DNA in horses refers to the genetic material that carries the hereditary information necessary for the growth, development, functioning, and reproduction of equine species. It consists of sequences of nucleotides that encode the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of horses. DNA analysis in horses can provide insights into genetic diversity, lineage, and breed characteristics. It is also utilized in identifying genetic disorders, understanding hereditary traits, and assisting in selective breeding programs. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the structure, function, and applications of DNA analysis in equine genetics and breeding.
Ferris RA, Dern K, Veir JK, Hawley JR, Lappin MR, McCue PM.To develop a broad-range 28S ribosomal DNA quantitative PCR (qPCR) assay for detection of fungal DNA in equine endometrial samples. Methods: 12 fungal samples from a clinical diagnostic laboratory and 29 samples obtained from 17 mares. Methods: The qPCR assay was optimized with commercially acquired fungal organisms and validated with samples obtained from the clinical diagnostic laboratory. Subsequently, 29 samples from 17 mares suspected of having fungal endometritis were evaluated via the qPCR assay and via traditional fungal culture and endometrial cytology. Amplicons from the qPCR assay w...
Zaniboni A, Merlo B, Zannoni A, Bernardini C, Lavitrano M, Forni M, Mari G, Bacci ML.Sperm mediated gene transfer (SMGT) has been reported to be a powerful tool for producing transgenic livestock with applications in biomedicine and agriculture. To date, two studies have reported the production of transgenic equine embryo with, however, low efficiency in blastocyst production and transgene expression. The aim of the present study was to develop a method which allowed the efficient production of transgene-expressing embryos of the equine species through SMGT. To overcome problems due to in vitro fertilization (IVF) in horses, the ICSI procedure was associated with SMGT. The upt...
Côté O, Lillie BN, Hayes MA, Clark ME, van den Bosch L, Katavolos P, Viel L, Bienzle D.Secretoglobin 1A1 (SCGB 1A1), also called Clara cell secretory protein, is the most abundantly secreted protein of the airway. The SCGB1A1 gene has been characterized in mammals as a single copy in the genome. However, analysis of the equine genome suggested that horses might have multiple SCGB1A1 gene copies. Non-ciliated lung epithelial cells produce SCGB 1A1 during inhalation of noxious substances to counter airway inflammation. Airway fluid and lung tissue of horses with recurrent airway obstruction (RAO), a chronic inflammatory lung disease affecting mature horses similar to environmental...
Grubaugh ND, Petz LN, Melanson VR, McMenamy SS, Turell MJ, Long LS, Pisarcik SE, Kengluecha A, Jaichapor B, O'Guinn ML, Lee JS.Highly multiplexed assays, such as microarrays, can benefit arbovirus surveillance by allowing researchers to screen for hundreds of targets at once. We evaluated amplification strategies and the practicality of a portable DNA microarray platform to analyze virus-infected mosquitoes. The prototype microarray design used here targeted the non-structural protein 5, ribosomal RNA, and cytochrome b genes for the detection of flaviviruses, mosquitoes, and bloodmeals, respectively. We identified 13 of 14 flaviviruses from virus inoculated mosquitoes and cultured cells. Additionally, we differentiate...
Zhao Y, Ma S, Sun Y, Huang Y, Deng Y.To identify a thermophilic bacterium from horse manure to degrade cellulose efficiently, and to enrich microbial resources producing cellulolytic ethanol by co-culturing with thermophilic ethanol producing bacterium. Methods: We used Hungate anaerobic technique to isolate a strain named as HCp from horse manure mixed culture; its phylogeny was identified through 16S rDNA sequencing. Enzymatic assays were determined using DNS method. Results: The isolated HCp cells were straight with rods size of(0.35-0.50) microm x (2.42-6.40) microm, in the form of single or paring. This strain belongs to a s...
Adaszek Ł, García-Bocanegra I, Arenas-Montes A, Carbonero A, Arenas A, Winiarczyk S.The aim of the study was to detect the presence of genetic material of equine piroplasmas and to determine the species isolates from apparently healthy equids, including horses, donkeys and mules, in southern Spain. Blood samples were collected from 135 animals to assess the presence of DNA from equine piroplasmas using PCR. Babesia (B.) caballi DNA was detected in blood samples of three horses and one donkey, while Theileria (T.) equi DNA was confirmed in blood of 19 horses, three mules and one donkey. All B. caballi isolates showed a 100% homology of the nucleotide sequence of the 18S RNA ge...
