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.
Shakhsi-Niaei M, Klukowska-Rötzler J, Drögemüller C, Swinburne J, Ehrmann C, Saftic D, Ramseyer A, Gerber V, Dolf G, Leeb T.Recurrent airway obstruction (RAO), or 'heaves', is a common performance-limiting allergic respiratory disease of mature horses. It is related to sensitization and exposure to mouldy hay and has a familial basis with a complex mode of inheritance. In a previous study, we detected a QTL for RAO on ECA 13 in a half-sib family of European Warmblood horses. In this study, we genotyped additional markers in the family and narrowed the QTL down to about 1.5 Mb (23.7-25.2 Mb). We detected the strongest association with SNP BIEC2-224511 (24,309,405 bp). We also obtained SNP genotypes in an independent...
Nam GH, Ahn K, Bae JH, Cho BW, Park KD, Lee HK, Yang YM, Kim TH, Seong HH, Han K, Kim HS.In the mitochondrial matrix, the OXCT1 gene catalyzes the reversible transfer of coenzyme A from succinyl-CoA to acetoacetate in a reaction related to energy production from ketone bodies. Here, horse OXCT1 gene containing coenzyme A transferase domain was identified in the transcriptome analysis of cDNAs derived from skeletal muscles. Horse OXCT1 gene consisted of 1761 [corrected] nucleotide sequences with an open reading frame of 1560 nucleotides encoding a protein of 520 putative amino acid residues.The number of non-synonymous substitutions was lower than the number of synonymous substitut...
Pujar S, Meyers-Wallen VN.Inherited disorders of sexual development (DSD) cause sterility and infertility in horses. Mutations causing such disorders have been identified in other mammals, but there is little information on the molecular causes in horses. While the equine genome sequence has made it possible to identify candidate genes, additional tools are needed to routinely screen them for causative mutations. In this study, we designed a screening panel of polymerase chain reaction primer pairs for 15 equine genes. These are the candidate genes for testicular or ovotesticular XX DSD and XY DSD, the latter of which ...
Ishihara A, Bartlett JS, Bertone AL.Intra-articular gene therapy has potential for the treatment of osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. To quantify in vitro relative gene transduction, equine chondrocytes and synovial cells were treated with adenovirus vectors (Ad), serotype 2 adeno-associated virus vectors (rAAV2), or self-complementary (sc) AAV2 vectors carrying green fluorescent protein (GFP). Using 6 horses, bilateral metacarpophalangeal joints were injected with Ad, rAAV2, or scAAV2 vectors carrying GFP genes to assess the in vivo joint inflammation and neutralizing antibody (NAb) titer in serum and joint fluid. In vit...
Hébert L, Moumen B, Pons N, Duquesne F, Breuil MF, Goux D, Batto JM, Laugier C, Renault P, Petry S.The Taylorella genus comprises two species: Taylorella equigenitalis, which causes contagious equine metritis, and Taylorella asinigenitalis, a closely-related species mainly found in donkeys. We herein report on the first genome sequence of T. asinigenitalis, analyzing and comparing it with the recently-sequenced T. equigenitalis genome. The T. asinigenitalis genome contains a single circular chromosome of 1,638,559 bp with a 38.3% GC content and 1,534 coding sequences (CDS). While 212 CDSs were T. asinigenitalis-specific, 1,322 had orthologs in T. equigenitalis. Two hundred and thirty-four T...
Macieira S, Lussier J, Bédard C.Glanzmann thrombasthenia (GT) is characterized by a defect of platelet aggregation. This autosomal recessive genetic disorder is caused by an abnormality of the platelet glycoprotein receptors alpha IIb or beta III. Recently, we identified a horse with clinical and pathological features of GT. The aim of this study was to describe this case of GT at the molecular level. A point mutation from G to C in exon 2 of ITGA2B causing a substitution of the expected amino acid arginine 72 (Arg(72)) by a proline (Pro(72)) was encountered. This amino acid change may result in abnormal structural conformat...
