Genes in horses are segments of DNA that encode the biological instructions necessary for the development, functioning, and reproduction of equine species. These genetic sequences influence a wide range of traits, including coat color, speed, endurance, and susceptibility to diseases. Genetic research in horses focuses on identifying specific genes and genetic markers associated with these traits, as well as understanding the inheritance patterns and genetic diversity within and between horse breeds. Studies in equine genetics contribute to breeding programs, disease prevention strategies, and the overall understanding of horse biology. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the identification, function, and implications of genes in equine health and performance.
Krajaejun T, Kittichotirat W, Patumcharoenpol P, Rujirawat T, Lohnoo T, Yingyong W.Genome sequences are a vital resource for accelerating the biological exploration of an organism of interest. Pythium destruens (a synonym of Pythium insidiosum) causes a difficult-to-treat infectious disease called pythiosis worldwide. Detection and management of pythiosis are challenging. Basic knowledge of the disease is lacking. Genomes of this organism isolated from different continents (i.e., Asia and the Americas) have been sequenced and publicly available. Here, we sequenced the genome of an Australian isolate of P. destruens. Genome data will facilitate the comparative analysis of thi...
Futas J, Oppelt J, Janova E, Musilova P, Horin P.Natural killer (NK) cells play important roles in innate and adaptive immunity, as well as in the reproduction of placental mammals. Ly49 (KLRA) molecules represent a lectin-like type of NK cell receptor encoded within a complex genomic region, the NK cell complex. In rodents and horses, an expansion of the genes encoding Ly49 receptors leading to the formation of a gene family was observed. High sequence similarities and frequent high polymorphism of multiple family members represent an obstacle both for their individual identification and for annotation in the reference genomes of their resp...
Williams ZJ, Velez-Irizarry D, Petersen JL, Ochala J, Finno CJ, Valberg SJ.Myofibrillar myopathy (MFM) of unknown aetiology has recently been identified in Warmblood (WB) horses. In humans, 16 genes have been implicated in various MFM-like disorders. Objective: To identify variants in 16 MFM candidate genes and compare allele frequencies of all variants between MFM WB and non-MFM WB and coding variants with moderate or severe predicted effects in MFM WB with publicly available data of other breeds. To compare differential gene expression and muscle fibre contractile force between MFM and non-MFM WB. Methods: Case-control. Methods: 8 MFM WB, 8 non-MFM WB, 33 other WB,...
Dahlgren AR, Tablin F, Finno CJ.Genetic bleeding disorders can have a profound impact on a horse's health and athletic career. As such, it is important to understand the mechanisms of these diseases and how they are diagnosed. These diseases include haemophilia A, von Willebrand disease, prekallikrein deficiency, Glanzmann's Thrombasthenia and Atypical Equine Thrombasthenia. Exercise-induced pulmonary haemorrhage also has a proposed genetic component. Genetic mutations have been identified for haemophilia A and Glanzmann's Thrombasthenia in the horse. Mutations are known for von Willebrand disease and prekallikrein deficienc...
Mançanares ACF, Cabezas J, Manríquez J, de Oliveira VC, Wong Alvaro YS, Rojas D, Navarrete Aguirre F, Rodriguez-Alvarez L, Castro FO.In mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), it has been reported that prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) stimulation of EP2 and EP4 receptors triggers processes such as migration, self-renewal, survival, and proliferation, and their activation is involved in homing. The aim of this work was to establish a genetically modified adipose (aMSC) model in which receptor genes EP2 and EP4 were edited separately using the CRISPR/Cas9 system. After edition, the genes were evaluated as to if the expression of MSC surface markers was affected, as well as the migration capacity in vitro of the generated cells. Adipose MSCs we...
Giantsis IA, Diakakis NE, Avdi M.Tendinopathies constitute a very common category of musculoskeletal disorders, causing economic losses in the equine industry and animal welfare issues in horse populations. Sport and racehorses are in general sensitive to tendinopathies, whereas local indigenous horse populations are often more tolerant to various disorders. Particularly, indigenous Greek horse breeds have evolved and adapted in the rough topographic features of mountainous and semimountainous Greek terrain and are less prone to develop tendinopathies. Susceptibility to tendinopathy has been proposed to be associated with thr...
Han Y, Tang C, Liao Q, Li Z, Deng L.Serum and plasma are commonly used in clinical practice considering the widely accepted fact that the "normal" protein expression pattern of a healthy animal changes under disease conditions. We herein used a label-free mass spectrometry-based quantitative proteomics approach to characterize the serum proteome of donkeys. A total of 277 unique proteins were identified from 2,388 unique peptides. Gene ontology analyses showed that the most frequent processes were related to metabolic activities and biological regulation, response to stimulus, and immune system processes. The main annotated area...
