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.
Tozaki T, Sato F, Hill EW, Miyake T, Endo Y, Kakoi H, Gawahara H, Hirota K, Nakano Y, Nambo Y, Kurosawa M.Myostatin is a member of the transforming growth factor-β family with a key role in inhibition of muscle growth by negative regulation of both myoblast proliferation and differentiation. Recently, a genomic region on ECA18, which includes the MSTN gene, was identified as a candidate region influencing racing performance in Thoroughbreds. In this study, four SNPs on ECA18, g.65809482T>C, g.65868604G>T, g.66493737C>T, and g.66539967A>G, were genotyped in 91 Thoroughbred horses-in-training to evaluate the association between genotype and body composition traits, including body weight...
Mohammadi-Sangcheshmeh A, Held E, Ghanem N, Rings F, Salilew-Wondim D, Tesfaye D, Sieme H, Schellander K, Hoelker M.Efficiencies for in vitro production of equine embryos are still low due to highly variable developmental competences of equine immature oocytes. In contrast to the equine, in vitro developmental competence of immature oocytes has been predicted successfully by the activity of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH) indicated by brilliant cresyl blue (BCB) dye in a range of different species. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to test the association between G6PDH activity in equine oocytes with: (1) cumulus morphology and oocyte properties in terms of diameter and volume; (2) matur...
Paria N, Raudsepp T, Pearks Wilkerson AJ, O'Brien PC, Ferguson-Smith MA, Love CC, Arnold C, Rakestraw P, Murphy WJ, Chowdhary BP.Studies of the Y chromosome in primates, rodents and carnivores provide compelling evidence that the male specific region of Y (MSY) contains functional genes, many of which have specialized roles in spermatogenesis and male-fertility. Little similarity, however, has been found between the gene content and sequence of MSY in different species. This hinders the discovery of species-specific male fertility genes and limits our understanding about MSY evolution in mammals. Here, a detailed MSY gene catalogue was developed for the horse--an odd-toed ungulate. Using direct cDNA selection from horse...
Baron EE, Lopes MS, Mendonça D, da Câmara Machado A.The myostatin gene (MSTN) belongs to the TGF-β superfamily of secreted growth and differentiation factors and is responsible for embryonic and adult skeletal muscle development. In this study, exon 2 of the MSTN gene, which encodes part of the TGF-β pro-peptide, was sequenced in 332 horses of 20 different breeds and compared with the horse MSTN gene sequence deposited in GenBank. The sequences obtained revealed the presence of 11 haplotypes represented by 10 variable nucleotide mutations, eight of them corresponding to amino acid sequence changes. This gene shows a high variability when comp...
Vidale P, Piras FM, Nergadze SG, Bertoni L, Verini-Supplizi A, Adelson D, Guérin G, Giulotto E.We mapped six genes (EIF4G3, HSP90, RBBP6, IL8, TERT, and TERC) on the chromosomes of Equus caballus, Equus asinus, Equus grevyi, and Equus burchelli by fluorescence in situ hybridization. Our results add six type I markers to the cytogenetic map of these species and provide new information on the comparative genomics of the genus Equus.
Yuan Z, Gault EA, Campo MS, Nasir L.Equine sarcoids represent the most common skin tumours in equids worldwide, characterized by extensive invasion and infiltration of lymphatics, rare regression and high recurrence after surgical intervention. Bovine papillomavirus type 1 (BPV-1) activity is necessary for the transformation phenotype of equine fibroblasts. Among the many changes induced by BPV-1, matrix metalloproteinase 1 (MMP-1) upregulation contributes to the invasiveness of equine fibroblasts. However, it is not yet known how BPV-1 proteins regulate equine MMP-1 expression. To elucidate this mechanism, the equine MMP-1 prom...
Hwang I, Jung EM, Yang H, Choi KC, Jeung EB.Calcium transporter genes, such as transient receptor potential cation channel subfamily V members 5/6 (TRPV5/6), Na(+)/Ca(2+) exchanger 1 (NCX1), and plasma membrane calcium-transporting ATPase 1b (PMCA1b), are essential for maintaining homeostasis and metabolizing Ca(2+) ions. The TRPV5 and TRPV6 proteins play an important role in Ca(2+ )absorption, and NCX1 and PMCA1b are both critical for intracellular calcium homeostasis. In this study, the tissue-specific mRNA and protein expression of these calcium transporter genes in the duodenum, kidney and heart of the horse (Equus caballus) was exa...
