BIOLOGY BULLETIN

Prevalence of seropositivity to pathogens in small carnivores in adjacent areas of Lazovskii Reserve
Goncharuk MS, Kerley LL, Naidenko SV and Rozhnov VV
The prevalence of infectious diseases in wild and feral carnivores is poorly known in Primorsky Krai, where rare species such as the Amur tiger and the Far East leopard roam. In this study we evaluated the prevalence of seropositivity in feral (cats, dogs) and wild (raccoon dog, badger, American mink, Far Eastern wild cat) carnivores to various pathogens: distemper virus, parvovirus, feline immunodeficiency and feline leukemia virus, feline coronavirus, sp., and sp. It was shown that seropositivity occurred significantly more frequent in feral animals than in wild ones. The highest percentage of seropositive animals was observed in feral dogs. It is these diseases that can be dangerous for the Amur tiger and the Far East leopard, thus affecting their populations.
In silico Functional Annotation and Characterization of Hypothetical Proteins from FGI94
Prabhu D, Rajamanikandan S, Anusha SB, Chowdary MS, Veerapandiyan M and Jeyakanthan J
, rod-shaped Gram-negative bacteria is classified as an opportunistic pathogen in the family Enterobacteriaceae. It causes a wide variety of infections in humans, including urinary, respiratory, ocular lens and ear infections, osteomyelitis, endocarditis, meningitis and septicemia. Unfortunately, over the past decade, antibiotic resistance has become a serious health care issue; the effective means to control and dissemination of resistance is the need of hour. The whole genome sequencing of FGI94 strain contains 4434 functional proteins, among which 690 (15.56%) proteins were classified under hypothetical. In the present study, we applied the power of various bioinformatics tools on the basis of protein family comparison, motifs, functional properties of amino acids and genome context to assign the possible functions for the HPs. The pseudo sequences (protein sequence that contain ≤100 amino acid residues) are eliminated from the study. Although we have successfully predicted the function for 483 proteins, we were able to infer the high level of confidence only for 108 proteins. The predicted HPs were classified into various classes such as enzymes, transporters, binding proteins, cell division, cell regulatory and other proteins. The outcome of the study could be helpful to understand the molecular mechanism in bacterial pathogenesis and also provide an insight into the identification of potential targets for drug and vaccine development.
Coronavirus Infections of Animals: Future Risks to Humans
Donnik IM, Popov IV, Sereda SV, Popov IV, Chikindas ML and Ermakov AM
Coronaviruses have tremendous evolutionary potential, and three major outbreaks of new human coronavirus infections have occurred in the recent history of humankind. In this paper, the patterns of occurrence of new zoonotic coronavirus infections and the role of bioveterinary control in preventing their potential outbreaks in the future are determined. The possibility of SARS-CoV-2 infection in companion animals is considered. Diverse human activities may trigger various interactions between animal species and their viruses, sometimes causing the emergence of new viral pathogens. In addition, the possibility of using probiotics for the control of viral infections in animals is discussed.
Visualization Analysis of CRISPR Gene-editing Knowledge Map based on Citespace
Can Gao , Wang R, Zhang L and Yue C
CRISPR is an adaptive immune defense system found in bacteria and archaea that is resistant to heterologous invasive genetic material. Later studies showed that the CRISPR system can be used for gene-editing. This study used the Web of Science database as a search object, then visually analyzed the literature related to CRISPR gene-editing technology with CiteSpace IV. The results show that publications had increased year by year. USA ranked first in terms of publications. China is second, but the centrality is very low. Doudna JA and Zhang F have made outstanding contributions. There are close connections between the internal institutions of the various states, but there are few links between the states. The hot spot and frontier are the application of CRISPR in animals, plants, detection, diagnosis, and clinical treatment.
Causal Criteria in Medical and Biological Disciplines: History, Essence, and Radiation Aspects. Report 4, Part 1: The Post-Hill Criteria and Ecolgoical Criteria
Koterov AN and Ushenkova LN
Part 1 of Report 4 is focused on the development and modifications of causal criteria after A.B. Hill (1965). Criteria from B. MacMahon et al. (1970-1996), regarded as the first textbook for modern epidemiology, were considered, and it was found that the named researchers did not offer anything new despite the frequent mention of this source in relation to the theme. A similar situation emerged with the criteria of M. Susser: the three obligatory points of this author, "Association" (or "Probability" of causality), "Time order," and "Direction of effect," are trivial, and two more special criteria, which are the development of "Popperian Epidemiology," i.e., "Surviability" of the hypothesis when it is tested by different methods (included in the refinement in Hill's criterion "Consistency of association") and "Predictive performance" of the hypothesis are more theoretical and hardly applicable for the practice of epidemiology and public health. The same restrictions apply to the similar "Popperian" criteria of D.L. Weed, "Predictability" and "Testability" of the causal hypothesis. Although the universal postulates of A.S. Evans for infectious and noninfectious pathologies can be considered exhaustive, they are not used either in epidemiology or in any other discipline practice, except for the field of infectious pathologies, which is probably explained by the complication of the ten-point complex. The little-known criteria of P. Cole (1997) for medical and forensic practice are the most important. The three parts of Hill's criterion-based approaches are important in that they go from a single epidemiological study through a cycle of studies (coupled with the integration of data from other biomedical disciplines) to re-base Hill's criteria for assessing the individual causality of an effect. These constructs complement the earlier guidance from R.E. Gots (1986) on establishing probabilistic personal causation. The collection of causal criteria and the guidelines for environmental disciplines (ecology of biota, human ecoepidemiology, and human ecotoxicology) were considered. The total dominance of inductive causal criteria, both initial and in modifications and with additions, was revealed for an apparently complete base of sources (1979-2020). Adaptations of all known causal schemes based on guidelines have been found, from Henle-Koch postulates to Hill and Susser, including in the international programs and practice of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The Hill Criteria are used by the WHO and other organizations on chemical safety (IPCS) to assess causality in animal experiments for subsequent extrapolation to humans. Data on the assessment of the causality of effects in ecology, ecoepidemiology, and ecotoxicology, together with the use of Hill's criteria for animal experiments, are of significant relevance not only for radiation ecology, but also for radiobiology.
Parallelism in Speciation and Intraspecific Diversification of the Plague Microbe
Suntsov VV
Modern "molecular genetic (MG) phylogenies" of the plague microbe , built on models of neutral evolution using statistical methods of phylogenetic analysis, contradict numerous obvious environmental (ECO) patterns and are not consistent with the concept of adaptatiogenesis. The reason for the discrepancy between MG and ECO phylogenies is seen in the underestimation by the MG approach of parallelisms in the processes of speciation and intraspecific diversification of the plague microbe. ECO methods showed the parallel tritope (almost) simultaneous speciation of three primary genovariants (populations, subspecies) 2.ANT3, 3.ANT2, and 4.ANT1 in three geographical populations of the Mongolian marmot (), which in the MG approach is mistaken for polytomy ("Big Bang"), caused by unknown natural phenomena on the eve of the first pandemic (Justinian's plague, 6th-8th centuries AD). The discrepancy between the MG and ECO interpretations of the evolution of intraspecifically-derived phylogenetic subbranches 0.PE and 2.MED is also associated with parallel evolutionary processes in independent lines, based on genovariants 2.ANT3, 3.ANT2, and 4.ANT1. The independence of these phylogenetic lines and parallelisms of sub-branches 0.PE and 2.MED associated with them are not taken into account in the MG approach. The prospect of creating a real phylogenetic tree for depends on a creative synthesis of the two approaches-MG and ECO.