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The site frequency/dosage spectrum of autopolyploid populations

The Site Frequency Spectrum (SFS) and the heterozygosity of allelic variants are among the most important summary statistics for population genetic analysis of diploid organisms. We discuss the generalisation of these statistics to populations of autopolyploid organisms in…

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The neutral frequency spectrum of linked sites

We introduce the conditional Site Frequency Spectrum (SFS) for a genomic region linked to a focal mutation of known frequency. An exact expression for its expected value is provided for the neutral model without recombination. Its relation with the expected SFS for two sites…

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Temporal differentiation of bovine airway epithelial cells grown at an air-liquid interface

There is an urgent need to develop improved, physiologically-relevant in vitro models of airway epithelia with which to better understand the pathological processes associated with infection, allergies and toxicological insults of the respiratory tract of both humans and…

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Amino acid residue 217 in the hemagglutinin 1 glycoprotein is a key mediator of avian influenza H7N9 virus antigenicity

Avian influenza viruses continue to evolve and acquire mutations that facilitate antigenic drift and virulence change. In 2017, low pathogenicity H7N9 avian influenza viruses evolved to a high pathogenicity phenotype in China. The comparative antigenic analysis between the…

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A single dose of African horse sickness virus (AHSV) VP2 based vaccines provides complete clinical protection in a mouse model

African horse sickness is a severe, often fatal, arboviral disease of equids. The control of African horse sickness virus (AHSV) in endemic countries is based currently on the use of live attenuated vaccines despite some biosafety concerns derived from its biological…

Amblypygi

Spider stand-ins: who you should watch for this Halloween

Our Head of Entomology, Dr Simon Carpenter, suggests some creepy crawly alternatives to the usual Halloween spider clichés... It’s been a big few months for our friends from the order Araneae, or just plain spiders to the non-Arachnologists among you. We’ve had Billie Eilish…

gnatwork three vector species of flies sandflies blackflies midges

Pirbright scientists forge international networks for vector research

Pirbright scientists are bringing together vector research communities to improve their capacity for fighting disease. The aptly named ‘ Gnatwork’ is forging international connections between scientists that work on three insect groups (sandflies, blackflies and biting…

white goat in PPRV study

Pirbright scientists show two peste des petits ruminants vaccines protect against all strains

Scientists at The Pirbright Institute have conducted the first study to directly compare the ability of two peste des petits ruminants (PPR) vaccines to protect susceptible animals against wildtype viruses from any of the four genetic lineages of PPR virus. Through analysing…

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Genomic variation in the porcine immunoglobulin lambda variable region

Production of a vast antibody repertoire is essential for the protection against pathogens. Variable region germline complexity contributes to repertoire diversity and is a standard feature of mammalian immunoglobulin loci, but functional V region genes are limited in swine…

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Chickens expressing IFIT5 ameliorate clinical outcome and pathology of highly pathogenic avian influenza and velogenic Newcastle disease viruses

Innate antiviral immunity establishes first line of defense against invading pathogens through sensing their molecular structures such as viral RNA. This antiviral potential of innate immunity is mainly attributed to a myriad of IFN-stimulated genes (ISGs). Amongst well…