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Background Yaks are able to utilize the gastrointestinal microbiota to digest plant materials. Although the cellulolytic bacteria in the yak rumen have been reported, there is still limited information on the diversity of the major microorganisms and putative carbohydrate-metabolizing enzymes for the degradation of complex lignocellulosic biomass in its gut ecosystem. Results Here, this study aimed to decode biomass-degrading genes and genomes in the yak fecal microbiota using deep metagenome sequencing. A comprehensive catalog comprising 4.5 million microbial genes from the yak feces were established based on metagenomic assemblies from 92 Gb sequencing data. We identified a full spectrum of genes encoding carbohydrate-active enzymes, three-quarters of which were assigned to highly diversified enzyme families involved in the breakdown of complex dietary carbohydrates, including 120 families of glycoside hydrolases, 25 families of polysaccharide lyases, and 15 families of carbohydrate esterases. Inference of taxonomic assignments to the carbohydrate-degrading genes revealed the major microbial contributors were Bacteroidaceae , Ruminococcaceae , Rikenellaceae , Clostridiaceae , and Prevotellaceae . Furthermore, 68 prokaryotic genomes were reconstructed and the genes encoding glycoside hydrolases involved in plant-derived polysaccharide degradation were identified in these uncultured genomes, many of which were novel species with lignocellulolytic capability. Conclusions Our findings shed light on a great diversity of carbohydrate-degrading enzymes in the yak gut microbial community and uncultured species, which provides a useful genetic resource for future studies on the discovery of novel enzymes for industrial applications.

The objective was to study the effects of sugar cane molasses addition on the fermentation quality and tastes of alfalfa silage. Fresh alfalfa was ensiled with no additive (Control), 1% molasses (M1), 2% molasses (M2), and 3% molasses (M3) for 206 days. The chemical composition and fermentation characteristics of the alfalfa silages were determined, the microbial communities were described by 16S rRNA sequencing, and the tastes were evaluated using an electronic tongue sensing system. With the amount of added molasses (M), most nutrition (dry matter and crude protein) was preserved and water-soluble carbohydrates (WSC) were sufficiently used to promote the fermentation, resulting in a pH reduction from 5.16 to 4.48. The lactic acid (LA) content and LA/acetic acid (AA) significantly increased, indicating that the fermentation had turned to homofermentation. After ensiling, Enterococcus and Lactobacillus were the dominant genus in all treatments and the undesirable microbes were inhibited, resulting in lower propionic acid (PA), butyric acid (BA), and NH3-N production. In addition, bitterness, astringency, and sourness reflected tastes of alfalfa silage, while umami and sourness changed with the amount of added molasses. Therefore, molasses additive had improved the fermentation quality and tastes of alfalfa silage, and the M3 group obtained the ideal pH value (below 4.5) and the best condition for long-term preservation.

Diarrhea is a common issue in domestic yaks ( Bos grunniens ) that can occur with pasture alterations and significantly impacts growth performance. Previous research has examined the microbiota of diarrhetic yaks; however, the structural changes in gut bacterial community and microbial interactions in yaks with grassland alteration-induced diarrhea remain poorly understood. To explore variations in gut microbiota homeostasis among yaks suffering from diarrhea, fecal microbiota diversity and composition were analyzed using 16 S rRNA amplicon sequencing. Gut fecal microbiota diversity was lower in diarrhetic yaks than in non-diarrhetic yaks. Furthermore, the bacterial community composition (including that of Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria) in the feces of diarrhetic yaks displayed significant alterations. Co-occurrence network analysis further underscored the compromised intestinal flora stability in yaks with diarrhea relative to that in non-diarrhetic yaks. Interestingly, the abundance of beneficial bacteria, such as Lachnospiraceae_AC2044_group and Lachnospiraceae_NK4A136_group , were decreased in yaks with diarrhea, and the reductions were negatively correlated with the fecal water content. Collectively, these findings indicate that diminished microbial stability and increased abundance of certain bacteria in the gut may contribute to diarrhea occurrence in yaks.