Penny J, Harris P, Shakesheff KM, Mobasheri A.Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are multipotent stem cells that can give rise to a range of connective tissue cells including osteoblasts, chondrocytes and adipocytes. MSCs have been isolated from humans and a variety of animal species including rodents, dogs, horses and rabbits. There is currently no consensus on how these cells are identified and characterized. This is partly due to the lack of standardized specific cell surface markers for MSCs. The aim of this review is to examine the literature on equine MSCs and establish whether there is a well-defined phenotype for these cells. Equine MS...
Durgam SS, Stewart AA, Pondenis HC, Yates AC, Evans RB, Stewart MC.To compare in vitro expansion of equine tendon- and bone marrow-derived cells with fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2) supplementation and sequential matrix synthesis with pulverized tendon and insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I). Methods: Cells from 6 young adult horses. Methods: Progenitor cells were expanded in monolayers with FGF-2, followed by culture with autogenous acellular pulverized tendon and IGF-I for 7 days. Initial cell isolation and subsequent monolayer proliferation were assessed. In pulverized tendon cultures, cell viability and expression of collagen types I and III and carti...
Tozaki T, Miyake T, Kakoi H, Gawahara H, Hirota K, Nakano Y, Kurosawa M.This study evaluated the differences between linear and non-linear modelled heritability estimates of racing performance based on lifetime earnings (LE) and lifetime ranking (LR) in Japanese Thoroughbred racehorses. The heritability estimate (h(2) = 0.25) obtained from a non-linear model based on formal Japan Racing Association ranking was much higher than that obtained from a linear model based on the original trait phenotype (h(2) = 0.11). The linear models showed slightly higher heritability estimates under the trait categorizations than under the original phenotypes, while the non-linear c...
Potocki L, Bugno-Poniewierska M, Tischner M, Wnuk M.The development of molecular techniques with fluorochromes has had an invaluable impact on discovering the nature of chromatin structure. Here, we show the application of a locus specific identifier probe (LSI) for precise and selective visualization of the horse IGF2 gene in the metaphase, interphase nuclei and sperm cells. Our study may be helpful for interpretation of results of interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization (I-FISH). We analyze and discuss the variation in the number and localization of FISH signals in somatic and sperm cells of horse.
Wijnberg ID, Owczarek-Lipska M, Sacchetto R, Mascarello F, Pascoli F, Grünberg W, van der Kolk JH, Drögemüller C.A 7-month-old New Forest foal presented for episodes of recumbency and stiffness with myotonic discharges on electromyography. The observed phenotype resembled congenital myotonia caused by CLCN1 mutations in goats and humans. Mutation of the CLCN1 gene was considered as possible cause and mutation analysis was performed. The affected foal was homozygous for a missense mutation (c.1775A>C, p.D592A) located in a well conserved domain of the CLCN1 gene. The mutation showed a recessive mode of inheritance within the reported pony family. Therefore, this CLCN1 polymorphism is considered to be a...
Matthijnssens J, Miño S, Papp H, Potgieter C, Novo L, Heylen E, Zeller M, Garaicoechea L, Badaracco A, Lengyel G, Kisfali P, Cullinane A, Collins PJ....In this study, the complete genome sequences of seven equine group A rotavirus (RVA) strains (RVA/Horse-tc/GBR/L338/1991/G13P[18], RVA/Horse-wt/IRL/03V04954/2003/G3P[12] and RVA/Horse-wt/IRL/04V2024/2004/G14P[12] from Europe; RVA/Horse-wt/ARG/E30/1993/G3P[12], RVA/Horse-wt/ARG/E403/2006/G14P[12] and RVA/Horse-wt/ARG/E4040/2008/G14P[12] from Argentina; and RVA/Horse-wt/ZAF/EqRV-SA1/2006/G14P[12] from South Africa) were determined. Multiple novel genotypes were identified and genotype numbers were assigned by the Rotavirus Classification Working Group: R9 (VP1), C9 (VP2), N9 (NSP2), T12 (NSP3), ...
Franciosi F, Lodde V, Goudet G, Duchamp G, Deleuze S, Douet C, Tessaro I, Luciano AM.Epigenetic modifications are established during gametogenesis and preimplantation embryonic development. Any disturbance of the normal natural environment during these critical phases could cause alterations of the epigenetic signature. Histone acetylation is an important epigenetic modification involved in the regulation of chromatin organization and gene expression. The present study was aimed to determine whether the proper establishment of post-translational histone H4 acetylation at lysine 8 (AcH4K8), 12 (AcH4K12) and 16 (AcH4K16) of equine oocytes is adversely affected during in vitro ma...
