Almost 3% of the proteins of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis), the main causative agent of human tuberculosis, are lipoproteins. These lipoproteins are characteristic of the mycobacteri... Tweetable abstract Almost 3% of proteins of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the main causative agent of human tuberculosis, are lipoproteins. This review provides an updated analysis of M. tuberculosis...

The development of vaccines and effective diagnostic methods for bovine tuberculosis requires an understanding of the immune response against its causative agent, Mycobacterium bovis. Although this disease is primarily investigated and diagnosed through the assessment of cell-mediated immunity, the role of B cells and antibodies in bovine tuberculosis has been relatively undervalued and understudied. Current evidence indicates that circulating M. bovis-specific antibodies are not effective in controlling the disease. However, local humoral immune responses may contribute to either defence or pathology. Recent studies in animal models and cattle vaccine trials suggest a potential beneficial role of B cells in tuberculosis control. This review discusses the role of B cells and antibodies in bovine tuberculosis and explores antibody-based diagnostics for the disease, including traditional techniques, such as different ELISA, new platforms based on multiple antigens and point-of-care technologies. The high specificity and sensitivity values achieved by numerous antibody-based tests support their use as complementary tests for the diagnosis of bovine tuberculosis, especially for identifying infected animals that may be missed by the official tests.

The genetic diversity of 14 Japanese plum (Prunus salicina Lindl) landraces adapted to an ecosystem of alternating flooding and dry conditions was characterized using neutral simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Twelve SSRs located in six chromosomes of the Prunus persica reference genome resulted to be polymorphic, thus allowing identification of all the evaluated landraces. Differentiation between individuals was moderate to high (average shared allele distance (DAS) = 0.64), whereas the genetic diversity was high (average indices polymorphism information content (PIC) = 0.62, observed heterozygosity (Ho) = 0.51, unbiased expected heterozygosity (uHe) = 0.70). Clustering and genetic structure approaches grouped all individuals into two major groups that correlated with flesh color. This finding suggests that the intuitive breeding practices of growers tended to select plum trees according to specific phenotypic traits. These neutral markers were adequate for population genetic studies and cultivar identification. Furthermore, we assessed the SSR flanking genome regions (25 kb) in silico to search for candidate genes related to stress resistance or associated with other agronomic traits of interest. Interestingly, at least 26 of the 118 detected genes seem to be related to fruit quality, plant development, and stress resistance. This study suggests that the molecular characterization of specific landraces of Japanese plum that have been adapted to extreme agroecosystems is a useful approach to localize candidate genes which are potentially interesting for breeding.

Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is a zoonotic disease caused by Mycobacterium bovis that mainly affects cattle. The traditional bTB control strategy is to slaughter animals positive for the official diagnostic test. This method, however, may not be economically feasible in developing countries and is less effective when cattle are in contact with wildlife reservoirs of infection. In these scenarios, cattle vaccination could be an important strategy to control bTB. In this review, we describe the diversified vaccine development against bTB and identify gaps in current knowledge. We discuss progress made in live attenuated (including BCG), inactivated and subunit vaccines tested in preclinical models and field trials. We also provide an overview of existing knowledge in the correlates and biomarkers of protection after vaccination against bTB, as well as the most recent advances in the understanding of the protective immune response against tuberculosis. The similarities between the mechanisms of the immune protection elicited by humans and cattle against TB and bTB, respectively, make any advance in human TB and bTB vaccines mutually beneficial. In accordance with the One Health concept, this mutual benefit is expected to progress in the future.