Tian Yang

NVSI-06-08 is a potential broad-spectrum recombinant COVID-19 vaccine that integrates the antigens from multiple SARS-CoV-2 strains into a single immunogen. Here, we evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of NVSI-06-08 as a heterologous booster dose in BBIBP-CorV recipients in a randomized, double-blind, controlled, phase 2 trial conducted in the United Arab Emirates (NCT05069129). Three groups of healthy adults over 18 years of age (600 participants per group) who have administered two doses of BBIBP-CorV 4-6-month, 7-9-month and >9-month earlier, respectively, are randomized 1:1 to receive either a homologous booster of BBIBP-CorV or a heterologous booster of NVSI-06-08. The incidence of adverse reactions is low, and the overall safety profile is quite similar between two booster regimens. Both Neutralizing and IgG antibodies elicited by NVSI-06-08 booster are significantly higher than those by BBIBP-CorV booster against not only SARS-CoV-2 prototype strain but also multiple variants of concerns (VOCs). Especially, the neutralizing antibody GMT against Omicron variant induced by heterologous NVSI-06-08 booster reaches 367.67, which is substantially greater than that boosted by BBIBP-CorV (GMT: 45.03). In summary, NVSI-06-08 is safe and immunogenic as a booster dose following two doses of BBIBP-CorV, which is immunogenically superior to the homologous boost with another dose of BBIBP-CorV.

The increased coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) breakthrough cases pose the need of booster vaccination. We conducted a randomised, double-blinded, controlled, phase 2 trial to assess the immunogenicity and safety of the heterologous prime-boost vaccination with an inactivated COVID-19 vaccine (BBIBP-CorV) followed by a recombinant protein-based vaccine (NVSI-06-07), using homologous boost with BBIBP-CorV as control. Three groups of healthy adults (600 individuals per group) who had completed two-dose BBIBP-CorV vaccinations 1-3 months, 4-6 months and ≥6 months earlier, respectively, were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive either NVSI-06-07 or BBIBP-CorV boost. Immunogenicity assays showed that in NVSI-06-07 groups, neutralizing antibody geometric mean titers (GMTs) against the prototype SARS-CoV-2 increased by 21.01-63.85 folds on day 28 after vaccination, whereas only 4.20-16.78 folds of increases were observed in control groups. For Omicron variant, the neutralizing antibody GMT elicited by homologous boost was 37.91 on day 14, however, a significantly higher neutralizing GMT of 292.53 was induced by heterologous booster. Similar results were obtained for other SARS-CoV-2 variants of concerns (VOCs), including Alpha, Beta and Delta. Both heterologous and homologous boosters have a good safety profile. Local and systemic adverse reactions were absent, mild or moderate in most participants, and the overall safety was quite similar between two booster schemes. Our findings indicated that NVSI-06-07 is safe and immunogenic as a heterologous booster in BBIBP-CorV recipients and was immunogenically superior to the homologous booster against not only SARS-CoV-2 prototype strain but also VOCs, including Omicron.

The rubber tree is the primary source of natural rubber and is mainly cultivated in Southeast Asian countries. Low temperature is the major abiotic stress affecting the yield of the rubber tree. Therefore, uncovering the cold resistance mechanism in the rubber tree is necessary. The present study used RNA-sequencing technology and ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) to analyze the transcriptomic and metabolomic changes in two rubber tree clones with different cold resistance capacities (temperature-sensitive Reyan 8-79 and cold-resistant Yunyan 77-4) at 0 h, 2 h, 6 h, and 20 h of exposure to 4°C. Independent analysis of the transcriptome and metabolitome showed that under prolonged low-temperature treatment, Yunyan 77-4 expressed more genes involved in regulating enzyme activity, changing cell permeability, and synthesizing significant metabolites, such as flavonoids and amino acids, than Reyan 8-79. The KEGG annotation and enrichment analysis identified arginine metabolism and biosynthesis of flavonoids as the major pathway associated with cold resistance. Integrated transcriptome and metabolome analysis showed that the increase in the expression of genes modulated flavonoid biosynthesis, arginine biosynthesis, and anthocyanins biosynthesis, resulting in higher levels of metabolites, such as naringenin chalcone, apigenin, dihydroquercetin, cyanidin 3-glucoside, L-arginosuccinate, N-acetyl-ornithine, ornithine, and N-acetyl-glutamate, in Yunyan 77-4 than in Reyan 8-79 after prolonged low-temperature treatment. Phylogenetic analysis identified the genes, such as CHS ( gene356 ) and F3H ( gene33147 ) of flavonoid biosynthesis and NAGS ( gene16028, gene33765 ), ArgC ( gene2487 ), and ASS ( gene6161 ) of arginine biosynthesis were the key genes involved in the cold resistant of rubber tree. Thus, the present study provides novel insights into how rubber clones resist cold and is a valuable reference for cold-resistance breeding.

Bartonella species has been validated as blood-borne bacteria in mammals and has a substantial opportunity to be harbored by a variety of hematophagous arthropod vectors. Bats, along with their ectoparasites, are recognized worldwide as one of the natural reservoir hosts for these bacteria. However, there have been few investigations of Bartonella bacteria toward a broad range of obligated bat ectoparasites in China. Here, molecular detection of Bartonella species was performed to survey the infection among bat ectoparasites and follow-up phylogenetic analyses to further characterize the evolutionary relationships of the genus. A total of 434 bat ectoparasites involving four types of arthropods, namely, bat mites, bat tick, bat fleas, and bat flies (further divided into traditionally fly-like bat flies and wingless bat flies) were collected in 10 trapping sites in Yunnan Province, southwestern China. Bartonella was detected by PCR amplification and sequencing through four gene target fragments (gltA, ftsZ, rpoB, and ITS). Accordingly, diverse Bartonella species were discovered, including both the validated species and the novel genotypes, which were characterized into several geographical regions with high prevalence. Phylogenetic analyses based on gltA and multi-locus concatenated sequences both demonstrated strong phylogeny–trait associations of Bartonella species from bats and their parasitic arthropods, suggesting the occurrence of host switches and emphasizing the potential connecting vector role of these ectoparasites. Nevertheless, the maintenance and transmission of Bartonella in both bat and hemoparasite populations have not been fully understood, as well as the risk of spillage to humans, which warrants in-depth experimental studies focusing on these mammals and their ectoparasites.

Horsfieldia pandurifolia is a member of Myristicaceae. The H. pandurifolia chloroplast genome is found to be 155,695 bp in length and has a base composition of A (30.01%), G (19.31%), C (19.90%), and T (30.78%). The genome contained two short inverted repeats (IRa and IRb) regions (48,062 bp) which were separated by a large single copy (LSC) region (92,561 bp) and a small single copy (SSC) region (15,072 bp). The genome encodes 121 unique genes, including 86 protein-coding genes, 27 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes, and 8 ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes. Further, complete chloroplast sequence of H. pandurifolia was aligned together with five other species which have reported the complete chloroplast sequence. This complete chloroplast genome will provide valuable information for the development of DNA markers for future species resource development and phylogenetic analysis of H. pandurifolia.