Lawless SP, Cohen ND, Lawhon SD, Chamoun-Emanuelli AM, Wu J, Rivera-Vélez A, Weeks BR, Whitfield-Cargile CM.Distal limb wounds are common injuries sustained by horses and their healing is fraught with complications due to equine anatomy, prevalence of infection, and challenges associated with wound management. Gallium is a semi-metallic element that has been shown to possess antimicrobial properties and aid in wound healing in various preclinical models. The effects of Gallium have not been studied in equine wound healing. Therefore, the objective of this study was to compare healing rates between gallium-treated and untreated wounds of equine distal limbs and to demonstrate the antimicrobial effect...
Gautier C, Scarlet D, Ertl R, Walter I, Wulf M, Nagel C, Aurich J, Aurich C.The aim of the present study was to characterise key enzymes involved in polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) synthesis in the testis and epididymis collected from 2-year-old healthy warmblood stallions (n=10). The mRNA expression of fatty acid synthase, the Δ9-, Δ6-, Δ5- and Δ4-desaturases and elongases 6, 5 and 2 (encoded by the fatty acid synthase (FASN), the stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD), the fatty acid desaturase 2 (FADS2), the fatty acid desaturase 1 (FADS1), the delta 4-desaturase, sphingolipid 1 (DEGS1), ELOVL fatty acid elongase 6(ELOVL6), ELOVL fatty acid elongase 5 (ELOVL5), ELOVL ...
Raudsepp T.Reproductive disorders are genetically heterogeneous and complex; available genetic tests are limited to chromosome analysis and 1 susceptibility gene. Cytogenetic analysis should be the first test to confirm or rule out chromosomal aberrations. No causative genes/mutations are known. The only available genetic test for stallion subfertility is based on a susceptibility gene FKBP6. The ongoing progress in equine genomics will improve the status of genetic testing. However, because subfertile phenotypes do not facilitate collection of large numbers of samples or pedigrees, and clinical causes o...
Wickens C, Brooks SA.Behavior is a valuable quantitative trait in the horse because of its impact on performance, work, recreation, and prerequisite close interactions with humans. This article reviews what is known about the genetics of behavior in horses with an emphasis on the genetic basis for temperament traits, neuroendocrine function, and stereotypic behavior. The importance of using modern molecular genetic techniques to the study of equine behavior and recommendations for future research are also discussed. Ultimately, these studies enhance the understanding of the biology of behavior in the horse, improv...
Fousse SL, Stern JA.There have been some advances in understanding the genetic contribution to ventricular septal defects in Arabians, sudden death in racehorses, and atrial fibrillation in racehorses. No genetic analyses have been published for aortic rupture in Friesians or atrioventricular block in donkeys despite strong evidence for a genetic cause. To date, no genetic mutation has been identified for any equid cardiac disease. With the advancement of genetic tools and resources, we are moving closer to discoveries that may explain the heritable basis of inherited equid cardiac disease.
Gao S, Nanaei HA, Wei B, Wang Y, Wang X, Li Z, Dai X, Wang Z, Jiang Y, Shao J.Heterosis has been widely exploited in animal and plant breeding programs to enhance the productive traits of hybrid progeny from two breeds or species. However, its underlying genetic mechanisms remain enigmatic. Transcriptome profiling analysis can be used as a method for exploring the mechanism of heterosis. Here, we performed genome-wide gene expression and alternative splicing (AS) analyses in different tissues (muscle, brain, and skin) from crosses between donkeys and horses. Our results indicated that 86.1% of the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and 87.2% of the differential alter...
Li Y, Wen X, Li M, Moumouni PFA, Galon EM, Guo Q, Rizk MA, Liu M, Li J, Ji S, Tumwebaze MA, Byamukama B, Chahan B, Xuan X.Ticks carry and transmit a wide range of pathogens (bacteria, viruses, and protozoa) that are of importance to humans and animals globally. However, information about the tick-borne pathogens harbored by ticks in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), northwestern China, is scarce. This study investigated the occurrence of tick species of domestic animals and tick-borne pathogens by using morphological molecular identification and sequence analysis in Turpan, Qitai, Altay, Hejing, Nileke, and Zhaosu counties (XUAR). A total of 5822 adult ticks (females and males) from 12 tick species wer...