Osińska E, Golke A, Słońska A, Cymerys J, Bańbura MW, Dzieciatkowski T.Equid herpesvirus type 2 (EHV-2) together with equid herpesvirus type 5 are members of Gammaherpesvirinae subfamily, genus Rhadinovirus. EHV-2 is one of major agents causing diseases of horses common worldwide. A possible role of EHV-2 in reactivating latent equid herpesvirus type-1 has been suggested, because reactivation of latent EHV-1 was always accompanied by EHV-2 replication. Variety techniques, including cell culture, PCR and its modifications, have been used to diagnose EHV-2 infections. The aim of this study was to develop, optimize and determine specificity of real-time PCR (qPCR) f...
Gutiérrez-Cepeda L, Fernández A, Crespo F, Ramírez MÁ, Gosálvez J, Serres C.Variability among stallions in terms of semen cryopreservation quality renders it difficult to arrive at a standardized cryopreservation method. Different extenders and processing techniques (such us colloidal centrifugation) are used in order to optimize post-thaw sperm quality. Sperm chromatin integrity analysis is an effective tool for assessing such quality. The aim of the present study was to compare the effect of two single layer colloidal centrifugation protocols (prior to cryopreservation) in combination with three commercial freezing extenders on the post-thaw chromatin integrity of e...
Silva MA, Silva KM, Jesus AL, Barros LO, Corteggio A, Altamura G, Borzacchiello G, Freitas AC.Papillomavirus (PV) are double-stranded DNA viruses that can cause both benignant and malignant tumours in mammals. Twelve genotypes of bovine papillomavirus (BPV1-12) have been identified so far. The presence of BPV1 and 2 has been found in the body fluids of cattle and horses. The aim of this study is to investigate the presence of BPV DNA and the expression of viral genes in the blood and sperm cells of healthy horses using PCR and RT-PCR. BPV-1 or 2 was detected in 14 of 70 blood samples (20%) and in 11 of 31 semen samples (35%). In five of fourteen blood samples, the E5 expression tested ...
Meng Q, Lin Y, Ma J, Ma Y, Zhao L, Li S, Yang K, Zhou J, Shen R, Zhang X, Shao Y.Data from successful attenuated lentiviral vaccine studies indicate that fully mature Env-specific antibodies characterized by high titer, high avidity, and the predominant recognition of conformational epitopes are associated with protective efficacy. Although vaccination with a DNA prime/recombinant vaccinia-vectored vaccine boost strategy has been found to be effective in some trials with non-human primate/simian/human immunodeficiency virus (SHIV) models, it remains unclear whether this vaccination strategy could elicit mature equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) Env-specific antibodies, ...
Tydén E, Morrison DA, Engström A, Nielsen MK, Eydal M, Höglund J.The large roundworm of horses, Parascaris equorum is considered ubiquitous in breeding operations, and is regarded as a most important helminth pathogen of foals. Over the past decade, this parasite has been reported increasingly resistant to anthelmintic drugs worldwide. This paper reports analysis of the population genetic structure of P. equorum. Adult parasites (n=194) collected from Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Germany, Brazil and the USA were investigated by amplified restriction fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysis. The genetic variation was low (Hj=0.12-0.4), for the global populat...
Altamura G, Strazzullo M, Corteggio A, Francioso R, Roperto F, D'Esposito M, Borzacchiello G.Bovine papillomaviruses (BPVs) types 1 and 2 are the only known papillomaviruses able to jump the species. In fact, BPVs 1/2 induce neoplasia in their natural bovine host but infection is also associated to neoplastic skin lesions in equids termed sarcoids. The equine sarcoid is considered to be the most common equine cutaneous tumour worldwide for which no effective therapy is available. Very little is known about the molecular mechanisms underlying tumourigenesis, although genes contributing to sarcoid development have been identified. Several studies associate the development of cancer to t...
Peters LM, Demmel S, Pusch G, Buters JT, Thormann W, Zielinski J, Leeb T, Mevissen M, Schmitz A.Ketamine is an anesthetic and analgesic regularly used in veterinary patients. As ketamine is almost always administered in combination with other drugs, interactions between ketamine and other drugs bear the risk of either adverse effects or diminished efficacy. Since cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYPs) play a pivotal role in the phase I metabolism of the majority of all marketed drugs, drug-drug interactions often occur at the active site of these enzymes. CYPs have been thoroughly examined in humans and laboratory animals, but little is known about equine CYPs. The characterization of equine CYP...
McFrederick QS, Haselkorn TS, Verocai GG, Jaenike J.Parasites in the genus Onchocerca infect humans, ruminants, camels, horses, suids, and canids, with effects ranging from relatively benign to debilitating. In North America, Onchocerca cervipedis is the sole species known to infect cervids, while at least 5 Onchocerca species infect Eurasian cervids. In this study, we report the discovery of a cervid-parasitizing Onchocerca only distantly related to O. cervipedis. To reconstruct the phylogenetic history of the genus Onchocerca, we used newly acquired DNA sequence from O. cervipedis (from moose in Northwest Territories, Canada) and from the new...
