Transcriptomic analysis of intestinal organoids, derived from pigs divergent in feed efficiency, and their response to Escherichia coli.

Background: There is increasing interest in using intestinal organoids to study complex traits like feed efficiency (FE) and host-microbe interactions. The aim of this study was to investigate differences in the molecular phenotype of organoids derived from pigs divergent for FE as well as their responses to challenge with adherent and invasive Escherichia coli (E. coli).

A collection of bacterial isolates from the pig intestine reveals functional and taxonomic diversity.

Our knowledge about the gut microbiota of pigs is still scarce, despite the importance of these animals for biomedical research and agriculture. Here, we present a collection of cultured bacteria from the pig gut, including 110 species across 40 families and nine phyla. We provide taxonomic descriptions for 22 novel species and 16 genera.

Natural antibodies in bovine milk and blood plasma: variability among cows, repeatability within cows, and relation between milk and plasma titers.

Innate immunity plays an important role in preventing (barrier function) or combating infection (effector function). An important humoral component of innate immunity is formed by natural antibodies (NAb). The objectives of this study were to determine presence, variation among cows and repeatability within cows over time of total NAb titers directed to the pathogen-associated molecular patterns lipopolysaccharide, lipoteichoic acid (LTA) and peptidoglycan, and titers of NAb directed to the glycoprotein keyhole limpet hemocyanin in milk and plasma of individual cows.

Evolution of recognition of ligands from Gram-positive bacteria: similarities and differences in the TLR2-mediated response between mammalian vertebrates and teleost fish.

We investigated the role of the TLR2 receptor in the recognition of ligands from Gram-positive bacteria in fish. Comparative sequence analysis showed a highly conserved Toll/IL-1 receptor domain. Although the leucine-rich repeat domain was less conserved, the position of the critical peptidoglycan (PGN)-binding residues in the leucine-rich repeat domain of carp TLR2 were conserved.