Kim YC, Won SY, Do K, Jeong BH.Prion diseases, a protein misfolded disorder (PMD) caused by misfolded prion protein (PrP), present in a wide variety of hosts, ranging from ungulates to humans. To date, prion infections have not been reported in horses, which are well-known as prion disease-resistant animals. Several studies have attempted to identify distinctive features in the prion protein of horses compared to prion disease-susceptible animals, without the study on polymorphisms of the horse prion protein gene (PRNP). Since single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of PRNP in prion disease-susceptible animals are major susc...
Corbin LJ, Pope J, Sanson J, Antczak DF, Miller D, Sadeghi R, Brooks SA.Novel coat colour phenotypes often emerge during domestication, and there is strong evidence of genetic selection for the two main genes that control base coat colour in horses- and . These genes direct the type of pigment produced, red pheomelanin () or black eumelanin (), as well as the relative concentration and the temporal-spatial distribution of melanin pigment deposits in the skin and hair coat. Here, we describe a genome-wide association study (GWAS) to identify novel genic regions involved in the determination of the shade of bay. In total, 126 horses from five different breeds were r...
Podstawski P, Witarski W, Szmatoła T, Bugno-Poniewierska M, Ropka-Molik K.Sarcoids are the most common skin neoplasm in the Equidae family. Sarcoids are benign, but may cause severe damage in affected animals. Due to the high risk of post-treatment recurrence and the lack of an effective method of treatment, it is reasonable to perform studies on the molecular aspects of this neoplasm. Therefore, the present studies analyzed five genes (cell cycle control binding protein alpha, coronin 1b, metalloproteinase 2, tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases 3 and vimentin) related to cell mobility and invasion traits. Primary healthy fibroblasts and sarcoid cells were obtain...
Salek Ardestani S, Aminafshar M, Zandi Baghche Maryam MB, Banabazi MH, Sargolzaei M, Miar Y.Natural selection and domestication have shaped modern horse populations, resulting in a vast range of phenotypically diverse breeds. Horse breeds are classified into three types (pony, light, and draft) generally based on their body type. Understanding the genetic basis of horse type variation and selective pressures related to the evolutionary trend can be particularly important for current selection strategies. Whole-genome sequences were generated for 14 pony and 32 light horses to investigate the genetic signatures of selection of the horse type in pony and light horses. In the overlappin...
Page AE, Adam E, Stewart JC, Gonzales C, Barker V, Horohov DW.While the use of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to induce inflammation has been well described in the horse, the object of this study was to evaluate the effect of repeated intra-articular LPS injections and determine whether this method may be of use to assess changes in gene expression related to inflammation. Six mixed breed horses were utilized for this study, with three horses aged 10-17 years (older group) and three horses aged 3 years (younger group). One milliliter of phosphate-buffered saline containing 3 μg of LPS from Escherichia coli O111:B4 was aseptically injected into either the radi...
Won SY, Kim YC, Do K, Jeong BH.Prion disease is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder caused by a deleterious prion protein (PrP). However, prion disease has not been reported in horses during outbreaks of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) in various animals in the UK. In previous studies, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the prion protein gene () have been significantly associated with susceptibility to prion disease, and strong linkage disequilibrium (LD) between and prion-like protein gene () SNPs has been identified in prion disease-susceptible species. On the other hand, weak LD values have been r...
Huber L, Giguère S, Slovis NM, Álvarez-Narváez S, Hart KA, Greiter M, Morris ERA, Cohen ND.The use of mass antimicrobial treatment has been linked to the emergence of antimicrobial resistance in human and animal pathogens. Using whole-genome single-molecule real-time (SMRT) sequencing, we characterized genomic variability of multidrug-resistant Rhodococcus equi isolated from soil samples from 100 farms endemic for R. equi infections in Kentucky. We discovered the novel erm(51)-encoding resistance to MLS in R. equi isolates from soil of horse-breeding farms. Erm(51) is inserted in a transposon (TnErm51) that is associated with a putative conjugative plasmid (pRErm51), a mobilizable p...
Cvitas I, Oberhänsli S, Leeb T, Dettwiler M, Müller E, Bruggman R, Marti EI.Insect bite hypersensitivity (IBH) is a Th-2, IgE-mediated dermatitis of horses caused by bites of insects of the genus Culicoides that has common features with human atopic dermatitis. Together with Th-2 cells, the epithelial barrier plays an important role in development of type I hypersensitivities. In order to elucidate the role of the epithelial barrier and of the skin immune response in IBH we studied the transcriptome of lesional whole skin of IBH-horses (IBH-LE; n = 9) in comparison to non-lesional skin (IBH-NL; n = 8) as well as to skin of healthy control horses (H; n = 9). To study t...