Wilson AD, Armstrong ELR, Gofton RG, Mason J, De Toit N, Day MJ.Sarcoids are common skin tumours of horses and donkeys that are characterised by persistent proliferation of dermal fibroblasts associated with the presence of bovine papillomavirus (BPV) DNA. Some early BPV proteins have been demonstrated within sarcoids and RNA containing both early and late transcripts is present, yet it remains unclear whether late replication of BPV, culminating in the production of infectious virus particles, can occur in equids. Here we report that BPV1 RNA isolated from equine sarcoids encodes a unique deletion of four residues within the L2 protein suggesting a novel ...
St-Pierre B, de la Fuente G, O'Neill S, Wright AD, Al Jassim R.We investigated the community structure of bacteria that populate the stomach of the Brumby, a breed of feral horses from the Australian outback. Using a 16S rRNA gene clone library, we identified 155 clones that were assigned to 26 OTUs based on a 99.0 % sequence identity cutoff. Two OTUs represented 73.5 % of clones, while 18 OTUs were each assigned only a single clone. Four major bacterial types were identified in the Brumby stomach: Lactobacillaceae, Streptococcaceae, Veillonellaceae and Pasteurellaceae. The first three groups, which represented 98.1 % of the Brumby stomach library clones,...
Kakoi H, Kijima-Suda I, Gawahara H, Kinoshita K, Tozaki T, Hirota K, Yoshizawa M.To construct a system for identifying individual horses from urine samples that are submitted for postracing doping tests, we developed a genotyping assay based on 26-plex single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). DNA was isolated from urine using a commercially available DNA/RNA extraction kit, and SNP genotyping was achieved with a SNaPshot(™) technique. DNA profiles including 26 SNPs were acquired from urine samples and blood/hair samples. Within the studied Thoroughbred population, the 26-plex assay showed a probability of identity of 5.80 × 10(-11). Compared to the conventional short tan...
Sun L, Gong Z, Oberst EJ, Betancourt A, Adams AA, Horohov DW.While born with a limited production, foals' interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) expression increases after birth. The underlying mechanisms remain unknown. DNA methylation is considered to be involved. Therefore, the DNA methylation status of the Ifng promoter in CD4(+) cells from neonatal foal was determined using a methylation-specific PCR (MSP), and its relevance to IFN-γ mRNA expression was estimated. The effect of environment on the DNA methylation was also evaluated by comparing ponies that were kept in a barn versus those on pasture. The DNA in the Ifng promoter was hypermethylated and its deme...
Lange CE, Tobler K, Lehner A, Grest P, Welle MM, Schwarzwald CC, Favrot C.Equine penile papillomas, in situ carcinomas, and invasive carcinomas are hypothesized to belong to a continuum of papillomavirus-induced diseases. The former ones clinically present as small grey papules, while the latter 2 lesions are more hyperplasic or alternatively ulcerated. To test the hypothesis that these lesions are papillomavirus-induced, samples of 24 horses with characteristic clinical and histologic findings of penile papillomas or in situ or invasive squamous cell carcinomas were collected. As controls, 11 horses with various lesions--namely, Balanoposthitis (6 cases), melanoma ...
Tripathi VN, Harding WC, Willingham-Lane JM, Hondalus MK.Rhodococcus equi is a facultative intracellular, Gram-positive, soilborne actinomycete which can cause severe pyogranulomatous pneumonia with abscessation in young horses (foals) and in immunocompromised people, such as persons with AIDS. All strains of R. equi isolated from foals and approximately a third isolated from humans contain a large, ~81-kb plasmid which is essential for the intramacrophage growth of the organism and for virulence in foals and murine in vivo model systems. We found that the entire virulence plasmid could be transferred from plasmid-containing strains of R. equi (dono...
Garner DL, Evans KM, Seidel GE.The sex of mammalian offspring can be predetermined by flow sorting relatively pure living populations of X- and Y-chromosome-bearing sperm. This method is based on precise staining of the DNA of sperm with the nucleic acid-specific fluorophore, Hoechst 33342, to differentiate between the subpopulations of X- and Y-sperm. The fluorescently stained sperm are then sex-sorted using a specialized high speed sorter, MoFlo(®) SX XDP, and collected into biologically supportive media prior to reconcentration and cryopreservation in numbers adequate for use with artificial insemination for some specie...
Almeida RF, Garcia MV, Cunha RC, Matias J, Labruna MB, Andreotti R.Ticks are vectors of various pathogens, including Rickettsia spp., which are responsible for causing an emerging disease of global significance. In the present study, an epidemiological survey was performed to identify Rickettsia spp. of the spotted fever group (SFG) in ticks and wild hosts in a native forest adjacent to livestock farming activity. The ticks and blood were evaluated by a hemolymph test and by PCR using the primers CS78 and CS323, which target a partial sequence of the enzyme citrate synthase (gltA) gene. Positive samples by PCR were further tested with the primers Rr190.70p an...