Tibetan pig is a geographically isolated pig breed that inhabits high-altitude areas of the Qinghai–Tibetan plateau. At present, there is limited research on viral diseases in Tibetan pigs. This study provides a novel metagenomic exploration of the gut virome in Tibetan pigs (altitude ≈ 3000 m) across three critical developmental stages, including lactation, nursery, and fattening. The composition of viral communities in the Tibetan pig intestine, with a dominant presence of Microviridae phages observed across all stages of development, in combination with the previous literature, suggest that it may be associated with geographical locations with high altitude. Functional annotation of viral operational taxonomic units (vOTUs) highlights that, among the constantly increasing vOTUs groups, the adaptability of viruses to environmental stressors such as salt and heat indicates an evolutionary response to high-altitude conditions. It shows that the lactation group has more abundant viral auxiliary metabolic genes (vAMGs) than the nursery and fattening groups. During the nursery and fattening stages, this leaves only DNMT1 at a high level. which may be a contributing factor in promoting gut health. The study found that viruses preferentially adopt lytic lifestyles at all three developmental stages. These findings not only elucidate the dynamic interplay between the gut virome and host development, offering novel insights into the virome ecology of Tibetan pigs and their adaptation to high-altitude environments, but also provide a theoretical basis for further studies on pig production and epidemic prevention under extreme environmental conditions.

To determine the genotypes of the epidemic strains of Echinococcus granulosus in livestock in Tibet, samples of E. granulosus cysts were collected from 11 yaks and 62 sheep. Genomic DNA was extracted from these samples, and gene fragments of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I ( cox1 ) and NADH dehydrogenase subunit I ( nad1 ) were amplified by PCR and sequenced. DNASTAR and MAGA7.0 were employed for homology analysis and phylogenetic tree construction. Echinococcus granulosus cysts were detected in 56.2% (41/73) of the samples screened. Of these, 63.4% (26/41) were identified as E. granulosus G1 genotype (common sheep strain), 24.4% (10 /41) as G3 genotype (buffalo strain), and 12.2% (5/41) were G6 genotype (camel strain). The study concludes that yaks and sheep in Langkazi county, Tibet, carry three E. granulosus genotypes (G1, G3, and G6), with the G1 genotype the predominant genotype in the region. This study clarifies the distribution of E. granulosus genotypes, providing genetic data and insight for the surveillance and prevention of echinococcosis.

Mammalian orthoreoviruses (MRVs) have a wide geographic distribution worldwide and have been detected from humans and a variety of animal species. This study represents the first isolation of MRV from sheep rectal swabs in China, with analyses of its molecular and pathogenicity characteristics. MRV‐positive samples were inoculated into Madin–Darby bovine kidney (MDBK) cells, resulting in stable cytopathic effects (CPEs) after three generations of blind passage. Two isolates were isolated and confirmed as MRV, named MRV‐XJ23 and MRV‐sheep/SY13, through reverse‐transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR), transmission electron microscopy, and indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA). The viruses exhibited broad cellular tropism. Whole‐genome sequences were obtained and subjected to homology and evolutionary analyses, revealing that MRV‐XJ23 and MRV‐sheep/SY13 belong to the MRV‐1 serotype. Phylogenetic analyses demonstrated that MRV‐XJ23 is a reassortant virus containing gene segments from three MRVs that infected humans, bovines, and bats, with nucleotide homology exceeding 94.56%. The gene segments of MRV‐sheep/SY13 were derived from five strains—Osaka2005, BatMRV‐2/SNU1/Korea/2021, T1/human/Netherlands/1/84, IND/MZ/3013814/reo, and B/03—with nucleotide homology exceeding 95.47%. Animal experiments demonstrated that MRV‐sheep/SY13 infection induced significant pathological changes in the respiratory and digestive tracts of mice. In sheep, MRV‐sheep/SY13 caused respiratory infections, but no obvious lesion was observed from the digestive tract. This study expands our understanding of the MRV host range, reveals the potential public health risk of MRV transmission across species and zoonotic transmission, and underscores the necessity of further studies on epidemiology, reassortment patterns, and pathogenicity of MRV in sheep and domestic animals.