Li B, He X, Zhao Y, Bai D, Du M, Song L, Liu Z, Yin Z, Manglai D.Horse testis development and spermatogenesis are complex physiological processes. To study these processes, three immature and three mature testes were collected from the Mongolian horse, and six libraries were established using high-throughput RNA sequencing technology (RNA-Seq) to screen for genes related to testis development and spermatogenesis. A total of 16,237 upregulated genes and 8,641 downregulated genes were detected in the testis of the Mongolian horse. These genes play important roles in different developmental stages of spermatogenesis and testicular development. Five genes with ...
Hue E, Orard M, Toquet MP, Depecker M, Couroucé A, Pronost S, Paillot R, Richard EA.Few data on cytokine profiles in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) are available for racehorses with mild/moderate equine asthma (EA); cytological diagnosis being most frequently made from only one lung. The purpose of the study was to compare cytokine mRNA expressions and protein concentrations in BALF from both lungs. As part of a larger study, 250 ml saline was randomly instilled in one lung and 500 ml in the contralateral lung of 30 clinically healthy Standardbred racehorses. This procedure was repeated 72 h later, inversing the volume per lung. Cytological cut-off values for diagnosis o...
Wodas L, Mackowski M, Borowska A, Puppel K, Kuczynska B, Cieslak J.β-lactoglobulin is one of the most abundant milk whey proteins in many mammal species, including the domestic horse. The aim of this study was to screen for polymorphism in the equine LGB1 and LGB2 gene sequences (all exons, introns, and 5'-flanking region) and to assess potential relationship of particular genotypes with gene expression levels (measured in milk somatic cells) and milk composition traits (protein, fat, lactose, and total β-lactoglobulin content). Direct DNA sequencing analysis was performed for twelve horse breeds: Polish Primitive Horse (PPH), Polish Coldblood Horse (PCH), ...
Linhares Boakari Y, El-Sheikh Ali H, Dini P, Loux S, Barbosa Fernandes C, Esteller-Vico A, Scoggin K, Lawrence L, Ball B.An intravenous large dose of protein led to an increased blood urea nitrogen (BUN), resulting in a lesser uterine pH and altered uterine gene expression in mares. The objective of the present study was to evaluate effects of a more physiological methodology to increase BUN on the endometrium of mares. Mares were fed hay and a treatment or control diet (n = 11 mares/treatment) in a crossover design starting at time of ovulation detection (D0) and continuing until D7. Mares of the treated group were fed urea (0.4 g/kg BW) with sweet feed and molasses, and those of the control group were fe...
Rajpar I, Barrett JG.Tendon injury is a significant clinical problem due to poor healing and a high reinjury rate; successful treatment is limited by our poor understanding of endogenous tendon stem cells. Recent evidence suggests that adult stem cells are phenotypically diverse, even when comparing stem cells isolated from the same tissue from the same individual, and may in fact exist on a spectrum of proliferation and differentiation capacities. Additionally, the relationships between and clinical relevance of this phenotypic variation are poorly understood. In particular, tenogenic capacity has not been studie...
Gharaibeh MH, Abutarbush SM, Mustafa FG, Lafi SQ, Halaiqa MS.Antimicrobial resistance is a growing global problem that will need a multinational collaborative effort to overcome this serious challenge. The aim of the study is to investigate the potential risk factors associated with the prevalence and distribution of antimicrobial-resistance genes (ARGs) of Escherichia coli isolates obtained from equine fecal samples. One hundred and eighteen horses from different geographical locations and management systems were enrolled in the study and a questionnaire containing information about each individual horse was designed and filled. The enrolled horses bel...
Gibson C, de Ruijter-Villani M, Bauersachs S, Stout TAE.Preimplantation horse conceptuses require nutrients and signals from histotroph, the composition of which is regulated by luteal progesterone and conceptus-secreted factors. To distinguish progesterone and conceptus effects we shortened the period of endometrial progesterone-priming by asynchronous embryo transfer. Day 8 embryos were transferred to synchronous (day 8) or asynchronous (day 3) recipients, and RNA sequencing was performed on endometrium and conceptuses recovered 6 and 11 days later (embryo days 14 and 19). Asynchrony resulted in many more differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in ...
