grass pollen vaccine (DepiQuick)

Rare allergen sources are clinically relevant sensitizers in Central Europe.

Wöhrl Julia J, Hemmer Wolfgang W, Lang Roland R, Moritz Katharina K et al.

In recent times, diagnosing allergies apart from house dust mite (HDM), birch tree, and grass pollen has become increasingly difficult because allergen manufacturers have withdrawn many commercial skin prick test (SPT) solutions for rare allergen sources. A cohort of 5,857 patients (mean age 35.9 ± 20.3 years, 60.5% female) was tested with standardized SPT panels comprising 46 inhalant and food allergens at a large allergy outpatient clinic in Vienna. Cases with positive tests and allergen-specific history were judged as "relevant", those without as "latent". In the patient cohort, 48.8% presented with a history of allergic rhinoconjunctivitis (ARC), 16.7% with bronchial asthma (BA), 13.2% with atopic dermatitis (AD), and 28.9% with food allergy (FA). Of 113,893 SPTs, 7.0% were relevant, 5.3% were latent, and 87.7% remained negative. The 3 most frequent allergen sources - grass, birch, and HDM - showed the highest ratio of 22.2% relevant compared to 7.1% latent SPTs. The 6 other non-rare allergen sources - European ash tree, mugwort, ragweed, Alternaria alternata, cat, and dog - yielded 9.5% positive and 7.4% latent SPT results. The other 34 rare allergen sources resulted in 1.8% positive and 3.9% latent tests. Plantain, horse, hazelnut (food), soymilk, peanut, plane tree, and nettle ranked top among the rare allergens. Among rare allergens, relevant SPTs to horse/rabbit, Alternaria alternata, oat flour, and rye flour were associated with an increased risk for BA including work-related asthma. 15.4% (1,230/7,985) of all relevant SPTs were observed in "rare allergens". This demonstrates the necessity of including rare allergens in standard allergy workups.

Combining pollen lethality and seed visual screening approaches to generate transgene-free edits in Arabidopsis thaliana.

He Minggui M, Liu Jin-Lei JL, Fu Yuwei Y, Su Yiyuan Y et al.

Sparse gut microbiomes in solitary bees and wasps.

Saiyawong Jennifer N Schlauch JNS, Watrous Kristal M KM, Buchmann Stephen S, Melin Annalie A et al.

Bees and wasps are ecologically vital, but many species are declining owing to anthropogenic stressors. Social bees harbour host-specific and dense gut microbiomes that affect their resilience to stress. However, there are tens of thousands of other bee and wasp species that vary in sociality and diet (including pollen-feeding and predatory guilds), traits known to influence host-microbe symbioses. The role of gut microbes in the biology of these species is largely unknown. Here, we measured the composition and absolute abundance of bacterial communities in adult metasomas across 61 genera and 14 families of field-collected bees, predatory wasps and pollen wasps. We found that solitary bees and both wasp guilds harbour distinct bacterial taxa and lower bacterial abundances as compared with social bees. Bacterial abundances also varied extensively among and within genera of solitary bees, with little variation explained by body size, diet breadth or nesting ecology. Furthermore, microbiome composition was only weakly differentiated among solitary bees and the two wasp groups, even when comparing herbivorous (pollen-feeding) and omnivorous taxa. We suggest that the sparse and somewhat stochastic microbiomes of solitary bees and wasps reflect weak host dependence on microbially mediated functions, a trait that may influence their responses to environmental change.

A structure-guided trivalent subunit vaccine confers maternal protection to neonatal piglets against PEDV and PDCoV.

Liu Jia J, Chen Longping L, Li Dan D, Wang Zhuo Z et al.

Antigenic divergence among porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) genotypes and porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV) limits the cross-protection provided by current commercial vaccines. Here, employing a structure-guided antigen design strategy, we developed a trivalent subunit vaccine concurrently targeting PEDV G2a, PEDV G2b, and PDCoV. The vaccine antigen set comprises optimized spike ectodomain antigens, featuring stabilizing mutations, a heptad repeat 2 (HR2) deletion, a fused neutralizing epitope, and a flagellin adjuvant fused to the N-terminus. Formulated with MF59+CpG adjuvants, this trivalent vaccine elicited robust PEDV- and PDCoV-specific neutralizing antibody responses and Th1/Th2-associated cellular immune responses characterized by IFN-γ, IL-2, and IL-4 production in mice. Immunization of pregnant sows with 300 μg dose induced high-titer IgG, IgA, and colostral secretory IgA (SIgA) against all three target viruses. Although neutralizing antibody titers were comparable between the 100 μg and 300 μg dose groups, the 300 μg group showed higher and more persistent levels of colostral binding IgG and SIgA. Following maternal immunization, piglets that acquired maternal antibodies through colostrum exhibited reduced clinical diarrhea, lower fecal viral RNA shedding, and less severe intestinal lesions after challenge with PEDV G2a, PEDV G2b, or PDCoV. These findings support this structure-guided trivalent subunit vaccine as a promising candidate for maternal immunization against co-circulating porcine enteric coronaviruses.