Background: Yaks are able to utilize the gastrointestinal microbiota to digest plant materials. Although the cellulolytic bacteria in the yak rumen have been reported, there is still limited information on the diversity of the major microorganisms and putative carbohydrate-metabolizing enzymes for the degradation of complex lignocellulosic biomass in its gut ecosystem. Results: Here, this study aimed to decode biomass-degrading genes and genomes in the yak fecal microbiota using deep metagenome sequencing. A comprehensive catalog comprising 4.5 million microbial genes from the yak feces were established based on metagenomic assemblies from 92 Gb sequencing data. We identified a full spectrum of genes encoding carbohydrate-active enzymes, three-quarters of which were assigned to highly diversified enzyme families involved in the breakdown of complex dietary carbohydrates, including 120 families of glycoside hydrolases, 25 families of polysaccharide lyases, and 15 families of carbohydrate esterases. Inference of taxonomic assignments to the carbohydrate-degrading genes revealed the major microbial contributors were Bacteroidaceae, Ruminococcaceae, Rikenellaceae, Clostridiaceae, and Prevotellaceae. Furthermore, 68 prokaryotic genomes were reconstructed and the genes encoding glycoside hydrolases involved in plant-derived polysaccharide degradation were identified in these uncultured genomes, many of which were novel species with lignocellulolytic capability. Conclusions: Our findings shed light on a great diversity of carbohydrate-degrading enzymes in the yak gut microbial community and uncultured species, which provides a useful genetic resource for future studies on the discovery of novel enzymes for industrial applications.

Capturing different pluripotent state stem cells from epiblast in vitro helps understand embryonic development and provides invaluable cell sources for basic research and regenerative medicine. Sheep are not only one of the most important livestock species in agriculture but also serve as an ideal preclinical model for studying human disease. Single‐cell transcriptome analysis of sheep preimplantation embryos from embryonic day (E) 1 to E14 is performed to investigate the pluripotency changes of epiblast and elucidate the pluripotent regulation signaling. By combination of growth factors or inhibitors of JAK/STAT3, FGF, WNT, and TGF‐β pathways in the culture medium, sheep formative and primed pluripotent stem cells (sfPSCs and spPSCs) are established respectively. The newly derived PSCs could maintain over 100 passages and differentiate into three germ layers. In addition, sfPSCs and spPSCs exhibit different molecular features, and sfPSCs have the ability of contribution to ICM and can be used as donor cells for producing cloned embryos efficiently. A cross‐species comparison of early embryo development in mouse, pig and sheep illustrates the conservation of the epiblast naïve to primed state transition process and the divergence of the developmental events time points, the specific gene expression patterns and pluripotent regulation signaling. These studies are expected to improve our understanding of mammal early embryo development and present a reference for defining pluripotency. This study performs a comprehensive single‐cell transcriptome analysis of sheep embryos from embryonic (E) day 1 to E14 to elucidate the mechanism of early lineage specification and the pluripotency changes (naïve, formative, and primed) of epiblast. Based on scRNA‐Seq data, culture conditions are identified and sheep stable formative and primed pluripotent stem cells (sfPSCs and spPSCs) are derived in vitro for long‐term culture. This work provides valuable data resources to investigate sheep early embryo development and broaden our understanding of livestock PSCs.

Flexible sensors in wearable electronics have become increasingly multifunctional due to the development of materials synthesis and structure design. In particular, structural design can not only add capabilities to sensors fabricated from existing available and normal materials, but also offer opportunities for the fabrication of sensors with certain desired functions. Here, we designed a series of fiber-junction structure models, in which two fibers were simply hooked to each other to form a junction on a flexible printed circuit, for fabrication of directional bending sensors. The value and direction of bending angle are related to the change in electronic signal by a theoretical expression, allowing us to employ a simple and practicable method to use available conductive fiber materials to fabricate high-sensitivity, high-resolution and directional bending sensors. In addition, these models are generally applicable, which have broad combination with different conductive fiber, and corresponding bending sensors all possess capability of directional identification. Furthermore, the capability of identifying directional bending was demonstrated by human motion monitoring such as joint bending and muscle contraction.