Bai DY, Yang LH, Unerhu U, Zhao YP, Zhao QN, Hasigaowa H, Dugarjaviin M.Coat color of horse is an important basis for both species identification and individual recognition and is also one of the important references traits for breeding. Therefore, the research on the mechanism of coat fading has become an important part of horses' coat color study. It has been found that the white phenotype is closely related to the mutation of kit gene, which is located on chromosome 3. Investigated results showed that the formation of the epidermal melanoblast and melanin relies on the expression of kit gene, which determines the presence of white phenotype. Nevertheless, studi...
Müller JM, Wissemann J, Meli ML, Dasen G, Lutz H, Heinzerling L, Feige K.Whole blood pharmacokinetics of intratumourally injected naked plasmid DNA coding for equine Interleukin 12 (IL-12) was assessed as a means of in vivo gene transfer in the treatment of melanoma in grey horses. The expression of induced interferon gamma (IFN-g) was evaluated in order to determine the pharmacodynamic properties of in vivo gene transduction. Seven grey horses bearing melanoma were injected intratumourally with 250 µg naked plasmid DNA coding for IL-12. Peripheral blood and biopsies from the injection site were taken at 13 time points until day 14 post injection (p.i.). Samples w...
Hobo S, Niwa H, Oku K.Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) constitutes a potentially valuable diagnostic tool for rapid diagnosis of contagious diseases. In this study, we developed a novel LAMP method (seM-LAMP) to detect the seM gene of Streptococcus equi subsp. equi (S. equi), the causative agent of strangles in equids. The seM-LAMP successfully amplified the target sequence of the seM gene at 63°C within 60 min. The sensitivity of the seM-LAMP was slightly lower than the 2nd reaction of the seM semi-nested PCR. To evaluate the species specificity of the seM-LAMP, we tested 100 S. equi and 189 non-S. e...
Klein C, Troedsson M.During the second and third week of pregnancy, the equine conceptus is covered by an acellular glycoprotein capsule. This capsule contains glycoproteins resembling those of the mucin family with sialic acid making up a high proportion of the carbohydrate. Coinciding with conceptus fixation, a marked decline in sialic acid content of the capsule occurs, which has been proposed to contribute to cessation of conceptus mobility. Herein, we describe the expression of neuraminidase 2 (NEU2) by pre-implantation stages of equine conceptus development. NEU2 transcript abundance was examined in conceptu...
Ciotola F, Albarella S, Pasolini MP, Auletta L, Esposito L, Iannuzzi L, Peretti V.An 18-month-old Arabian foal characterized by a stallion-like appearance was submitted for cytogenetic and molecular genetics examinations due to abnormalities of external genitalia and the presence of ovotestis-like structures in the abdominal cavity. By RB-banding the animal showed the normal female equine karyotype (2n = 64,XX). Molecular analysis revealed the absence of the SRY and ZFY genes and the presence of ZFX, a typical female equine condition. The entire RSPO1 coding region was examined to exclude its involvement. Although a SNP was found in exon 3, it was not responsible for an ami...
Hara S, Diesterbeck US, König S, Czerny CP.The present study analyzed equine λ-light chain genes (IGLV and IGLC) transcribed in the horse breeds Rhenish-German Coldblood (RGC) and Hanoverian Warmblood (HW). Primers were generated for the major expressed IGLV subgroup 8. The significant majority of the sequences represented IGLC6/7. In RGC, IGLC1 and IGLC5 were observed in significant higher frequencies than IGLC4. In HW, significant differences were obtained for the transcription of IGLC1 and IGLC5. IGLC4 was not determined in this breed. Five allotypic IGLC1 variants, four allotypic IGLC5 variants, and three allelic as well as two al...
Hill EW, Fonseca RG, McGivney BA, Gu J, MacHugh DE, Katz LM.Sequence variation at the equine myostatin gene (MSTN) locus has previously been shown to have a singular genomic influence on optimum race distance in Thoroughbred racehorses. Myostatin, encoded by the MSTN gene, is a member of the TGF-β superfamily that regulates skeletal muscle development in a range of mammalian species including the horse. In the Thoroughbred, the C-allele at the g.66493737C/T SNP has been found at significantly higher frequency in subgroups of the population that are suited to fast, short distance, sprint races and also influences body composition phenotypes. We investi...