Andersen UV, Haakansson IT, Roust T, Rhod M, Baptiste KE, Nielsen MK.Strongyle and trichostrongyle parasites are ubiquitous nematodes of grazing livestock. Several molecular diagnostic tests are based upon measuring and quantifying DNA obtained from parasite eggs. It is well known that such eggs undergo development during storage, but it remains unknown to which extent developmental stages can affect the variation of diagnostic test results. This study investigated the influence of developmental stages of strongyle eggs on the variation real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) results. Mixed species strongyle eggs were obtained from the faeces of a naturally i...
Taniwaki SA, Magro AJ, Gorino AC, Oliveira-Filho JP, Fontes MR, Borges AS, Araujo JP.Papillomaviruses (PVs) infect a wide range of animal species and show great genetic diversity. To date, excluding equine sarcoids, only three species of PVs were identified associated with lesions in horses: Equus caballus papillomavirus 1 (EcPV1-cutaneous), EcPV2 (genital) and EcPV3 (aural plaques). In this study, we identified a novel equine PV from aural plaques, which we designated EcPV4. Cutaneous samples from horses with lesions that were microscopically diagnosed as aural plaques were subjected to DNA extraction, amplification and sequencing. Rolling circle amplification and inverse PCR...
Thorsteinsdóttir L, Torfason EG, Torsteinsdóttir S, Svansson V.The horse population in Iceland is a special breed, isolated from other equines for at least one thousand years. This provides an exceptional opportunity to investigate old and new pathogens in a genetically closed herd. Both types of equine gammaherpesviruses, EHV-2 and EHV-5, are common in Iceland. Genetic variation was examined by sequencing four genes, glycoprotein B (gB), glycoprotein H (gH), DNA polymerase and DNA terminase for 12 Icelandic and seven foreign EHV-2 strains. One Icelandic virus isolate, gEHV-Dv, induced syncytium formation, an uncharacteristic cytopathy for EHV-2 in equine...
Sundström E, Imsland F, Mikko S, Wade C, Sigurdsson S, Pielberg GR, Golovko A, Curik I, Seltenhammer MH, Sölkner J, Lindblad-Toh K, Andersson L.Greying with age in horses is an autosomal dominant trait, associated with loss of hair pigmentation, melanoma and vitiligo-like depigmentation. We recently identified a 4.6 kb duplication in STX17 to be associated with the phenotype. The aims of this study were to investigate if the duplication in Grey horses shows copy number variation and to exclude that any other polymorphism is uniquely associated with the Grey mutation. Results: We found little evidence for copy number expansion of the duplicated sequence in blood DNA from Grey horses. In contrast, clear evidence for copy number expansio...
Hill EW, Ryan DP, MacHugh DE.Variation at the myostatin (MSTN) gene locus has been shown to influence racing phenotypes in Thoroughbred horses, and in particular, early skeletal muscle development and the aptitude for racing at short distances. Specifically, a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the first intron of MSTN (g.66493737C/T) is highly predictive of best race distance among Flat racing Thoroughbreds: homozygous C/C horses are best suited to short distance races, heterozygous C/T horses are best suited to middle distance races, and homozygous T/T horses are best suited to longer distance races. Patent applica...
Renshaw RW, Wise AG, Maes RK, Dubovi EJ.A polyomavirus was isolated from the eyes of horses, and the sequence was determined. A nearly identical VP1 sequence was amplified from the kidney of another animal. We report the complete genome sequence of the first polyomavirus to be isolated from a horse. Analysis shows it to be most closely related overall to human and nonhuman primate polyomaviruses.
Steiner CC, Mitelberg A, Tursi R, Ryder OA.Short divergence times and processes such as incomplete lineage sorting and species hybridization are known to hinder the inference of species-level phylogenies due to the lack of sufficient informative genetic variation or the presence of shared but incongruent polymorphism among taxa. Extant equids (horses, zebras, and asses) are an example of a recently evolved group of mammals with an unresolved phylogeny, despite a large number of molecular studies. Previous surveys have proposed trees with rather poorly supported nodes, and the bias caused by genetic introgression or ancestral polymorphi...
Petrov KK, Dicks LM.The aim of this study was to determine which of the two species, Fusobacterium necrophorum or Dichelobacter nodosus, are associated with hoof thrush in horses. Fourteen hoof samples, collected from eight horses with thrush and 14 samples collected from eight horses with healthy hooves, were examined for the presence of F. necrophorum, Fusobacterium equinum and D. nodosus. Only isolates with phenotypic characteristics representing Fusobacterium could be cultured. Total DNA extracted from the 28 hoof samples was amplified by using DNA primers designed from gene lktA, present in F. necrophorum su...
