Xinjiang Academy of Animal Science

• Establishes the first precise mineralization age (230–240 Ma, Middle Triassic) for the Juyuan tungsten deposit using multi-method geochronology (in-situ zircon and wolframite/scheelite U-Pb, and muscovite Ar-Ar dating). • Identifies a coeval, highly fractionated I-type granite (242.0 ± 1.2 Ma) as the metallogenic source, formed in a post-orogenic intraplate extensional setting. • Extends the East Tianshan Triassic tungsten belt eastward, revealing significant quartz vein-type tungsten potential in the western Beishan orogenic belt. The Beishan Orogenic Belt, situated on the southern margin of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt, represents a significant endogenous metallic mineral resource base in northwestern China. Previous studies have indicated that tungsten mineralization in the Beishan Orogenic Belt primarily occurred from the Early Silurian to Middle Carboniferous. However, whether quartz vein-type tungsten mineralization developed during the Middle Triassic remains controversial. This study focuses on the newly discovered Juyuan tungsten deposit in the western segment of the Beishan Orogenic Belt. We investigated the geological characteristics, tectonic setting, and timing of magmatism and mineralization, establish a metallogenic model for the Juyuan deposit, and compare it with typical regional tungsten deposits to provide guidance for future mineral exploration through systematic fieldwork, geochemical analyses, and isotopic geochronology, and show that the zircon U-Pb age of the monzogranite in the mining area is 242.0 ± 1.2 Ma. The granite exhibits high SiO 2 , high alkalinity, high Al 2 O 3 , and low CaO characteristics, identifying it as a highly fractionated I-type granite formed in a post-orogenic intraplate extensional setting. The 40 Ar- 39 Ar plateau age of muscovite from the ore-bearing quartz veins is 239.97 ± 0.98 Ma, while the insitu U-Pb ages of wolframite and scheelite are 232 ± 14 Ma and 236 ± 24 Ma, respectively, collectively constraining the mineralization age to between 230 and 240 Ma. This study demonstrates that the Juyuan tungsten deposit is a quartz vein-type tungsten deposit closely related to magmatic-hydrothermal processes. The East Tianshan Triassic tungsten metallogenic belt can be extended eastward into the Beishan Orogenic Belt, indicating significant potential for exploring quartz vein-type tungsten deposits in an intraplate extensional setting in its western segment.

The ZmYSL2 mutation causes abnormal iron distribution in tissues of maize o213 mutants, disrupting iron transport during the V9/12D developmental stage while simultaneously reducing iron transport efficiency. Iron (Fe) is an essential nutrient for plants. This study demonstrates that the ZmYSL2 mutation alters the distribution of iron within plants. The iron content in the roots of the o213 mutant exhibited a peak at the R1 stage, yet remained significantly lower than that of G213 throughout the developmental process. The mutant exhibited a significantly higher kernel iron content in comparison to G213 at all developmental stages. However, iron content in both the embryo and the endosperm was significantly reduced. In addition, the correlation between iron content in source and sink tissues was reversed in the mutant in comparison with G213. The mutant roots and internodes exhibited a decline in Fe transport efficiency and content. Collectively, these results indicate that the ZmYSL2 gene is crucial for the normal coordination of Fe allocation between nutrient and reproductive tissues during maize growth and development.

Extending culture to blastocysts in vitro enhances embryo selection efficiency and implantation success in mammals, yet the epigenetic mechanisms underlying blastocyst formation remain unclear. Here, we investigate the role of histone acetyltransferase MOF-mediated H4K16ac during sheep blastocyst formation. We find dynamic changes in H4K16ac distribution during development, with a significant increase from the 8-cell stage to blastocyst and stage-specific enrichment in promoters. Inhibition of MOF activity reduces blastocyst formation and induces widespread transcriptional dysregulation and loss of H4K16ac at 3044 genomic peaks. Genes with these peaks are down-regulated and enriched for pathways critical to blastocyst formation. Notably, the lost H4K16ac peaks show reduced chromatin openness and lower RNA polymerase II (Pol2) enrichment, demonstrating the essential role of MOF in RNA Pol2 occupancy during blastocyst formation. Our findings indicate that MOF-mediated H4K16ac is critical for ovine blastocyst formation by promoting chromatin accessibility and RNA Pol2 occupancy at promoters, thereby facilitating appropriate transcriptional programs.