Das PJ, Lyle SK, Beehan D, Chowdhary BP, Raudsepp T.Sex chromosome aberrations commonly lead to abnormal sexual development. Here we cytogenetically and molecularly characterized Y isochromosome in an intersex horse. Blood lymphocyte analysis showed a mosaic karyotype with 96% 63,XO and 4% 64,Xi(Y) cells. Molecular analysis of the isochromosome was carried out by fluorescence in situ hybridization and polymerase chain reaction with male-specific and pseudoautosomal markers from the horse Y chromosome. We found that the isochromosome was monocentric, composed of 2 long arms, carrying 2 sets of genes of the pseudoautosomal region (PAR) and the ma...
Declue AE, Johnson PJ, Day JL, Amorim JR, Honaker AR.Although the incidence of Gram-positive infection in horses is increasing, little is known about differences in inflammatory response between Gram-positive and Gram-negative organisms in this species. Equine blood was stimulated with components of both Gram-negative and Gram-positive organisms: lipopolysaccharide (LPS); lipoteichoic acid (LTA); peptidoglycan (PG); with combinations of LPS, LTA and PG; and with phosphate buffered saline (control). LPS, LTA and PG stimulated tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and interleukin (IL)-6 production but only LTA and PG stimulated IL-1β production from whole ...
Mata X, Vaiman A, Ducasse A, Diribarne M, Schibler L, Guérin G.Gene characterization is an important feature for genome annotation and more particularly for candidate genes that could be selected in domestic species. Associations between an alpha-actinin-3 gene polymorphism and muscle performance were reported in humans involving a nonsense mutation (R577X) and in mice after inactivation of the gene. Here, we characterized the equine alpha-actinin-3 (ACTN3) gene by sequencing and transcript analysis. The cDNA was determined to be 3.47 kb in length with an open reading frame of 2709 bp expectedly encoding a protein 902 amino acids long. The ACTN3 gene is 1...
Schwarz B, Ertl R, Zimmer S, Netzmann Y, Klein D, Schwendenwein I, Hoven RV.The aim of this study was to determine the occurrence and frequency of a mutation in the gene coding for skeletal muscle glycogen synthase type 1 (GYS-1), which is the cause of equine polysaccharide storage myopathy (PSSM) type 1 in a population of 50 Haflingers. GYS-1 genotyping of 50 Haflingers was performed with a validated restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) assay. The second aim was to compare resting and post-exercise muscle enzyme activities as well as parameters of glucose metabolism in blood between horses with and without the mutation. Nine of the 50 Haflingers were ident...
Eivers SS, McGivney BA, Gu J, MacHugh DE, Katz LM, Hill EW.Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ coactivator 1α (PGC-1α) has emerged as a critical control factor in skeletal muscle adaptation to exercise, acting via transcriptional control of genes responsible for angiogenesis, fatty acid oxidation, oxidative phosphorylation, mitochondrial biogenesis and muscle fibre type composition. In a previous study, we demonstrated a significant increase in mRNA expression for the gene encoding PGC-1α (PPARGC1A) in Thoroughbred horse skeletal muscle following a single bout of endurance exercise. In this study, we investigated mRNA expression changes i...
Tortonese DJ, Preedy DF, Hesketh SA, Webb HN, Wilkinson ES, Allen WR, Fuller CJ, Townsend J, Short RV.Abrupt alterations in the 24-h light : dark cycle, such as those resulting from transmeridian air travel, disrupt circadian biological rhythms in humans with detrimental consequences on cognitive and physical performance. In the present study, a jetlag-simulated phase shift in photoperiod temporally impaired circadian peaks of peripheral clock gene expression in racehorses but acutely enhanced athletic performance without causing stress. Indices of aerobic and anaerobic capacities were significantly increased by a phase-advance, enabling prolonged physical activity before fatigue occurred. Thi...