Cohen ND, Wallis DE, Neibergs HL, Hargis BM.Salmonella was identified in feces from horses, using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and genus-specific oligonucleotide primers. Feces from healthy horses were determined to be culture negative and PCR negative for Salmonella. Fecal samples were inoculated with known numbers of colony-forming units (CFU) of S. enteritidis. The fecal samples were enriched overnight in tetrathionate broth, and then DNA was extracted and amplified by PCR using genus-specific primers. Sensitivity of the assay extended to 10 degrees CFU Salmonella enteritidis/g feces; sensitivity of microbiologic culture with ...
Zhou W, Cook RF, Cook SJ, Hammond SA, Rushlow K, Ghabrial NN, Berger SL, Montelaro RC, Issel CJ.The env gene is an excellent candidate for inclusion in any DNA-based vaccine approach against equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV). Unfortunately, this gene is subjected to mutational pressure in E. coli resulting in the introduction of stop codons at the 5' terminus unless it is molecularly cloned using very-low-copy-number plasmid vectors. To overcome this problem, a mammalian expression vector was constructed based on the low-copy-number pLG338-30 plasmid. This permitted the production of full-length EIAV env gene clones (plcnCMVenv) from which low-level expression of the viral surface un...
Hebia-Fellah I, Léauté A, Fiéni F, Zientara S, Imbert-Marcille BM, Besse B, Fortier G, Pronost S, Miszczak F, Ferry B, Thorin C, Pellerin JL....In the horse, the risk of excretion of two major equine pathogens (equine herpesvirus types 1 (EHV-1) and 4 (EHV-4)) in semen is unknown. The objective of our study was to assess the possible risks for the horizontal transmission of equine rhinopneumonitis herpesviruses via the semen and the effect of the viruses on stallion fertility. Samples of stallion semen (n=390) were gathered from several different sources. Examination of the semen involved the detection of viral DNA using specific PCR. The mean fertility of the stallions whose sperm tested positive for viral DNA and the mean fertility ...
Castro ER, Arbiza J.Infection with equid alphaherpesvirus 1 (EHV-1) causes respiratory disease, abortion and neurological disorders in horses. Molecular epidemiology studies have demonstrated that a single nucleotide polymorphism (A2254/G2254) in the genome region of open reading frame 30 which results in an amino acid variation (N752/D752) of the EHV-1 DNA polymerase, is significantly associated with the neuropathogenic potential of naturally occurring strains. In recent years, an increase in the number of cases of equine neurological disease caused by neuropathogenic variants of EHV-1 has been observed in numer...
Lear TL.Telomeres are a class of repetitive DNA sequences that are located at chromosome termini and that act to stabilize the chromosome ends. The rapid karyotypic evolution of the genus Equus has given rise to ten taxa, all with different diploid chromosome numbers. Using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) we localized the mammalian telomere sequence, (TTAGGG)(n), to the chromosomes of nine equid taxa. TTAGGG signal was located at chromosome termini in all species, however additional signal was seen at interstitial sites on some chromosomes in the Burchell's zebra, Equus quagga burchelli, the...
The Journal of heredityJanuary 27, 2008
Volume 99, Issue 2 125-129 doi: 10.1093/jhered/esm106
Wittwer C, Dierks C, Hamann H, Distl O.A previously accomplished whole-genome scan for osteochondrosis (OC) and OC dissecans (OCD) in South German Coldblood horses using 250 microsatellite markers identified putative quantitative trait loci (QTL). A chromosome-wide significant QTL for fetlock OCD was found on Equus caballus chromosome (ECA) 4q at a relative position of 70.0-73.3 cM. The aim of this study was to analyze associations of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in candidate genes for OC in this region. The association analysis included 32 affected and 64 unaffected horses. Three SNPs located in intron 8, intron 9, and 3...
The Journal of heredityDecember 12, 2021
Volume 113, Issue 3 238-247 doi: 10.1093/jhered/esab070
Esdaile E, Avila F, Bellone RR.American Standardbreds were developed as a harness racing horse breed. The United States Trotting Association closed the studbook in 1973 and implemented a book size cap in 2009. This study aimed to investigate genetic diversity in the American Standardbred after the studbook cap was introduced using short tandem repeats (STRs) and single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Sixteen STRs from horses foaled from 2010 to 2015 and their sires and dams (n = 50 621) were utilized to examine allelic richness (Ar), expected heterozygosity (HE), observed heterozygosity (HO), unbiased heterozygosity (HU), ...
