Recently, the livestock and poultry bacterial infectious diseases innovation research group led by Prof. Shengqing Yu at Shanghai Veterinary Research Institute (SHVRI) of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) identified an important virulence-associated transcriptional regulator of Riemerella anatipestifer, regulating the expression of genes involved in “Translation, ribosomal structure and biogenesis”, Cell envelope biogenesis” and “Amino acid transport and metabolism”. This finding has been published in the Scientific Reports on Mar 1 2016 avilable here: http://www.nature.com/articles/srep22438
 

 R. anatipestifer is a significant pathogen of waterfowl, turkey and other birds. It causes epizootic infectious polyserositis in ducks characterized by lethargy, diarrhea, respiratory and nervous symptoms, which led to high mortality and consequently to great economic losses. The researchers found that a luxE homology gene deletion mutant strain Yb2ΔAS87_03730 showed a significant decreased growth rate in TSB, invasion capacity in Vero cells and colonization and development during infection, compared to wild-type strain Yb2. Furthermore, RNA-Seq analysis and Real-time PCR indicated 19 up-regulated and two down-regulated genes in Yb2ΔAS87_03730. In conclusion, for the first time, the study reveals that the AS87_03730 gene is involved in bacterial virulence and gene regulation in R. anatipestifer.