Bae JH, Ahn K, Nam GH, Lee CE, Park KD, Lee HK, Cho BW, Kim HS.The horse BMAL1 gene encodes the brain and muscle Arnt-like protein 1, which is a key regulator of circadian rhythmic systems in most organs and cells. The first exon of the horse-specific BMAL1 gene is produced by an exonization event of LINE3 (CR1) and SINE (MIR) was detected by bioinformatic analysis. Alternative variants generated by cassette exon event in various horse tissues were also detected by RT-PCR amplification and sequencing. The cDNA sequences of the horse transcripts (BMAL1a, BMAL1b) contain additional 21 bp and 71 bp fragments relative to horse BMAL1. Quantitative real-time RT...
Toth AM, Geisler C, Aumiller JJ, Jarvis DL.In an effort to produce processed, soluble Western equine encephalitis virus (WEEV) glycoproteins for subunit therapeutic vaccine studies, we isolated twelve recombinant baculoviruses designed to express four different WEEV glycoprotein constructs under the transcriptional control of three temporally distinct baculovirus promoters. The WEEV glycoprotein constructs encoded full-length E1, the E1 ectodomain, an E26KE1 polyprotein precursor, and an artificial, secretable E2E1 chimera. The three different promoters induced gene expression during the immediate early (ie1), late (p6.9), and very lat...
Fontanel M, Todd E, Drabbe A, Ropka-Molik K, Stefaniuk-Szmukier M, Myćka G, Velie BD.Arabian horses are not only one of the most ancient breeds in the world, but they are also one of the most appreciated racehorse breeds today. The breed generates attention for their phenomenal endurance ability and their capability for gallop racing. Consequently, genetic testing to select the best individuals is attracting ever increasing interests from the Arabian industry. As such, the aim of this study was to further investigate associations between performance and variation at candidate genes suspected of having a key role in Arabian gallop racing performance. Generalized linear models w...
Patton S, Huston GE, Jenness R, Vaucher Y.Milk fat globules are secreted by envelopment in plasma membrane of the lactating cell. SDS-gel electrophoresis of proteins from this membrane has revealed differences between milk donors in two mucin-like glycoproteins. One of these glycoproteins resolves in 3% acrylamide stacking gel and the other in 4% running gel. The proteins vary in number of bands (one or two) and band mobilities. This polymorphism arises, at least in part, from expression of hypervariable genes. In this study, gel electrophoretic evidence of similar polymorphism in glycoproteins from cow, chimpanzee, horse and human mi...
Bengtsson RJ, Wee BA, Yebra G, Bacigalupe R, Watson E, Guedes RMC, Jacobson M, Stadejek T, Archibald AL, Fitzgerald JR, Ait-Ali T.Lawsonia intracellularis is a Gram-negative obligate intracellular bacterium that is the aetiological agent of proliferative enteropathy (PE), a common intestinal disease of major economic importance in pigs and other animal species. To date, progress in understanding the biology of L. intracellularis for improved disease control has been hampered by the inability to culture the organism in vitro. In particular, our understanding of the genomic diversity and population structure of clinical L. intercellularis is very limited. Here, we utilized a metagenomic shotgun approach to directly sequenc...
Willmann C, Budik S, Walter I, Aurich C.A positive influence of altrenogest treatment on a retarded development of the conceptus around the beginning of placentation in mares older than 8 years could be recently demonstrated. In the present study, effects of altrenogest treatment in early-pregnant mares on conceptus development and expression of endometrial and embryonic genes were investigated. Genes were chosen according to a possible involvement in embryo-maternal interaction and embryonic development in the equine species. Mares were treated with altrenogest (0.044 mg/kg bodyweight) or sunflower oil (placebo) from day 5 to 11 af...