Fawcett JA, Sato F, Sakamoto T, Iwasaki WM, Tozaki T, Innan H.The domestication process of plants and animals typically involves intense inbreeding and directional selection for various traits. Here, we genotyped 370 Japanese Thoroughbred horses using the recently developed 670k SNP array and performed various genome-wide analysis also using genotype data of other horse breeds. We identified a number of regions showing interesting patterns of polymorphisms. For instance, the region containing the MC1R locus associated with chestnut coat color may have been targeted by selection for a different mutation much earlier on than the recent selection for chestn...
Tomlinson JE, Wolfisberg R, Fahnøe U, Patel RS, Trivedi S, Kumar A, Sharma H, Nielsen L, McDonough SP, Bukh J, Tennant BC, Kapoor A, Rosenberg BR....Equine hepacivirus (EqHV) is phylogenetically the closest relative of HCV and shares genome organization, hepatotropism, transient or persistent infection outcome, and the ability to cause hepatitis. Thus, EqHV studies are important to understand equine liver disease and further as an outbred surrogate animal model for HCV pathogenesis and protective immune responses. Here, we aimed to characterize the course of EqHV infection and associated protective immune responses. Seven horses were experimentally inoculated with EqHV, monitored for 6 months, and rechallenged with the same and, subsequen...
Abbara A, Ratnasabapathy R, Jayasena CN, Dhillo WS.The Kiss1 gene encodes a 145-amino acid pre-peptide, kisspeptin, which is cleaved into smaller peptides of 54, 14, 13, and 10 amino acids. This chapter reviews in detail the effects of kisspeptin on gonadotropin secretion in non-human mammals. Studies of kisspeptin's effects have included both acute and chronic administration regimens via a number of administration routes. Acute kisspeptin stimulates gonadotropin secretion in a wide range of species of non-human mammals, including rats, mice, hamsters, sheep, pigs, goats, cows, horses, and monkeys. In general, the stimulatory effect of kisspep...
Moon S, Lee JW, Shin D, Shin KY, Kim J, Choi IY, Kim J, Kim H.Using next-generation sequencing, we conducted a genome-wide scan of selective sweeps associated with selection toward genetic improvement in Thoroughbreds. We investigated potential phenotypic consequence of putative candidate loci by candidate gene association mapping for the finishing time in 240 Thoroughbred horses. We found a significant association with the trait for Ral GApase alpha 2 (RALGAP2) that regulates a variety of cellular processes of signal trafficking. Neighboring genes around RALGAP2 included insulinoma-associated 1 (INSM1), pallid (PLDN), and Ras and Rab interactor 2 (RIN2)...
Willingham-Lane JM, Berghaus LJ, Giguère S, Hondalus MK.The soil-dwelling, saprophytic actinomycete is a multihost, facultative intracellular pathogen of macrophages. When inhaled by susceptible foals, it causes severe bronchopneumonia. It is also a pathogen of pigs, which may develop submaxillary lymphadenitis upon exposure. isolates obtained from foals and pigs possess conjugative plasmids housing a pathogenicity island (PAI) containing a novel family of genes of unknown function called the virulence-associated protein or family. The PAI regions of the equine and swine plasmids differ in gene composition, with equine isolates possessing six ...
Orr N, Back W, Gu J, Leegwater P, Govindarajan P, Conroy J, Ducro B, Van Arendonk JA, MacHugh DE, Ennis S, Hill EW, Brama PA.The recent completion of the horse genome and commercial availability of an equine SNP genotyping array has facilitated the mapping of disease genes. We report putative localization of the gene responsible for dwarfism, a trait in Friesian horses that is thought to have a recessive mode of inheritance, to a 2-MB region of chromosome 14 using just 10 affected animals and 10 controls. We successfully genotyped 34,429 SNPs that were tested for association with dwarfism using chi-square tests. The most significant SNP in our study, BIEC2-239376 (P(2df)=4.54 × 10(-5), P(rec)=7.74 × 10(-6)), is lo...
Bao T, Han H, Li B, Zhao Y, Bou G, Zhang X, Du M, Zhao R, Mongke T, Laxima , Ding W, Jia Z, Dugarjaviin M, Bai D.Skeletal muscle is the largest organ system in the mammalian body and plays a key role in locomotion of horses. Fast and slow muscle fibers have different abilities and functions to adapt to exercises. To investigate the RNA and miRNA expression profiles in the muscles with different muscle fiber compositions on Mongolian horses. We examined the muscle fiber type population and produced deep RNA sequencing for different parts of skeletal muscles. And chose two of them with the highest difference in fast and slow muscle fiber population (splenius and gluteus medius) for comparing the gene expre...
