University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna

A single transcriptional regulator is crucial for the adaptation of Staphylococcus aureus to diverse niches

Adaptation of bacterial pathogens to new hosts often involves the exchange of mobile genetic elements, or generally the highly variable accessory genome. However, adaptation to different niches is often plastic, mediated by conserved pathways in the core genome. The general stres...

Epistatic redundancy reconciles pervasive genetic interactions with their rarity in genome-wide analyses

Epistasis, the genetic interaction between loci, has long been recognized as a fundamental feature of the genetic architecture, but its importance remains controversial. This controversy stems partly from the apparent disconnect between abundant physiological epistasis observed i...

Wind conditions shape co-migration fidelity in trans-Saharan birds at a Mediterranean stopover site

Abstract Weather is a key driver of bird migration, particularly near ecological barriers, where migratory species often converge before crossing. While its effects on individual timing are well documented, how weather reshapes the temporal assemblage of migratory bird communitie...

Veterinarians on the margins? A qualitative interview study on the professional identity of official veterinary inspectors working in slaughterhouses in Austria

Abstract Background Official veterinary inspectors play a central role in ensuring food safety and animal welfare within slaughterhouses, yet their role as a distinct group within the veterinary profession remains underexplored. This article uses the concept of professional ident...

Report on the Occurrence of Anisakid Nematodes in Commercial Fish from the Southwestern Indian Waters

Anisakid nematodes are zoonotic parasites with a heteroxenous life cycle involving diverse hosts across multiple trophic levels in the marine ecosystem. Anisakiasis represents a significant global public health issue, with numerous clinical cases documented across the regions whe...

First detection of Dirofilaria immitis in a wild red fox from eastern Austria

Abstract Dirofilaria immitis is a parasitic nematode that causes cardiopulmonary dirofilariosis in dogs and other carnivores. This potentially fatal vector-borne disease primarily affects canines and felines. In Austria, reported D. immitis infections have increased in recent yea...

Rut Björkman’s Spiritual Critique of the Church as an Impetus for a New Ecclesiology

This text investigates the nature and concept of the Church through the dialectical tension between individual religious experience and institutional social structures, engaging critically with Rut Björkman’s spiritual critique. The analysis initially categorizes ecclesiological...

Horizontal mitochondrial transfer and mitochondrial transplantation in skin: protection against UVR-induced ROS damage and enhancement of cell proliferation and wound healing

Skin homeostasis, protection against ultraviolet radiation (UVR), and wound repair depend on coordinated interactions among melanocytes, keratinocytes, and fibroblasts. Horizontal mitochondrial transfer (HMT) is a naturally occurring form of intercellular communication in which m...

Observational study of the microbiome of perforated abomasal ulcers in unweaned beef calves in Canada

In western Canada, perforating abomasal ulcers (AU) are generally diagnosed postmortem in beef calves up to 2 months of age. Certain microbes have been associated with AU, but the evidence is circumstantial. Thus, analyzing the abomasal microbiome in calves with and without AU ma...

Innovative composite tool use by human children: adapting the golf club task from Goffin's cockatoos

We adapted a composite tool innovation task that had been solved by Goffin's cockatoos to be suitable for human children. Participants had to use a stick to push a ball onto a collapsible platform to release a reward. We tested a total of 204 participants: 187 children aged 4 to...

The ongoing invasion of the endogenous retrovirus Kuruka in natural Drosophila melanogaster populations

Transposable elements (TEs) are mobile DNA sequences that can proliferate within host genomes, occasionally capable of crossing species boundaries via horizontal transfer (HT). Here, we report the discovery and characterization of Kuruka, a recently invading TE in natural D. mela...

Mitigating artificial intelligence-related animal welfare risks in animal farming

In animal farming, artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly promoted as a means to enhance productivity, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and improve animal welfare. However, discussion of the animal welfare risks arising from these technologies, particularly emerging generat...

Signatures of Positive Selection and Climate Associations in Human OXPHOS Genes

Human adaptation to diverse climates has played a major role in shaping human evolution. Mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) is central to energy production and thermogenesis; however, the respective contributions of the mitochondrial and nuclear genomes to climate a...

The History of Transposable Element Invasions in Drosophila melanogaster

As a fundamental biological principle, genomic information is typically transmitted vertically from parent to offspring. Occasionally, however, genetic material is transferred horizontally between species. Transposable elements (TEs) are frequently involved in such horizontal tra...

Vector-borne pathogens in European wildcats (Felis s. silvestris) in Croatia: A first molecular survey

Abstract The European wildcat ( Felis silvestris silvestris ) is a rare species in Croatia, yet data on its vector-borne pathogens (VBPs) have been entirely lacking. This study provides the first molecular survey of VBPs in twelve Croatian wildcats collected between 2018 and 2025...

Large-scale genome analysis of Listeria monocytogenes from Austrian food producers reveals differences in accessory genome dynamics and phage integration in persistent genomes

Abstract Background As the causative agent of listeriosis, Listeria ( L .) monocytogenes is an important food safety hazard and public health concern. The ability of some L. monocytogenes strains to establish in food processing environments poses the threat of contamination to fo...

Complex effects of sex reversal on reproductive success in wild frogs

Sex reversal, when the environment overrides genotypic sex determination, may hasten or delay climate-driven extinction in ectothermic animals, depending on sex-reversed individuals’ reproductive ability and offspring viability. Empirically, next to nothing is known about these t...

Clinical Findings, Treatment and Long-Term Outcome in 37 Cats with Non-Associative Immune-Mediated Hemolytic Anemia: A Retrospective Observational Study of Two Treatment Cohorts

Background: Non-associative immune-mediated hemolytic anemia (IMHA) is uncommon in cats and carries substantial mortality. Glucocorticoids are first-line treatment, and cyclosporin A (CsA) is frequently added, but data on the clinical course and long-term outcome are limited. We...

Hepatitis-associated virus infections in Austrian equids: A survey of equids sampled across Austria

This study aimed to determine the (sero)prevalence of equine hepacivirus (EqHV), equine parvovirus-hepatitis (EqPV-H), equid hepatitis B virus (EqHBV) and hepatitis E virus (HEV), in equids across Austria and to identify associated risk factors. In a cross-sectional study conduct...

A striking mismatch between genomic and phenotypic selection responses– the role of pleiotropy in complex environments

Abstract Background A major focus of evolutionary biology is the characterization of the genetic basis of adaptation. A widely used approach builds on the comparison of allele frequencies among populations adapted to different environments, reasoning that differentiated loci unco...