Scare JA, Dini P, Norris JK, Steuer AE, Scoggin K, Gravatte HS, Howe DK, Slusarewicz P, Nielsen MK.Ascarid parasites infect a variety of hosts and regular anthelmintic treatment is recommended for all species. Parascaris spp. is the only ascarid species with widespread anthelmintic resistance, which allows for the study of resistance mechanisms. The purpose of this study was to establish an in vitro drug exposure protocol for adult anthelmintic-naïve Parascaris spp. and report a preliminary transcriptomic analysis in response to drug exposure. Live worms were harvested from foal necropsies and maintained in RPMI-1640 at 37 °C. Serial dilutions of oxibendazole (OBZ) and ivermectin (IVM) we...
van Gennip RGP, van de Water SGP, Potgieter CA, van Rijn PA.The Reoviridae family consists of nonenveloped multilayered viruses with a double-stranded RNA genome consisting of 9 to 12 genome segments. The Orbivirus genus of the Reoviridae family contains African horse sickness virus (AHSV), bluetongue virus, and epizootic hemorrhagic disease virus, which cause notifiable diseases and are spread by biting Culicoides species. Here, we used reverse genetics for AHSV to study the role of outer capsid protein VP2, encoded by genome segment 2 (Seg-2). Expansion of a previously found deletion in Seg-2 indicates that structural protein VP2 of AHSV is not essen...
Reepmeyer JC, Brower JF, Ye H.Equilin-3-sulfate and delta8,9-dehydroestrone-3-sulfate are two isomers found in equine conjugated estrogens that differ in structure only by the position of a double bond in the steroid B-ring. These geometric isomers were not resolved on a C18 column during the analysis of conjugated estrogen drug products by LC-MS using acetonitrile-ammonium acetate buffer as the mobile phase. While no separations of these two isomers were observed on C18 or other alkyl-bonded silica based phases using a variety of mobile phase conditions, partial separations were achieved on phenyl bonded silica phases wit...
Acharya KR, Stuart DI, Phillips DC, McKenzie HA, Teahan CG.Similarities in amino acid sequences, three-dimensional structures, and the exon-intron patterns of their genes have indicated that c-type lysozymes and alpha-lactalbumins are homologous proteins, i.e., descended by divergent evolution from a common ancestor. Like the alpha-lactalbumins, echidna milk, horse milk, and pigeon eggwhite lysozymes all bind Ca(II). Models of their three-dimensional structures, based on their amino acid sequences and the known crystal structures of domestic hen eggwhite and human lysozymes and baboon and human alpha-lactalbumins, have been built. The several structur...
Bonin CP, Baccarin RY, Nostell K, Nahum LA, Fossum C, de Camargo MM.Engagement of Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is a master trigger of the deleterious effects of septic shock. Horses and humans are considered the most sensitive species to septic shock, but the mechanisms explaining these phenomena remain elusive. Analysis of tlr4 promoters revealed high similarity among LPS-sensitive species (human, chimpanzee, and horse) and low similarity with LPS-resistant species (mouse and rat). Four conserved nuclear factor kappa B (NFκB) binding sites were found in the tlr4 promoter and two in the md2 promoter sequences that are likely to be t...
Bone reportsAugust 18, 2017
Volume 7 98-107 doi: 10.1016/j.bonr.2017.08.002
Ayodele BA, Mirams M, Pagel CN, Mackie EJ.Chondrocyte hypertrophy makes important contributions to bone development and growth. We have investigated a number of novel cartilage genes identified in a recent transcriptomic study to determine whether they are differentially expressed between different zones of equine foetal growth cartilage. Twelve genes (, , , , , , , , , , and ) were found to be more highly expressed in the zone of hypertrophic chondrocytes than in the reserve or proliferative zones, whereas and were expressed at lower levels in the hypertrophic zone than in the reserve zone. , which encodes vacuolar H ATPase (V-ATP...
Looft C, Paul S, Philipp U, Regenhard P, Kuiper H, Distl O, Chowdhary BP, Leeb T.Defensins are a family of evolutionary ancient antimicrobial peptides consisting of three sub-families: alpha-, beta- and theta-defensins. This investigation was focused on the genomic characterization of equine beta-defensins and the investigation of the potential clustering of beta-defensin genes in the equine genome. Six genomic BAC clones were isolated from the CHORI-241 library and one of these was mapped by FISH to ECA 27q17. This location was confirmed by RH-mapping. The contiguous 212 kb sequence of this clone was determined. Sequence analysis revealed the identification of ten pseudog...
