High-throughput mRNA sequencing enables the discovery of new transcripts and additional parts of incompletely annotated transcripts. Compared with the human and cow genomes, the reference annotation level of the sheep genome is still low. An investigation of new transcripts in sheep skeletal muscle will improve our understanding of muscle development. Therefore, applying high-throughput sequenc...

This study was carried out from November 2007 to March 2008 to identify the species and to determine the burden of small intestinal helminth parasites of sheep and goats slaughtered in Hawassa, southern Ethiopia. Intestines of 116 sheep and 71 goats were examined using standard procedures. Three species of parasites namely Trichostrongylus colubriformis, Bunostomum trigonocephalum and Moniezia ...

The pharmacokinetic behaviour of an ampicillin/sulbactam (2:1) combination was studied after intramuscular administration of a single dose (20 mg/kg body weight: 13.33 mg/kg of ampicillin and 6.67 mg/kg of sulbactam) to six sheep and six goats. The objective was to determine whether there were differences between sheep and goats in the disposition profiles of ampicillin and sulbactam. The dispo...

miRNAs and lncRNAs, which represent one of the most highly expressed classes of ncRNAs in development, are attracting increasing interest. A variety of regulators is considered to be implicated in sheep species with different fecundity. However, interactions between miRNAs and lncRNAs and changes in the expression of regulatory lncRNAs in sheep fecundity have not yet been reported. To character...

Humoral response of sheep to F. gigantica was compared with the well known humoral response to F. hepatica, in order to explain the difference of susceptibility of sheep to these two parasites. In this work, a lesser susceptibility of sheep to F. gigantica than to F. hepatica infection was confirmed. Humoral response to F. hepatica infection is similar to that previously described by several au...

A consensus of expert opinion was used to provide both face and consensual validity to a list of potential indicators of sheep welfare. This approach was used as a first step in the identification of valid welfare indicators for sheep. The consensus methodology of the National Institute of Health, using pre-meeting consultation and focus group discussions, was used to ascertain the consensus op...

Goats and some sheep synthesize a juvenile hemoglobin, Hb C (alpha 2 beta C2), at birth and produce this hemoglobin exclusively during severe anemia. Sheep that synthesize this juvenile hemoglobin are of the A haplotype. Other sheep, belonging to a separate group, the B haplotype, do not synthesize hemoglobin C and during anemia continue to produce their adult hemoglobin. To understand the basi...

China has a long history of sheep (Ovis aries [O. aries]) breeding and an abundance of sheep genetic resources. Knowledge of the complete O. aries mitogenome should facilitate the study of the evolutionary history of the species. Therefore, the complete mitogenome of O. aries was sequenced and annotated. In order to characterize the mitogenomes of 3 Chinese sheep breeds (Altay sheep [AL], Shand...

A 2-year-old East Friesian sheep imported from Australia exhibited severe anemia after contagious pustular dermatitis in Hokkaido, Japan. Hemoplasma infection was confirmed in blood smears. Both Mycoplasma ovis and 'Candidatus Mycoplasma haemovis' were detected by PCR and sequence analyses. In the epidemiological analysis, dual pathogens were detected in 6 of 12 (50.0%) sheep imported from Aust...

About 12 months ago Captec Pty Ltd registered a diazinon-based dipping product for sheep called Diprite. Diprite included new (patented) label instructions that enabled application of a consistent dose of chemical to all sheep dipped. Many pesticides ‘strip’ when used in sheep dips (including diazinon). Stripping is the process whereby the pesticide leaves the dip faster than the water removed ...