Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus neutralising serum antibodies in dromedary camels: a comparative serological study

A new betacoronavirus-Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV)-has been identified in patients with severe acute respiratory infection. Although related viruses infect bats, molecular clock analyses have been unable to identify direct ancestors of MERS-CoV. Anecdotal exposure histories suggest that patients had been in contact with dromedary camels or goats. We investigated possible animal reservoirs of MERS-CoV by assessing specific serum antibodies in livestock. METHODS: We took sera from animals in the Middle East (Oman) and from elsewhere (Spain, Netherlands, Chile). Cattle (n=80), sheep (n=40), goats (n=40), dromedary camels (n=155), and various other camelid species (n=34) were tested for specific serum IgG by protein microarray using the receptor-binding S1 subunits of spike proteins of MERS-CoV, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus, and human coronavirus OC43. Results were confirmed by virus neutralisation tests for MERS-CoV and bovine coronavirus. FINDINGS: 50 of 50 (100%) sera from Omani camels and 15 of 105 (14%) from Spanish camels had protein-specific antibodies against MERS-CoV spike. Sera from European sheep, goats, cattle, and other camelids had no such antibodies. MERS-CoV neutralising antibody titres varied between 1/320 and 1/2560 for the Omani camel sera and between 1/20 and 1/320 for the Spanish camel sera. There was no evidence for cross-neutralisation by bovine coronavirus antibodies. INTERPRETATION: MERS-CoV or a related virus has infected camel populations. Both titres and seroprevalences in sera from different locations in Oman suggest widespread infection. FUNDING: European Union, European Centre For Disease Prevention and Control, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.

Genomic amplification of the caprine EDNRA locus might lead to a dose dependent loss of pigmentation

The South African Boer goat displays a characteristic white spotting phenotype, in which the pigment is limited to the head. Exploiting the existing phenotype variation within the breed, we mapped the locus causing this white spotting phenotype to chromosome 17 by genome wide association. Subsequent whole genome sequencing identified a 1 Mb copy number variant (CNV) harboring 5 genes including EDNRA. The analysis of 358 Boer goats revealed 3 alleles with one, two, and three copies of this CNV. The copy number is correlated with the degree of white spotting in goats. We propose a hypothesis that ectopic overexpression of a mutant EDNRA scavenges EDN3 required for EDNRB signaling and normal melanocyte development and thus likely lead to an absence of melanocytes in the non-pigmented body areas of Boer goats. Our findings demonstrate the value of domestic animals as reservoir of unique mutants and for identifying a precisely defined functional CNV.

A series of ornamental timber gables : from existing examples in England and France, of the sixteenth century /

Plates lithographed by C. Maguire and printed by C. or J. Graf; one plate "drawn on stone by H. C. Maguire."

Live stock of the farm /

Cumulative index in v. 6.

Du Bartas his deuine weekes and workes /

"The history of Iudith, in forme of a Poeme / penned in french, by the ... poet, G. Salust, lord of Bartas ; Englished by Tho. Hudson"

Laboratory guide to the dissection and study of the anatomy of the domestic ruminants (ox, sheep, goat) by Duane Russell Peterson.

Mode of access: Internet.

Die Unfruchtbarkeit der Ziegenböcke,

"Literatur": p. [3]-9.

Sheep husbandry.

"Breed publications": p. 395.

Das Gebiss und Zahnalter der Ziege ...

Lebenslauf.

Beiträge zur kenntnis der involution des normalen uterus der ziege ...

Lebenslauf.

Nutritional requirements of the angora goat /

Tx Doc no.: Z, TA245.7, B873, no. 1105.

Illinois Bovidae and Cervidae Tuberculosis Eradication Act, with regulations effective ... /

Description based on: 2000.

Title 8, Agriculture and animals.

Caption title.

P. Ouidii Metamorphosis : cum luculentissimis Raphaelis Regij enarrationibus : quibus cũ alia q̃da[m] ascripta sunt : q̃ in exemplarib[us] antea impressis nom inueniuntur : tum eorum apologia : q̃ fuerant a quibusdam reprehensa.

Includes index.

Wool and mohair.

Latest issue consulted: 1998, Mar. 25, 1999.