The annual seasonal influenza vaccination is the most effective way of preventing influenza illness and hospitalization. However, the effectiveness of influenza vaccines has always been controversial. Therefore, we investigated the ability of the quadrivalent influenza vaccine to induce effective protection. Here we report strain-specific influenza vaccine effectiveness (VE) against laboratory-confirmed influenza cases during the 2019/2020 season, characterized by the co-circulation of four different influenza strains. During 2019–2020, 778 influenza-like illness (ILI) samples were collected from 302 (39%) vaccinated ILI patients and 476 (61%) unvaccinated ILI patients in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. VE was found to be 28% and 22% for influenza A and B, respectively. VE for preventing A(H3N2) and A(H1N1)pdm09 illness was 37.4% (95% CI: 43.7–54.3) and 39.2% (95% CI: 21.1–28.9), respectively. The VE for preventing influenza B Victoria lineage illness was 71.7% (95% CI: −0.9–3), while the VE for the Yamagata lineage could not be estimated due to the limited number of positive cases. The overall vaccine effectiveness was moderately low at 39.7%. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that most of the Flu A genotypes in our dataset clustered together, indicating their close genetic relatedness. In the post-COVID-19 pandemic, flu B-positive cases have reached three-quarters of the total number of influenza-positive cases, indicating a nationwide flu B surge. The reasons for this phenomenon, if related to the quadrivalent flu VE, need to be explored. Annual monitoring and genetic characterization of circulating influenza viruses are important to support Influenza surveillance systems and to improve influenza vaccine effectiveness.

Microsatellites or simple sequence repeats (SSRs) are among the genetic markers most widely utilized in research. This includes applications in numerous fields such as genetic conservation, paternity testing, and molecular breeding. Though ordered draft genome assemblies of camels have been announced, including for the Arabian camel, systemic analysis of camel SSRs is still limited. The identification and development of informative and robust molecular SSR markers are essential for marker assisted breeding programs and paternity testing. Here we searched and compared perfect SSRs with 1–6 bp nucleotide motifs to characterize microsatellites for draft genome sequences of the Camelidae. We analyzed and compared the occurrence, relative abundance, relative density, and guanine-cytosine (GC) content in four taxonomically different camelid species:Camelus dromedarius,C. bactrianus,C. ferus, andVicugna pacos. A total of 546762, 544494, 547974, and 437815 SSRs were mined, respectively. Mononucleotide SSRs were the most frequent in the four genomes, followed in descending order by di-, tetra-, tri-, penta-, and hexanucleotide SSRs. GC content was highest in dinucleotide SSRs and lowest in mononucleotide SSRs. Our results provide further evidence that SSRs are more abundant in noncoding regions than in coding regions. Similar distributions of microsatellites were found in all four species, which indicates that the pattern of microsatellites is conserved in family Camelidae.

The camels have attracted scientific attention due to their unique agricultural characteristics and are used for a variety of purposes, including milk and meat production. To exploit their full potential, it is essential to improve our understanding of the genetic makeup of these animals. Advances in molecular breeding have expanded our knowledge of the genetic architecture of complex traits through genome‐wide association studies (GWAS). This study aimed to identify genome‐wide variants, annotate their functions, and examine the genetic variants linked to milk production in camels. We used whole‐genome sequencing data of 61 dromedary camels to perform a genome‐wide association study for investigated milk traits using a logistic regression model. After variant calling in all 61 genome samples and subsequent rigorous filtering processes, we identified 306,310 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) across all genomes. Among the 306,310 identified SNPs, a subset of 28 SNPs demonstrated statistical significance (p < 5 × 10⁻⁴) in association with milk traits in dromedaries. These significant SNPs were found within 13 locations of candidate genes, namely TYRP1, DLC1, GPC5, SLC24A4, NEMP2, and SLC14A1, suggesting their potential relevance to milk production characteristics in this species. The results of our GWAS unravel the complex genetic landscape of milk production in dromedary camels and provide a list of significant SNPs and candidate genes, providing valuable information for further investigations to understand the molecular mechanisms behind this important economic trait.

Multidisciplinary research efforts on potential COVID-19 vaccine and therapeutic candidates have increased since the pandemic outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 in 2019. This search has become imperative due to the increasing emergences and limited widely available medicines. The presence of bioactive anti-SARS-CoV-2 molecules was examined from various plant sources. Among them is a group of proteins called lectins that can bind carbohydrate moieties. In this article, we present ten novel, chitin-specific Hevein-like lectins that were derived from Selaginella moellendorffii v1.0’s genome. The capacity of these lectin homologs to bind with the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 was examined. Using the HDOCK server, 3D-modeled Hevein-domains were docked to the spike protein’s receptor binding domain (RBD). The Smo446851, Smo125663, and Smo99732 interacted with Asn343-located complex N-glycan and RBD residues, respectively, with binding free energies of −17.5, −13.0, and −26.5 Kcal/mol. The molecular dynamics simulation using Desmond and the normal-state analyses via torsional coordinate association for the Smo99732-RBD complex using iMODS is characterized by overall higher stability and minimum deformity than the other lectin complexes. The three lectins interacting with carbohydrates were docked against five individual mutations that frequently occur in major SARS-CoV-2 variants. These were in the spike protein’s receptor-binding motif (RBM), while Smo125663 and Smo99732 only interacted with the spike glycoprotein in a protein–protein manner. The precursors for the Hevein-like homologs underwent additional characterization, and their expressional profile in different tissues was studied. These in silico findings offered potential lectin candidates targeting key N-glycan sites crucial to the virus’s virulence and infection.

The growth and fertilization of germ cells require the identification and characterization of their unique genes. Because the processes that take place in male germ cells are unique; that is, they do not occur in any other tissue. The testis is a specialized male gonad with complicated gene expressions for spermatogenesis and steroidogenesis. RT-PCR analysis was performed to determine whether the candidate genes selected from the NCBI database are true genes with testis-specific expressions in mice. In total, 20 testis-specific genes were selected randomly and examined in 15 adult mouse tissue samples, including the testis. The expression profiles of the 20 selected genes in the 15 mouse tissue samples showed 3 expression categories: ubiquitously expressed genes, which were detected in all types of mouse tissues; the testis-predominant genes, which were not detected in all mouse tissue samples, were strongly expressed in the testis and weakly expressed in a few types mouse tissue; and the testis-specific genes, which were exclusively expressed in the mouse testis, were not observed in non-testicular tissues. Of the 20 characterized genes, the testis-specific genes include Adad1, Dmrtc2, Luzp4, Prm2, Prss54, and Syce1, which may play a role in meiosis and/or spermatogenesis. Therefore, further research is required to elucidate the functional importance of these identified testis-specific genes in mouse male fertility.