and significantly (p < 0.05) correlated with inbreeding coefficient. The death due to a disease conditions like stress, accidental injury, nephritis and senility were significantly (p < 0.05) associated with inbreeding of a tiger. It is recommended for zoos and other captive institutions to reduce inbreeding and inbreeding depression in their captive animal populations as much as possible by using species-specific breeding plans and using minimising kinship as captive breeding strategy.

RNA Seq analysis for transcriptome profiling in response to classical swine fever vaccination in indigenous and crossbred pigs

In present investigation, differential expression of transcriptome after classical swine fever (CSF) vaccination has been explored at the cellular level in crossbred and indigenous (desi) piglets. RNA Sequencing by Expectation-Maximization (RSEM) package was used to quantify gene expression from RNA Sequencing data, and differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified using EBSeq, DESeq2, and edgeR softwares. After analysis, 5222, 6037, and 6210 common DEGs were identified in indigenous post-vaccinated verses pre-vaccinated, crossbred post-vaccinated verses pre-vaccinated, and post-vaccinated crossbred verses indigenous pigs, respectively. Functional annotation of these DEGs showed enrichment of antigen processing-cross presentation, B cell receptor signaling, T cell receptor signaling, NF-κB signaling, and TNF signaling pathways. The interaction network among the immune genes included more number of genes with greater connectivity in vaccinated crossbred than the indigenous piglets. Higher expression of IRF3, IL1β, TAP1, CSK, SLA2, SLADM, and NF-kB in crossbred piglets in comparison to indigenous explains the better humoral response observed in crossbred piglets. Here, we predicted that the processed CSFV antigen through the T cell receptor signaling cascade triggers the B cell receptor-signaling pathway to finally activate MAPK kinase and NF-κB signaling pathways in B cell. This activation results in expression of genes/transcription factors that lead to B cell ontogeny, auto immunity and immune response through antibody production. Further, immunologically important genes were validated by qRT-PCR.