Harty RN, Caughman GB, Holden VR, O'Callaghan DJ.Equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1, Kentucky A strain) preparations enriched for defective interfering particles (DIPs) can readily establish persistent infection. The UL1 gene, which is conserved in the genome of DIPs that mediate persistent infection, maps between nucleotides 1418 and 2192 (258 amino acids) from the L (long) terminus. UL1 has no homology with any known gene encoded by herpes simplex virus type 1 but has limited homology to open reading frame 2 of varicella-zoster virus and the "circ" gene of bovine herpesvirus type 1. Previous work showed that the EHV-1 UL1 gene belongs to the earl...
Gulati BR, Deepa R, Singh BK, Rao CD.Rotaviruses causing severe diarrhea in foals in two organized farms in northern India, during the period from 2003 to 2005, were characterized by electropherotyping, serotyping, and sequence analysis of the genes encoding the outer capsid proteins. Of 137 specimens, 47 (34.31%) were positive for rotavirus and exhibited at least five different electropherotypes (E), E1 to E5. Strains belonging to different electropherotypes exhibited either a different serotype/genotype specificity or a lack of reactivity to typing monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) used in this study. Strains belonging to E1, E2, an...
Jun J, Cho YS, Hu H, Kim HM, Jho S, Gadhvi P, Park KM, Lim J, Paek WK, Han K, Manica A, Edwards JS, Bhak J.The horse (Equus ferus caballus) is one of the earliest domesticated species and has played an important role in the development of human societies over the past 5,000 years. In this study, we characterized the genome of the Marwari horse, a rare breed with unique phenotypic characteristics, including inwardly turned ear tips. It is thought to have originated from the crossbreeding of local Indian ponies with Arabian horses beginning in the 12th century. Results: We generated 101 Gb (~30 × coverage) of whole genome sequences from a Marwari horse using the Illumina HiSeq2000 sequencer. The seq...
Mapes S, Rhodes DM, Wilson WD, Leutenegger CM, Pusterla N.Fifty-five isolates of Escherichia coli from septicaemic neonatal foals were used to validate five real-time pcr assays targeting different known virulence factor genes: curli fibre (csgD), ferric hydroxamate uptake (fhuA), type 1A pilin (fimA), aerobactin (lutA) and yersiniabactin (fyuA). A pcr assay targeting a universal sequence of the bacterial 16S rrna gene served as quality control. The pcr assays showed good analytical specificity and sensitivity on the basis of sequencing the pcr products, their lack of cross-reactivity with non-E coli organisms, high amplification efficiency and a lim...
Griffith OW, Brandley MC, Whittington CM, Belov K, Thompson MB.In oviparous amniotes (reptiles, birds, and mammals) the chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) lines the inside of the egg and acts as the living point of contact between the embryo and the outside world. In livebearing (viviparous) amniotes, communication during embryonic development occurs across placental tissues, which form between the uterine tissue of the mother and the CAM of the embryo. In both oviparous and viviparous taxa, the CAM is at the interface of the embryo and the external environment and can transfer signals from there to the embryo proper. To understand the evolution of placental ...
Klohonatz KM, Coleman SJ, Islas-Trejo AD, Medrano JF, Hess AM, Kalbfleisch T, Thomas MG, Bouma GJ, Bruemmer JE.Equine maternal recognition of pregnancy (MRP) is a process whose signal remains unknown. During MRP the conceptus and endometrium communicate to attenuate prostaglandin F (PGF) secretion, sparing the corpus luteum and maintaining progesterone production. Recognition of a mobile conceptus by the endometrium is critical by days 14-16 post-ovulation (PO), when endometrium produces PGF, initiating luteolysis. The objective of this study was to evaluate endometrial gene expression changes based upon pregnancy status via RNA sequencing. This experiment utilized a cross-over design with each mare se...
Corbin LJ, Pope J, Sanson J, Antczak DF, Miller D, Sadeghi R, Brooks SA.Novel coat colour phenotypes often emerge during domestication, and there is strong evidence of genetic selection for the two main genes that control base coat colour in horses- and . These genes direct the type of pigment produced, red pheomelanin () or black eumelanin (), as well as the relative concentration and the temporal-spatial distribution of melanin pigment deposits in the skin and hair coat. Here, we describe a genome-wide association study (GWAS) to identify novel genic regions involved in the determination of the shade of bay. In total, 126 horses from five different breeds were r...