Our team’s previous research indicates that infectious bovine rhinotracheitis virus (IBRV) induces mitochondrial damage in bovine kidney cells (MDBK). Indirubin, a bisindole alkaloid, can alleviate mitochondrial damage. However, it is currently unclear whether indirubin can regulate mitochondrial damage caused by IBRV in MDBK cells. This study predicted the anti-IBRV effect of indirubin through network pharmacology, verified its anti-IBRV activity through experiments, and confirmed that indirubin can alleviate mitochondrial damage caused by IBRV. Network pharmacological results show that 81 potential targets of indirubin in infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) have been screened through network analysis. The analysis of the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) shows that the anti-IBR activity of indirubin involves multiple signaling pathways. Genetic ontology (GO) analysis reveals that its anti-IBR effect encompasses a variety of biological functions, with 15 target genes enriched in mitochondria. Virus suppression experiments have shown that indirubin can inhibit IBRV virus replication in MDBK cells. Flow cytometry showed that indirubin can reduce the elevated levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and depolarization of mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) caused by IBRV infection. The molecular docking results confirm that indirubin exhibits a strong binding affinity with 15 targets. Our research shows that indirubin may exert anti-IBRV properties by regulating the production of ROS and inhibiting MMP depolarization.

Introduction We previously edited the fibroblast growth factor 5 ( FGF5 ) gene to improve wool quality and increase wool production. However, the current population of FGF5 gene-edited sheep faces low breeding efficiency during expansion. To address this challenge, we constructed multi-trait animal models to estimate the genetic parameters of key wool traits. Methods Phenotypic data were collected from 281 yearling FGF5 gene-edited fine-wool sheep at the Sheep Breeding Base of the Xinjiang Academy of Animal Science. Two relationship matrices were constructed: one based on pedigree information (LM_A) and another combining pedigree and genomic information (LM_H). Genetic parameters were estimated for staple length (SL), straightened length (TL), fiber diameter (FD), and greasy fleece weight ( GFW). Results Heritability estimates for SL (0.401, 0.380), TL (0.265, 0.309), and FD (0.240, 0.302) using LM_A and LM_H were moderate, while GFW (0.153, 0.164) showed low heritability. Strong positive genetic correlations were observed among SL, TL, and GFW, with correlation coefficients ranging (0.518 - 0.969). Compared with LM_A, LM_H produced heritability estimates with smaller standard errors. Discussion Overall, the LM_H approach under the multi-trait animal model provides more accurate estimates of genetic parameters for wool traits. Our findings provide a basis for genetic estimation in FGF5 gene-edited fine-wool sheep and support the development of genetic evaluation for this population.

Transposable elements (TEs) play important roles in physiological processes, but their function in tail development remains poorly characterized. To explore their potential regulatory roles, we systematically analyzed the expression patterns of TEs during different fetal developmental stages of the sheep tail. Using RNA-seq data and the TEtranscripts pipeline, we identified differentially expressed TEs. Our key findings are as follows: (i) SINE/MIR, L1, and BovB elements exhibited significant stage-specific expression. (ii) The number of differentially expressed TEs was dynamic, with 2129 identified between stages E40-45 and E55-60, and 5554 between E55-60 and E70-75. (iii) These TEs were primarily located in intergenic regions, introns, and 3'UTRs, and their expression trends were highly consistent with those of adjacent differentially expressed genes. (iv) Pathway enrichment analysis revealed that TEs and their correlated genes between E40-45 and E55-60 were predominantly involved in tail elongation, while the comparison between E55-60 and E70-75 highlighted pathways related to tail fat formation. Furthermore, we identified specific candidate TEs associated with vertebra formation and fat deposition. This study provides novel insights into the role of TEs in shaping tail phenotypes and offers valuable information for sheep breeding programs.