Bravo-Ramos JL, Sánchez-Montes S, Sánchez-Otero MG, Ballados-Gonzalez GG, Gamboa-Prieto J, Romero-Salas D, Olivares-Muñoz A.Equine piroplasmosis is a parasitic illness caused by various protozoa of the Babesia and Theileria genera, which parasitize within red blood cells. The transmission of these pathogens occurs through certain genus of ticks, including Amblyomma, Haemaphysalis, Hyalomma, and Rhipicephalus. In recent times, an increase in the identification of new Theileria species and genotypes has been observed. This is further complicated by the presence of mixed Theileria infections in both mammals and tick vectors, particularly in regions where wildlife and livestock share habitats and vectors. Therefore, th...
Wilkin T, Hamilton NA, Cawley AT, Bhat S, Baoutina A.The term 'gene doping' is used to describe the use of any unauthorized gene therapy techniques. We developed a test for five likely candidate genes for equine gene doping: , , , and . The test is based on real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and includes separate screening and confirmation assays that detect different unique targets in each transgene. For doping material, we used nonviral (plasmid) and viral (recombinant adeno-associated virus) vectors carrying complementary DNA for the targeted genes; the vectors were accurately quantified by digital PCR. To reduce non-specific amplific...
Ren W, Wang J, Zeng Y, Wang T, Sun Z, Meng J, Yao X.This study conducted transcriptome sequencing on the skeletal muscles of three different anatomical locations across various growth stages to investigate the impact of ages on crucial candidate genes and molecular mechanisms associated with muscle development in Kazakh horses. Sixteen Kazakh horses were selected, and they were divided into four age groups, each with four biological replicates. Tissue samples from the longest dorsal muscle, abdominal muscle, and diaphragm muscle were collected for analysis. The results revealed differential mRNA expression in the longest dorsal muscle between t...
Wang C, Zeng Y, Wang J, Wang T, Li X, Shen Z, Meng J, Yao X.Racing performance traits are the main indicators for evaluating the performance and value of sport horses. The aim of this study was to identify the key genes for racing performance traits in Yili horses by performing a genome-wide association study (GWAS). Breeding values for racing performance traits were calculated for Yili horses (n = 827) using an animal model. Genome-wide association analysis of racing performance traits in horses (n = 236) was carried out using the Blink, and FarmCPU models in GAPIT software, and genes within the significant regions were functionally annotated....
Wilbur DJ, Allerhand A.The titration behavior of individual tyrosine residues of myoglobins has been studied by observing the pH dependence of the chemical shifts of Czeta and Cgamma of these residues in natural abundance of 13C Fourier transform NMR spectra (at 15.18 MHz, in 20-mm sample tubes, at 37 degrees) of cyanoferrimyoglobins from sperm whale, horse, and red kangaroo. A comparison of the pH dependence of the spectra of the three proteins yielded specific assignments for the resonance of Tyr-151 (sperm whale) and Tyr-103 (sperm whale and horse). Selective proton decoupling yielded specific assignments for Cze...
Hunt CL, Leatherwood JL, Coverdale JA, Sigler DL, Vogelsang MM, Arnold CE.Osteoarthritis (OA) is a prevalent and economically costly source of lameness in the athletic horse. Previous studies investigating OA pathology have focused on localized trauma to the articular cartilage of a joint, largely ignoring the systemic immune status of the animal. In this study, yearling Quarter Horses were used to evaluate systemic cytokine gene expression and circulating leukocytes following a localized intra-articular inflammatory insult of the endotoxin, lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Treatments for the 35-d experiment included an intra-articular injection of 0.25 ng (n = 7) or 0.50 ...
Spencer JA, Deinnocentes P, Moyana EM, Guarino AJ, Ellison SE, Bird RC, Blagburn BL.Equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM) is a neurologic syndrome seen in horses from the Americas and is mainly caused by Sarcocystis neurona. Recently, a 29-kDa surface antigen from S. neurona merozoites was identified as being highly immunodominant on a Western blot. This antigen has been sequenced and cloned, and the expressed protein has been named SnSAG1. In a previous study, cell-mediated immune responses to SnSAG1 were shown to be statistically significantly reduced in horses with EPM in comparison to EPM-negative control horses. It therefore appears as though the parasite is able to i...