Yuan Z, Gault EA, Campo MS, Nasir L.Equine sarcoids represent the most common skin tumours in equids worldwide, characterized by localized invasion, rare regression and high recurrence following surgical intervention. Bovine papillomavirus type 1 (BPV-1) and less commonly BPV-2 are now widely recognized as the causative agents of the disease. Fibroblasts isolated from sarcoids are highly invasive. Invasion is associated with a high level of viral gene expression and matrix metalloproteinase upregulation. However, it remains unclear to what extent BPV-1 proteins are involved in the transformation of equine cells. To address this ...
The Journal of heredityNovember 5, 1997
Volume 88, Issue 5 384-392 doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.jhered.a023123
Allen WR, Short RV.Equids possess the unusual ability to interbreed freely among the phenotypically and karyotypically diverse member species of the genus to produce viable, but usually infertile, offspring. The mule (female horse x male donkey) was humanity's first successful attempt at genetic engineering and its clear expression of both parental phenotypes has contributed much to our understanding of genetic inheritance over the centuries. Even more surprising, mares and donkeys have been shown to be capable of carrying to term a range of true, xenogeneic extraspecies pregnancies created by embryo transfer, i...
Chambers G, Ellsmore VA, O'Brien PM, Reid SW, Love S, Campo MS, Nasir L.The equine sarcoid, one of the most common dermatological lesions in equids, is a benign, locally invasive dermal fibroblastic lesion. Previous studies have suggested an association with two bovine papilloma virus (BPV) types, BPV-1 and BPV-2. In the present study, we examined sarcoids from horses from two geographical areas, Switzerland and the UK, for the major transforming gene of BPV, E5. We detected BPV DNA for the E5 open reading frame and viral E5 RNA transcripts in most sarcoids. Sequence analysis of the E5 open reading frame of sarcoid-associated BPV detected several unique DNA sequen...
BMC research notesDecember 11, 2009
Volume 2 246 doi: 10.1186/1756-0500-2-246
Smits K, Goossens K, Van Soom A, Govaere J, Hoogewijs M, Vanhaesebrouck E, Galli C, Colleoni S, Vandesompele J, Peelman L.Application of reverse transcription quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction is very well suited to reveal differences in gene expression between in vivo and in vitro produced embryos. Ultimately, this may lead to optimized equine assisted reproductive techniques. However, for a correct interpretation of the real-time PCR results, all data must be normalized, which is most reliably achieved by calculating the geometric mean of the most stable reference genes. In this study a set of reliable reference genes was identified for equine in vivo and fresh and frozen-thawed in vitro embryos....
Meehan M, Nowlan P, Owen P.Cell-wall-associated proteins from Streptococcus equi subsp. equi, the causative agent of strangles, were analysed with a view to identifying a potential protective antigen. Preparations of these proteins, isolated from mutanolysin extracts of cell walls, were shown to contain one major high-M(r) protein species (apparent M(r) 220,000 and 550,000 when analysed by SDS-PAGE and gel-filtration chromatography, respectively). The high-M(r) protein bound horse fibrinogen and was purified under non-denaturing conditions using fibrinogen affinity chromatography. The fibrinogen-binding protein (FgBP) r...
Atli MO, Guzeloglu A, Dinc DA.WNT signaling pathway plays important roles in reproductive events. Aims were to (1) determine presence of WNT genes and their antagonists in equine endometrium; and (2) to evaluate their expression profiles during early pregnancy. Endometrial biopsies were obtained from mares on day of ovulation (d0, n=4) and on days of 14 (P14, n=4), 18 (P18, n=4), 22 (P22, n=4) of early pregnancy. Biopsies were also collected from cyclic mares during late diestrus (LD, on day of 13.5-14, n=4) and after luteolysis in estrus phase (AL, on day of 17.5-18, n=4) of the cycle. PCR was used to detect expression of...
Giguère S, Prescott JF.A reverse transcription-competitive polymerase chain reaction (RT-cPCR) method was developed to quantitate equine interleukin (IL)-1alpha, IL-1beta, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-10, IL-12 p35, IL-12 p40, interferon-gamma (INF-gamma), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), and beta-actin mRNA expression. Using primers based on equine-specific sequences, these cytokines could be detected in concanavalin A-stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells. The specificity of the amplified product was confirmed by sequencing. For each cytokine, the assay was made quantitative by generating competitor ...
Gopal D, Wilson GS, Earl RA, Cusanovich MA.The ion binding properties of horse, bovine, and tuna cytochrome c (both oxidized and reduced) have been measured using a combination of ultrafiltration, neutron activation, and ion chromatography. The ions investigated were chloride, phosphate, and Tris-cacodylate. Ion chromatography and neutron activation analysis techniques were employed to determine the concentration of free anions. Binding constants are obtained from modified Scatchard plots (in the range of 10-2000 M-1). The redox potentials for cytochrome c at different ionic strengths, pH 7.0, have been determined. In this paper we rep...
