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.
Wulijideligen , Asahina T, Hara K, Arakawa K, Nakano H, Miyamoto T.The purification and characterization of a bacteriocin produced by Leuconostoc mesenteroides strain 406 that was isolated from traditional Mongolian fermented mare's milk, airag, were carried out. Leuconostoc mesenteroides strain 406 was identified on the basis of its morphological and biochemical characteristics and carbohydrate fermentation profile and by API 50 CH kit and 16S ribosomal DNA analyses. The neutral-pH cell-free supernatant of this bacterium inhibited the growth of several lactic acid bacteria and food spoilage and pathogenic organisms, including Listeria monocytogenes and Clost...
Leon PM, Campos VF, Thurow HS, Hartwig FP, Selau LP, Dellagostin OA, Neto JB, Deschamps JC, Seixas FK, Collares T.Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the p53 gene have been studied extensively in humans. The aims of this study were to determine the frequency of the Arg/Pro SNP in p53 in Thoroughbred mares on one stud in Brazil and to correlate p53 genotypes with reproductive performance. SNPs were detected by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism in blood samples from 105 horses and confirmed by sequencing. The allele frequency in Thoroughbred mares at codon 72 in exon 4 was 73.3% Arg/Pro, 17.1% Arg/Arg and 9.6% Pro/Pro. The presence of Arg/Pro was significantly associated with abortion (P=0....
Doan R, Cohen N, Harrington J, Veazey K, Juras R, Cothran G, McCue ME, Skow L, Dindot SV.Copy number variants (CNVs) represent a substantial source of genetic variation in mammals. However, the occurrence of CNVs in horses and their subsequent impact on phenotypic variation is unknown. We performed a study to identify CNVs in 16 horses representing 15 distinct breeds (Equus caballus) and an individual gray donkey (Equus asinus) using a whole-exome tiling array and the array comparative genomic hybridization methodology. We identified 2368 CNVs ranging in size from 197 bp to 3.5 Mb. Merging identical CNVs from each animal yielded 775 CNV regions (CNVRs), involving 1707 protein- and...
McGivney BA, Browne JA, Fonseca RG, Katz LM, Machugh DE, Whiston R, Hill EW.Myostatin, encoded by the MSTN gene, is a member of the TGF-β superfamily that regulates skeletal muscle development. A MSTN SNP significantly associated with Thoroughbred horse racing phenotypes has recently been identified as well as significant reductions in Thoroughbred skeletal muscle gene expression for three transcripts 400-1500 base pairs downstream of the MSTN gene following a period of training. Together, these findings indicate that MSTN genotypes may influence MSTN gene expression. To investigate this, MSTN mRNA expression was measured in biopsies from the middle gluteal muscle fr...
Doan R, Cohen ND, Sawyer J, Ghaffari N, Johnson CD, Dindot SV.The catalog of genetic variants in the horse genome originates from a few select animals, the majority originating from the Thoroughbred mare used for the equine genome sequencing project. The purpose of this study was to identify genetic variants, including single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), insertion/deletion polymorphisms (INDELs), and copy number variants (CNVs) in the genome of an individual Quarter Horse mare sequenced by next-generation sequencing. Results: Using massively parallel paired-end sequencing, we generated 59.6 Gb of DNA sequence from a Quarter Horse mare resulting in an...
Herrera-Luna CV, Budik S, Aurich C.Glucocorticoids (GCs) are important mediators of the stress response and have been implicated in the function and regulation of testicular functions in different species. In many tissues, intracellular glucocorticoid activity is controlled by either or both of the two known isoforms of 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (11βHSD) type 1 and 2, which interconvert active and inactive GCs. Little is known about the effects of stress on fertility in the equine species. The main objective of the present study was to investigate the expression of receptors for GCs and adrenocorticotropic hormone [ACT...
Southwood LL, Kawcak CE, Hidaka C, McIlwraith CW, Werpy N, Macleay J, Frisbie DD.To evaluate gene transfer in an equine metacarpal IV (MCIV) ostectomy model using adenoviral vectors encoding the human bone morphogenetic protein-2 and protein-7 gene (Ad-BMP-2/-7). Methods: Healthy adult horses (n = 15). Methods: A plate stabilized, critical size 1.5 cm ostectomy was created in left and right MCIV. The ostectomy site was injected with either Ad-green fluorescent protein (Ad-GFP) or Ad-hBMP-2/-7 at completion of surgery; the same treatment was assigned to both the left and right forelimb of each horse (n = 5 horses/group). Bone healing was evaluated radiographically every 2 w...
Klukowska-Rötzler J, Marti E, Lavoie JP, Ainsworth DM, Gerber V, Zurbriggen A, Janda J.Thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) is a cytokine involved in lymphocyte development. In humans and mice, TSLP drives the differentiation of T helper 2 (Th2) cells and the development of allergic inflammation. The equine TSLP gene has been previously identified and characterized, but its role in the pathogenesis of equine allergic diseases is not known. Our objective was to assess the expression of TSLP in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) cells and in primary bronchial epithelial cells (BEC) isolated from horses with recurrent airway obstruction (RAO). RNA was isolated from BAL cells sampled from ...
Tydén E, Löfgren M, Pegolo S, Capolongo F, Tjälve H, Larsson P.Recently, seven CYP3A isoforms - CYP3A89, CYP3A93, CYP3A94, CYP3A95, CYP3A96, CYP3A97 and CYP129 - have been isolated from the horse genome. In this study, we have examined the hepatic and intestinal gene expression of these CYP3A isoforms using TaqMan probes. We have also studied the enzyme activity using luciferin-isopropyl acetal (LIPA) as a substrate. The results show a differential gene expression of the CYP3A isoforms in the liver and intestines in horses. In the liver, CYP3A89, CYP3A94, CYP3A96 and CYP3A97 were highly expressed, while in the intestine there were only two dominating isof...
Degroote RL, Hauck SM, Kremmer E, Amann B, Ueffing M, Deeg CA.The molecular mechanism which enables activated immune cells to cross the blood-retinal barrier in spontaneous autoimmune uveitis is yet to be unraveled. Equine recurrent uveitis is the only spontaneous animal model allowing us to investigate the autoimmune mediated transformation of leukocytes in the course of this sight threatening disease. Hypothesizing that peripheral blood immune cells change their protein expression pattern in spontaneous autoimmune uveitis, we used DIGE to detect proteins with altered abundance comparing peripheral immune cells of healthy and ERU diseased horses. Among ...
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...
Carpenter S, Baker JM, Bacon SJ, Hopman T, Maher J, Ellis SA, Antczak DF.Sequence and functional analyses were undertaken on two cDNAs and a genomic clone encoding horse major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules. All of the clones were isolated from a single horse that is homozygous for all known horse MHC class I and class II antigens. The two cDNAs (clones 8-9 and 1-29) were isolated from a lymphocyte library and encode polymorphic MHC antigens from two loci. The genomic cosmid clone, isolated from a sperm library, contains the 8-9 gene. All three genes were expressed in mouse L-cells and were recognized by alloantisera and, for the cDNAs, by allor...
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...