Benarafa C, Cunningham FM, Hamblin AS, Horohov DW, Collins ME.We report the cloning of four equine CC chemokines, eotaxin, monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)-1, MCP-2 and MCP-4, which show high levels of identity with their respective homologous sequences in other species. Using a multiplex RT-PCR, we have studied the constitutive mRNA expression of these four CC chemokines in skin, lung, liver, spleen, jejunum, colon and kidney of normal adult horses and compared this data with the eosinophil counts in the same samples. We demonstrate that eotaxin mRNA is only expressed in jejunum and colon, where there are large numbers of eosinophils suggesting th...
Bailey E.Segregation distortion was found for a haplotype of the equine lymphocyte antigen (ELA) system in an extended family of American Standardbred horses. In one sire family, consisting of a stallion and his 17 sons and grandsons, the gene for ELA-A10 (A10) was transmitted to 57.7% of 638 offspring scored (P = 0.001). Significant segregation distortion was not seen for mares or for unrelated stallions, regardless of the ELA markers they possessed. Since the effect was seen for this one sire family and not seen for other stallions with A10, it is unlikely that the gene for A10 is the cause of this p...
Adamič N, Prpar Mihevc S, Blagus R, Kramarič P, Krapež U, Majdič G, Viel L, Hoffman AM, Bienzle D, Vengust M.Severe equine asthma (SEA) is a common chronic respiratory disease and a significant health and well-being problem in horses. Current therapeutic strategies improve pulmonary function and clinical signs in some horses, but in the long-term, return to full athletic function appears to be rare. The aim of this study was to assess the safety and the effect of intrabronchial administration of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (AD-MSC) on pulmonary inflammatory and clinical parameters in horses with SEA. This was a randomized controlled trial. Twenty adult horses diagnosed with SEA were random...
Oslund KL, Adamson G, Wu R.To isolate and culture primary equine airway epithelial cells in vitro and elucidate the major cytokines involved in expression of the gel-forming mucin gene MUC5AC in horses. Methods: 12 tracheas obtained within 5 hours after euthanasia from horses free from respiratory tract disease. Methods: Tracheal rings were digested overnight in 0.2% protease, and dissociated airway epithelial cells were grown in a serum-free defined medium at an air-liquid interface until confluence was achieved. Differentiated airway epithelial cells were treated with a panel of recombinant equine cytokines followed b...
Ahmed YA, Tatarczuch L, Pagel CN, Davies HM, Mirams M, Mackie EJ.Equine osteochondrosis results from a failure of endochondral ossification during skeletal growth. Endochondral ossification involves chondrocyte proliferation, hypertrophy and death. Until recently no culture system was available to study these processes in equine chondrocytes. Objective: To optimise an in vitro model in which equine chondrocytes can be induced to undergo hypertrophy and physiological death as seen in vivo. Methods: Chondrocytes isolated from fetal or older (neonatal, growing and mature) horses were cultured as pellets in 10% fetal calf serum (FCS) or 10% horse serum (HS). Th...
Reisbig NA, Hussein HA, Pinnell E, Bertone AL.OBJECTIVE To create a bioactive synovium scaffold by infusing decellularized synovial-derived extracellular matrix (synECM) with synovial-derived mesenchymal stem cells (synMSCs). SAMPLE Synovium from the femoropatellar and medial femorotibial joints of equine cadavers. PROCEDURES The synMSCs were cultured in monolayer and not treated or cotransduced to enhance expression of green fluorescent protein (GFP) and human bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-2. The synECM was decellularized with 0.1% peracetic acid and then seeded with synMSCs (0.5 × 10 cells/0.5 mL) by use of a 30% serum gradient. Sam...
The Journal of heredityJuly 1, 1990
Volume 81, Issue 4 323-331 doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.jhered.a110997
Sponenberg DP, Carr G, Simak E, Schwink K.The leopard complex of white spotting patterns in horses consists of the leopard, few-spot leopard, blanket, blanket with spots, varnish roan (or marble), snowflake, frosted, speckled, and mottled patterns. Horses with any of these patterns can produce the other patterns when mated to nonpatterned horses. Twenty-two horses of the Welsh Pony, Noriker, Appaloosa, and Pony of the Americas breeds produced 270 foals in a distribution consistent with a single dominant allele being responsible for the patterns. The symbol for this dominant allele, Lp, is retained from previous work on the leopard pat...
