Background: Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is one of the most important pathogenic bacteria causing severe diarrhoea in human and pigs. In ETEC strains, the fimbrial types F4 and F18 are commonly found differently colonized within the small intestine and cause huge economic losses in the swine industry annually worldwide. To address the underlying mechanism, we performed a transcriptome study of porcine intestinal epithelial cells (IPEC-J2) with and without infection of three representative ETEC strains. Results: A total 2443, 3493 and 867 differentially expressed genes were found in IPEC-J2 cells infected with F4ab ETEC (C_F4ab), with F4ac ETEC (C_F4ac) and with F18ac ETEC (C_F18ac) compared to the cells without infection (control), respectively. The number of differentially expressed genes between C_F4ab and C_F4ac, C_F4ab and C_F18ac, and C_F4ac and C_F18ac were 77, 1446 and 1629, respectively. The gene ontology and pathway analysis showed that the differentially expressed genes in C_F4ab vs control are significantly involved in cell-cycle progress and amino acid metabolism, while the clustered terms of the differentially expressed genes in C_F4ac vs control comprise immune, inflammation and wounding response and apoptosis as well as cell cycle progress and proteolysis. Differentially expressed genes between C_F18ac vs control are mainly involved in cell-cycle progression and immune response. Furthermore, fundamental differences were observed in expression levels of immune-related genes among the three ETEC treatments, especially for the important pro-inflammatory molecules, including IL-6, IL-8, TNF-α, CCL20, CXCL2 etc. Conclusions: The discovery in this study provides insights into the interaction of porcine intestinal epithelial cells with F4 ETECs and F18 ETEC, respectively. The genes induced by ETECs with F4 versus F18 fimbriae suggest why ETEC with F4 may be more virulent compared to F18 which seems to elicit milder effects.

In order to promote the rapid development of the meat sheep industry, a three-way crossbred combination experiment was carried out with Australian White, Dorper, and Charollais sheep as terminal male parents and the elite F1 hybrids of Australian White × Small-tailed Han (Han), Dorper × Han, and Charollais × Han as female parents, which was based on the screening of a two-way crossbred combination in meat sheep. The growth performance of six groups of three-way crossbred combinations and Han lambs was measured and analyzed, and the effect of a polymorphism in the CLPG gene on the growth performance of three-way crossbred lambs was also studied. The results showed that under the same rearing conditions, weight at 3 and 6 months of age and average daily gain from birth to 3 months and from 3 to 6 months of age were all the largest for Australian × (Charollais × Han) crossbred lambs. They were significantly or extremely significant different from the other three-way crossbred combinations and Han lambs (P<0.05, P<0.01). The body height, body length, chest girth, and cannon bone circumference at 3 months of age and body length, chest girth, and cannon bone circumference at 6 months of age were also the largest for Australian × (Charollais × Han) crossbred lambs. Among them, body length, chest girth, and cannon bone circumference at 3 months of age were significantly different from the other three-way crossbred combinations and Han lambs (P<0.05), and body length, chest girth, and cannon bone circumference at 6 months of age were significantly or extremely significant different from the other three-way crossbred combinations and Han lambs (P<0.05, P<0.01). The potential genetic effects of the CLPG gene on the growth performance indicators of three-way crossbred lambs showed that a mutation site (g.232C > T) of this gene had two genotypes: CC and CT. Among them, the data of body weights and body sizes from CT genotype individuals at birth, 3 months old, and 6 months old were significantly higher than those of CC genotype individuals, and some indicators showed significant or extremely significant differences (P<0.05, P<0.01), suggesting that higher growth performance was observed in individuals with T alleles. To sum up, the crossbred combination of Australian × (Charollais × Han) could be suggested as the optimal choice. The T allele of the CLPG gene showed potential advantages in the performance of meat production in meat sheep. Based on the current results, we recommend that the offspring of Australian × (Charollais × Han) with the T allele should be preferentially utilized for meat sheep production.

Arctic fox coat color varies seasonally, white in winter and gray in summer. To find out the potential effect or genes involved in this characteristic of the white morph of the arctic fox, this study utilized RNA sequencing-based transcriptome analysis to identify differentially expressed genes. Firstly, we measured and analyzed the melanin content of pelage during the two peak periods in the circannual rhythm of coat color molt in arctic fox, July and December, and found that melanin content was significantly higher in July than in December (p < 0.01). Transcriptome sequencing was then performed on skin tissues from the middle dorsal region in July and December. A total of 1177 differentially expressed genes were detected. We also identified differential expression of several key pigmentation genes, six of which are located in the melanogenesis pathway. Six differentially expressed genes were validated by real-time quantitative PCR, and the results obtained were consistent with the transcriptome sequencing results. This study provides the molecular foundation and contributes to future studies of understanding the genic regulatory mechanism underlying seasonal coat color change in arctic fox.