Accurate recognition of each cattle in group environments is essential for modern precision livestock management. This study proposed a multi-object cattle recognition method based on deep learning, enabling precise recognition in feeding passages. A dataset comprising facial images from 135 cattle was constructed, and a data augmentation strategy tailored to cattle facial characteristics was designed to enhance model generalisation. The YOLOv8n network was selected from a comparative experiment and further optimised. For multi-object bounding box regression, the standard CIoU loss was replaced by the MPDIoU loss, improving the mAP50 by 5.4% through optimised corner distance computation. In addition, a coordinate attention mechanism was embedded within the C2F module to strengthen the model’s spatial perception of key facial regions such as the eyes and nose, resulting in a 5.8% improvement in recognition precision. A comparative experiment between image-level segmentation and cattle-level segmentation datasets was carried out, and the proposed method was further validated on an untrained external test set collected from actual feeding Passages. The results demonstrate that, even under challenging conditions such as occlusion and illumination variation, the improved model achieved a classification accuracy of 88% while maintaining an average inference speed of 96.9 frames per second. This non-invasive, real-time recognition approach provides a novel solution for precision feeding in group-housed environments and offers valuable insights for improving the efficiency of livestock monitoring and feeding management systems.

The mitochondrial calcium uniporter (MCU) is a key channel controlling mitochondrial Ca2+ homeostasis, yet its role in plant stress responses remains unclear. Using the tomato pan-genome, this study identified 66 MCU genes across 12 tomato species and grouped them into two distinct evolutionary subfamilies. Phylogenetic, collinearity, and selection pressure analyses revealed that MCU genes are evolutionarily conserved and have undergone strong purifying selection. In addition, one MCU gene located on chromosome 6 appears to have originated before the divergence of monocots and dicots, indicating an ancient evolutionary trajectory. Gene structure and conserved motif analyses confirmed their structural conservation, while promoter cis-element analysis suggested that MCU genes are widely involved in light and hormone responsiveness. Expression profiling under salt stress showed that multiple MCU genes are differentially regulated in a time-dependent manner: SolycMCU1 and SolycMCU2 respond rapidly at early stages, whereas SolycMCU5 and SolycMCU6 are upregulated during middle and late phases. These results highlight the functional diversification of MCU genes in tomato under salt stress. This study provides the first comprehensive evolutionary and functional analysis of the tomato MCU gene family, offering insights into their stress-regulatory mechanisms and potential use in breeding salt-tolerant tomatoes.

Nitrate Excretion Transporter 1 (NAXT1/NPF2.7) is known to regulate NO3- transport in Arabidopsis, a salt-sensitive glycophyte that exhibits a significant reduction in the NO3- content under salt stress. However, its role in the NO3- homeostasis and salt tolerance of xerophytes, which exhibit strong stress tolerance, remains unclear. In the present study, we cloned the NPF2.7 homolog (PcNPF2.7) from the xerophyte Pugionium cornutum, which exhibits stable NO3- content in the shoot under salt stress, and investigated its function in ion homeostasis and salt tolerance. PcNPF2.7 was specifically expressed in the stele tissue of roots and localized to the plasma membrane; its expression level in the roots was significantly induced by NaCl and NaNO3 treatments. PcNPF2.7 overexpression driven by a stelar-specific promoter significantly increased NO3- accumulation and reduced Na+ levels in the shoots of Arabidopsis under 75 mM NaCl or NaNO3 treatments, resulting in an enhanced salt tolerance. Furthermore, PcNPF2.7 overexpression significantly induced AtHKT1;1, which mediates the unloading of Na+ from xylem in the roots. Taken together, our findings showed that PcNPF2.7 facilitates the transport of NO3- from the roots to the shoots and indirectly reduces Na+ accumulation in the shoot, therefore contributing to the salt tolerance in plants.