Minervini F, Lacalandra GM, Filannino A, Nicassio M, Visconti A, Dell'Aquila ME.The purpose of this study was to assess the natural exposure of male horses (Equus caballus) to the mycotoxin zearalenone (ZEA) by using the ELISA test and to evaluate the effects of in vitro exposure of sperm cells to mycotoxin-containing urine extracts on sperm chromatin structure stability. Because of their occurrence in urine samples, ZEA and its derivatives were tested by sperm chromatin structure assay (SCSA) at natural levels detected by ELISA. Thirty-eight urine extracts of Italian (n = 11) and northeastern European (n = 27) horses were tested on frozen-thawed spermatozoa to evaluate t...
Al-Kass Z, Ntallaris T, Morrell JM, Johannisson A.Although previous studies have examined the relationship between the sperm DNA fragmentation index and fertility in stallions, other aspects of chromatin structure or packaging and fertility have not been explored. In the present study, relationships between fertility and DNA fragmentation index, protamine deficiency, total thiols, free thiols and disulfide bonds in stallion spermatozoa were investigated. Ejaculates (n = 36) were collected from 12 stallions and extended to prepare semen doses for insemination. One dose from each ejaculate was sent to the Swedish University of Agricultural Sc...
Park KD, Kim H, Hwang JY, Lee CK, Do KT, Kim HS, Yang YM, Kwon YJ, Kim J, Kim HJ, Song KD, Oh JD, Kim H, Cho BW, Cho S, Lee HK.Copy number variations (CNVs), important genetic factors for study of human diseases, may have as large of an effect on phenotype as do single nucleotide polymorphisms. Indeed, it is widely accepted that CNVs are associated with differential disease susceptibility. However, the relationships between CNVs and gene expression have not been characterized in the horse. In this study, we investigated the effects of copy number deletion in the blood and muscle transcriptomes of Thoroughbred racing horses. We identified a total of 1,246 CNVs of deletion polymorphisms using DNA re-sequencing data from...
Alhassan A, Iseki H, Kim C, Yokoyama N, Igarashi I.Rapid, efficient, and reproducible procedures for isolating DNA before PCR gene amplification are essential for the diagnosis of piroplasms. In this study, we evaluated the ease and reliability of detecting Theileria equi by PCR using pre-extracted DNA samples (by QIAamp DNA Mini Kit and phenol-chloroform methods) compared with blood spotted on FTA cards as PCR templates. Although minimal variations in limit of detection were observed among the methods compared, overall, the use of pre-extracted DNA samples and blood spotted on FTA cards had comparable detection limits. These results indicate ...
Omar MA, Salama A, Elsify A, Rizk MA, Al-Aboody MS, AbouLaila M, El-Sayed SA, Igarashi I.Enoxacin is a broad-spectrum 6-fluoronaphthyridinone antibacterial agent (fluoroquinolones) structurally related to nalidixic acid used mainly in the treatment of urinary tract infections and gonorrhea. Also it has been shown recently that it may have cancer inhibiting effect. The primary antibabesial effect of Enoxacin is due to inhibition of DNA gyrase subunit A, and DNA topoisomerase. In the present study, enoxacin was tested as a potent inhibitor against the in vitro growth of bovine and equine Piroplasms. The in vitro growth of five Babesia species that were tested was significantly inh...
Schmitz A, Demmel S, Peters LM, Leeb T, Mevissen M, Haase B.Cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYP450s) represent a superfamily of haem-thiolate proteins. CYP450s are most abundant in the liver, a major site of drug metabolism, and play key roles in the metabolism of a variety of substrates, including drugs and environmental contaminants. Interaction of two or more different drugs with the same enzyme can account for adverse effects and failure of therapy. Human CYP3A4 metabolizes about 50% of all known drugs, but little is known about the orthologous CYP450s in horses. We report here the genomic organization of the equine CYP3A gene cluster as well as a compara...
Campana MG, Stock F, Barrett E, Benecke N, Barker GW, Seetah K, Bower MA.Despite the Icelandic horse enjoying great popularity worldwide, the breed's gene pool is small. This is because of a millennium of isolation on Iceland, population crashes caused by natural disasters and selective breeding. Populations with small effective population sizes are considered to be more at risk of selection pressures such as disease and environmental change. By analysing historic and modern mitochondrial DNA sequences and nuclear coat colour genes, we examined real-time population dynamics in the Icelandic horse over the last 150 years. Despite the small gene pool of this breed, w...
Cai D, Zhu S, Gong M, Zhang N, Wen J, Liang Q, Sun W, Shao X, Guo Y, Cai Y, Zheng Z, Zhang W, Hu S, Wang X, Tian H, Li Y, Liu W, Yang M, Yang J, Wu D....The exceptionally rich fossil record available for the equid family has provided textbook examples of macroevolutionary changes. Horses, asses, and zebras represent three extant subgenera of lineage, while the subgenus is another remarkable lineage ranging from North America to Ethiopia in the Pleistocene. We sequenced 26 archaeological specimens from Northern China in the Holocene that could be assigned morphologically and genetically to , a species representative of . We present the first high-quality complete genome of the lineage, which was sequenced to 13.4× depth of coverage. Radioc...