DARLINGTON RW, RANDALL CC.Equine abortion virus was purified from the plasma of infected golden Syrian hamsters by differential centrifugation and nuclease treatment. The preparations were essentially free of nonviral elements on electron microscopic examination, and sedimentation in sucrose and potassium tartrate density gradients resulted in a single visible band. Electron microscopy of this band showed it to be composed of viral particles, and injection into hamsters resulted in infection and death of the animals. The viral particles had a sedimentation coefficient of approximately 2200 S and a hydrated density of 1...
Pusterla N, Madigan JE, Chae JS, DeRock E, Johnson E, Pusterla JB.We report successful helminthic transmission of Ehrlichia risticii, the causative agent of Potomac horse fever, using trematode stages collected from Juga yrekaensis snails. The ehrlichial agent was isolated from the blood of experimentally infected horses by culture in murine monocytic cells and identified as E. risticii ultrastructurally and by characterization of three different genes.
Ansari HA, Hediger R, Fries R, Stranzinger G.The first gene assignment to a horse chromosome is reported for equine leucocyte antigen (ELA), the major histocompatibility complex of the horse. A cloned DNA sequence derived from a class I gene of the porcine major histocompatibility complex was used as a probe for an in situ hybridization experiment. We present the regional localization of ELA, using this sequence, to equine chromosome 20q14-q22.
Rajpar I, Barrett JG.Tendon injury is a significant clinical problem due to poor healing and a high reinjury rate; successful treatment is limited by our poor understanding of endogenous tendon stem cells. Recent evidence suggests that adult stem cells are phenotypically diverse, even when comparing stem cells isolated from the same tissue from the same individual, and may in fact exist on a spectrum of proliferation and differentiation capacities. Additionally, the relationships between and clinical relevance of this phenotypic variation are poorly understood. In particular, tenogenic capacity has not been studie...
Higuchi RG, Wrischnik LA, Oakes E, George M, Tong B, Wilson AC.Sequences are reported for portions of two mitochondrial genes from a domestic horse and a plains zebra and compared to those published for a quagga and a mountain zebra. The extinct quagga and plains zebra sequences are identical at all silent sites, whereas the horse sequence differs from both of them by 11 silent substitutions. Postmortem changes in quagga DNA may account for the two coding substitutions between the quagga and plains zebra sequences. The hypothesis that the closest relative of the quagga is the domestic horse receives no support from these data. From the extent of sequence ...
Terry RB, Archer S, Brooks S, Bernoco D, Bailey E.A single autosomal dominant locus, leopard complex (LP) controls the presence of appaloosa pigmentation patterns in the horse. The causative gene for LP is unknown. This study was undertaken to map LP in the horse. Two paternal half sib families segregating for the LP locus and including a total of 47 offspring were used to perform a genome scan which localized LP to horse chromosome 1 (ECA1). LP was linked to ASB08 (LOD = 9.99 at Theta = 0.02) and AHT21 (LOD = 5.03 at Theta = 0.14). To refine the map position of LP, eight microsatellite markers on ECA1 (UM041, LEX77, 1CA41, TKY374, COR046, 1C...
Cvitas I, Oberhänsli S, Leeb T, Dettwiler M, Müller E, Bruggman R, Marti EI.Insect bite hypersensitivity (IBH) is a Th-2, IgE-mediated dermatitis of horses caused by bites of insects of the genus Culicoides that has common features with human atopic dermatitis. Together with Th-2 cells, the epithelial barrier plays an important role in development of type I hypersensitivities. In order to elucidate the role of the epithelial barrier and of the skin immune response in IBH we studied the transcriptome of lesional whole skin of IBH-horses (IBH-LE; n = 9) in comparison to non-lesional skin (IBH-NL; n = 8) as well as to skin of healthy control horses (H; n = 9). To study t...
Burger D, Thomas S, Aepli H, Dreyer M, Fabre G, Marti E, Sieme H, Robinson MR, Wedekind C.Genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) have been shown to influence social signalling and mate preferences in many species, including humans. First observations suggest that MHC signalling may also affect female fertility. To test this hypothesis, we exposed 191 female horses () to either an MHC-similar or an MHC-dissimilar stimulus male around the time of ovulation and conception. A within-subject experimental design controlled for non-MHC-linked male characteristics, and instrumental insemination with semen of other males ( = 106) controlled for potential confounding effects of ...
