Zoological Research

257-262

Authors: Xiong GUO, Bo LUO, Ying LIU, Ting-Lei JIANG, Jiang FENG

Identity recognition is one of the most critical social behaviours in a variety of animal species. Microchiropteran bats present a special use case of acoustic communication in the dark. These bats use echolocation pulses for navigating, foraging, and communicating; however, increasing evidence suggests that echolocation pulses also serve as a means of social communication. Compared with echolocation signals, communication calls in bats have rather complex structures and differ substantially by social context. Bat acoustic signals vary broadly in spectrotemporal space among individuals, sexes, colonies and species. This type of information can be gathered from families of vocalizations based on voice characteristics. In this review we summarize the current studies regarding vocal identity recognition in microbats. We also provide recommendations and directions for further work.

285-298

Authors: Lin ZHU, Ai-Hua LEI, Hong-Yi ZHENG, Long-Bao LYU, Zhi-Gang ZHANG, Yong-Tang ZHENG

The complex and dynamic vaginal microbial ecosystem is critical to both health and disease of the host. Studies focusing on how vaginal microbiota influences HIV-1 infection may face limitations in selecting proper animal models. Given that northern pig-tailed macaques (Macaca leonina) are susceptible to HIV-1 infection, they may be an optimal animal model for elucidating the mechanisms by which vaginal microbiota contributes to resistance and susceptibility to HIV-1 infection. However, little is known about the composition and temporal variability of vaginal microbiota of the northern pig-tailed macaque. Here, we present a comprehensive catalog of the composition and temporal dynamics of vaginal microbiota of two healthy northern pig-tailed macaques over 19 weeks using 454-pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA genes. We found remarkably high proportions of a diverse array of anaerobic bacteria associated with bacterial vaginosis. Atopobium and Sneathia were dominant genera, and interestingly, we demonstrated the presence of Lactobacillus-dominated vaginal microbiota. Moreover, longitudinal analysis demonstrated that the temporal dynamics of the vaginal microbiota were considerably individualized. Finally, network analysis revealed that vaginal pH may influence the temporal dynamics of the vaginal microbiota, suggesting that inter-subject variability of vaginal bacterial communities could be mirrored in inter-subject variation in correlation profiles of species with each other and with vaginal pH over time. Our results suggest that the northern pig-tailed macaque could be an ideal animal model for prospective investigation of the mechanisms by which vaginal microbiota influence susceptibility and resistance to HIV-1 infection in the context of highly polymicrobial and Lactobacillus-dominated states.

305-309

Authors: Tian-Zi WANG, Ai SUN, Na WANG, Zhong-Kai CUI, Song-Lin CHEN, Zhen-Xia SHA

An astroglial cell line was established from the brain of half smooth tongue sole (Cynoglossus semilaevis) and was designated as CSAC. CSAC shows the morphological homogeneity of epithelial cells. The cell identity was tested by the presence of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), which was revealed by RT-PCR and immunofluorescence. The cell line was optimally maintained at 24 °C in minimum essential medium supplemented with HEPES, antibiotics, 20% fetal bovine serum, 2-Mercaptoethanol (2-Me) and basic fibroblast growth factor. Chromosome analysis revealed that the CSAC cells maintained a normal diploid chromosome number (2n=42). The fluorescent signals were observed in CSAC after the cells were transfected with green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter plasmids. The CSAC cell line may serve as a valuable tool for studies on the potential functions of fish astroglial cells.