Ma H, Wu Y, Xiang H, Yang Y, Wang M, Zhao C, Wu C.There are large populations of indigenous horse () in China and some other parts of East Asia. However, their matrilineal genetic diversity and origin remained poorly understood. Using a combination of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and hypervariable region (HVR-1) sequences, we aim to investigate the origin of matrilineal inheritance in these domestic horses. Methods: To investigate patterns of matrilineal inheritance in domestic horses, we conducted a phylogenetic study using 31 mtDNA genomes together with 317 others from the GenBank. In terms of the updated phylogeny, a total of 5,180 horse mit...
Kim CH, Casey JW.The distribution and replicative status of equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) DNA in the tissues of a well-characterized inapparent carrier horse were established by using the PCR technique. The EIAV pol region could be amplified in all of the tissues tested, including the cerebellum and periventricular tissue, at concentrations approximately 10(5)-fold less than in the same tissue from an acutely infected horse. Further analysis of the EIAV genome, with primer pairs diagnostic for sequential stages of reverse transcription, suggests that EIAV DNA in the brain, liver, and lymph nodes was in...
Caron JP, Tardif G, Martel-Pelletier J, DiBattista JA, Geng C, Pelletier JP.To determine whether matrix metalloprotease 13 (MMP-13; collagenase 3) is produced by equine chondrocytes and to investigate modulation of its expression by recombinant human interleukin 1 beta (rhIL-1 beta) and corticosteroids. Methods: Equine chondrocytes in monolayer culture were stimulated with rhIL-1 beta. Total RNA was extracted, purified, and reverse transcribed into DNA. Using appropriate primers, a putative MMP-13 fragment was amplified by polymerase chain reaction, and cloned into a bacterial vector. The resultant fragment was purified and sequenced, then was used to prepare a digoxi...
Neild DN, Gadella BM, Agüero A, Stout TA, Colenbrander B.In general, fertility in breeding stallions is lower and more variable than in the other farm animal species, primarily because selection is based on pedigree, looks and/or athletic performance, with little consideration of fertility or fertility potential. Moreover, because the average stallion breeds only a limited number of mares per year and in-field fertility is influenced significantly by non-stallion factors such as management and mare fertility, meaningful fertility data are hard to come-by. Unfortunately, generating usable figures would involve impractically high costs, time and numbe...
Mousa WM, Abdel-Wahab AM, El-Gameel Sohila M, Mahdy OA.Cystic echinococcosis is an important cosmopolitan parasitic zoonosis that causes public health and economic problems in Egypt. The present study was undertaken to identify genotypes of hydatid cyst (HC) DNA isolated from different animal isolates and to identify the genotype of secondary hydatid cysts (HCs) developed in rabbits experimentally infected with camel HC for detection of any genetic mutation. In the present study, we extracted DNA from the germinal layers of 8 HCs collected from 3 camels, 1 cattle, 1 sheep and 3 donkeys in addition to 3 secondary HCs collected from rabbits experime...
Sharp EL, Farrell HE, Borchers K, Holmes EC, Davis-Poynter NJ.Equid herpesvirus 2 (EHV-2), in common with other members of the subfamily Gammaherpesvirinae, encodes homologues of cellular seven-transmembrane receptors (7TMR), namely open reading frames (ORFs) E1, 74 and E6, which each show some similarity to cellular chemokine receptors. Whereas ORF74 and E6 are members of gammaherpesvirus-conserved 7TMR gene families, E1 is currently unique to EHV-2. To investigate their genetic variability, EHV-2 7TMRs from a panel of equine gammaherpesvirus isolates were sequenced. A region of gB was sequenced to provide comparative sequence data. Phylogenetic analysi...
Li Y, Liu Y, Wang M, Lin X, Li Y, Yang T, Feng M, Ling Y, Zhao C.The Chakouyi horse is an ancient Chinese indigenous horse breed distributed in Gansu Province in northwestern China, and is also one of the key breeds protected by the government. However, the origin of the Chakouyi horse remains unclear. As it is distributed in a key region of the Silk Road, it was speculated that the origin of the Chakouyi horse might involve the foreign horse breeds found along this ancient commercial artery. In this study, whole-genome resequencing data of 12 horse breeds, including both indigenous and foreign horses, were applied to reveal the genetic relationships betwee...
Paulino PG, Almosny N, Oliveira R, Viscardi V, Müller A, Guimarães A, Baldani C, da Silva C, Peckle M, Massard C, Santos H.This study aims to report the presence of Neorickettsia risticii DNA in blood samples from naturally infected horses in Rio de Janeiro, provide clinicopathological findings related to the infection, and report the phylogenetic diversity of the 16S rDNA of N. risticii in order to evaluate its heterogeneity. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was performed to investigate the presence of N. risticii in samples collected from horses (n = 187). Five positive samples were found in the molecular screening. Hypoalbuminemia and high levels of creatine kinase and lactate dehydro...
Boffi FM, Cittar J, Balskus G, Muriel M, Desmaras E.Apoptosis or programmed cell death is a genetically controlled response of cells to commit suicide and is associated with DNA fragmentation or laddering. The common inducers of apoptosis include Ca2+i and oxygen free radicals/oxidative stress, which are also implicated in the pathogenesis of exercise-induced myopathies. To examine training-induced apoptosis, Thoroughbred horses were subjected to 3 months training programme on a treadmill. At the end of the training programme venous blood samples were taken for a creatine kinase (CK) assay. In addition, muscle biopsy samples were obtained for a...
Zhu L, Zeng C, Yang S, Hou Z, Wang Y, Hu X, Senoo K, Wei W.The nutrition and flavor of cheese are generated by the microbial community. Thus, horse milk cheese with unique nutrition and flavor, an increasingly popular local cheese of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China, is considered to have diverse and specific bacterial community. To verify this hypothesis, horse, cow, and goat milk cheese samples produced under the same environmental conditions and manufacturing process were collected, and the 16S rRNA gene was targeted to determine the bacterial population size and community composition by real-time quantitative PCR and high-throughput s...
Almeida RF, Garcia MV, Cunha RC, Matias J, Labruna MB, Andreotti R.Ticks are vectors of various pathogens, including Rickettsia spp., which are responsible for causing an emerging disease of global significance. In the present study, an epidemiological survey was performed to identify Rickettsia spp. of the spotted fever group (SFG) in ticks and wild hosts in a native forest adjacent to livestock farming activity. The ticks and blood were evaluated by a hemolymph test and by PCR using the primers CS78 and CS323, which target a partial sequence of the enzyme citrate synthase (gltA) gene. Positive samples by PCR were further tested with the primers Rr190.70p an...
Amano T, Onogi A, Yamada F, Kawai M, Shirai K, Ueda J.Previously, a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) related to gait type was identified at position 22 999 655 of chromosome 23 in the coding region of DMRT3 (DMRT3:Ser301Ter) by showing that a cytosine (C) to adenine (A) mutation of this SNP induced pace in the Icelandic horse. We investigated the effect of DMRT3:Ser301Ter on the gait of Hokkaido Native Horses, a Japanese native breed, and examined genetic factors other than DMRT3 by exploring genome-wide SNPs related to gait determination. All animals exhibiting pace were AA for DMRT3:Ser301Ter, confirming the association of DMRT3:Ser301Ter...
Cui JQ, Liu WH, Zang YX, Zhang C, Zou L, Sun HZ, Pan Q, Ren HY.A lytic bacteriophage vB_EcoM_DE7 (hereafter designated DE7) that could infect donkey-derived Escherichia coli was isolated. The bacteriophage was examined by transmission electron microscopy, and the result showed that DE7 belonged to the family Myoviridae. The microbiological characterization revealed that DE7 was stable over a broad range of pHs (3 ∼10) at 40-50 °C. The latent period was 10 min, and the burst size was 43 PFUs/infected cell. The whole-genome sequencing showed that DE7 was a dsDNA virus and had a genome of 86,130 bp. The genome contained 124 predicted open reading frames...
Dell AC, Curry MC, Yarnell KM, Starbuck GR, Wilson PB.Genetic diversity and maternal ancestry line relationships amongst a sample of 96 Cleveland Bay horses were investigated using a 479bp length of mitochondrial D-loop sequence. The analysis yielded at total of 11 haplotypes with 27 variable positions, all of which have been described in previous equine mitochondrial DNA d-loop studies. Four main haplotype clusters were present in the Cleveland Bay breed describing 89% of the total sample. This suggests that only four principal maternal ancestry lines exist in the present-day global Cleveland Bay population. Comparison of these sequences with ot...
Gosálvez J, Crespo F, Vega-Pla JL, López-Fernández C, Cortés-Gutiérrez EI, Devila-Rodriguez MI, Mezzanotte R.The genome of stallion (Spanish breed) and donkey (Spanish endemic Zamorano-Leonés) were compared using whole comparative genomic in situ hybridization (W-CGH) technique, with special reference to the variability observed in the Y chromosome. Results show that these diverging genomes still share some highly repetitive DNA families localized in pericentromeric regions and, in the particular case of the Y chromosome, a sub-family of highly repeated DNA sequences, greatly expanded in the donkey genome, accounts for a large part of the chromatin in the stallion Y chromosome.