Ranera B, Lyahyai J, Romero A, Vázquez FJ, Remacha AR, Bernal ML, Zaragoza P, Rodellar C, Martín-Burriel I.Bone marrow and adipose tissue are the two main sources of mesenchymal stem cell (MSC). The aim of this work was to analyse the immunophenotype of 7 surface markers and the expression of a panel of 13 genes coding for cell surface markers in equine bone marrow and adipose tissue-derived MSCs obtained from 9 horses at third passage. The tri-lineage differentiation was confirmed by specific staining. Equine MSCs from both sources were positive for the MSC markers CD29 and CD90, while were negative for CD44, CD73, CD105, CD45 and CD34. The gene expression of these molecules was also evaluated by ...
da Silva AC, Brass KE, da Silva Loreto E, Vinocur ME, Pozzobon R, da Silva Azevedo M.The aim was to detect the presence of polymorphisms at exons 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the Spi2 gene, and evaluate a possible association between them and recurrent airway obstruction (RAO) or inflammatory airway disease (IAD) in thoroughbred horses, through single-strand conformational-polymorphism (SSCP) screening. Although polymorphism was not detected in exons 1, 2 and 3, three alleles and six genotypes were identified in exon 4. The frequencies of allele A (0.6388) and genotype AA (0.3888) were higher in horses affected by RAO, although no association was found between polymorphism and horses with...
Visser MB, Pollitt CC.The role of matrix metalloproteases (MMPs) and the timeline of proteolysis during laminitis development are incompletely understood. Objective: To determine the temporal progression of selected MMPs and protease regulators during laminitis development. Methods: Five clinically normal Standardbred horses received, via nasogastric intubation, an oligofructose (OF) bolus (10 g/kg bwt). Laminitis induction proceeded for 48 h followed by euthanasia. Lamellar biopsies were obtained prior to dosing and at intervals during the treatment period for analysis (12, 18, 24, 30 and 36 h and at 48 h followin...
Ranera B, Ordovás L, Lyahyai J, Bernal ML, Fernandes F, Remacha AR, Romero A, Vázquez FJ, Osta R, Cons C, Varona L, Zaragoza P, Martín-Burriel I....Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) represent an attractive source for regenerative medicine. However, prior to their application, fundamental questions regarding molecular characterisation, growth and differentiation of MSCs must be resolved. Objective: To compare and better understand the behaviour of equine MSCs obtained from bone marrow (BM) and adipose tissue (AT) in culture. Methods: Five horses were included in this study. Proliferation rate was measured using MTT assay and cell viability; apoptosis, necrosis and late apoptosis and necrosis were evaluated by flow cytometry. The mRNA expres...
Menendez MI, Clark DJ, Carlton M, Flanigan DC, Jia G, Sammet S, Weisbrode SE, Knopp MV, Bertone AL.To evaluate healing of surgically created large osteochondral defects in a weight-bearing femoral condyle in response to delayed percutaneous direct injection of adenoviral (Ad) vectors containing coding regions for either human bone morphogenetic proteins 2 (BMP-2) or -6. Methods: Four 13mm diameter and 7mm depth circular osteochondral defects were drilled, 1/femoral condyle (n=20 defects in five ponies). At 2 weeks, Ad-BMP-2, Ad-BMP-6, Ad-green fluorescent protein (GFP), or saline was percutaneously injected into the central drill hole of the defect. Quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (...
Hill EW, Eivers SS, McGivney BA, Fonseca RG, Gu J, Smith NA, Browne JA, MacHugh DE, Katz LM.The role of molecular signalling pathways in the phenotypic adaptation of skeletal muscle to different exercise stimuli in the Thoroughbred horse has not been reported previously. Objective: To examine CKM, COX4I1, COX4I2 and PDK4 gene expression following high intensity sprint and moderate intensity treadmill exercise stimuli in skeletal muscle of Thoroughbred horses. Methods: Two groups of trained 3-year-old Thoroughbred horses participated. Group A (n = 6 females, n = 3 males) participated in an incremental step test (moderate intensity) to fatigue or HR(max) on a Sato high speed treadmill ...
Raabe O, Shell K, Würtz A, Reich CM, Wenisch S, Arnhold S.Adipose tissue-derived stem cells (ADSCs) represent a promising subpopulation of adult stem cells for tissue engineering applications in veterinary medicine. In this study we focused on the morphological and molecular biological properties of the ADSCs. The expression of stem cell markers Oct4, Nanog and the surface markers CD90 and CD105 were detected using RT-PCR. ADSCs showed a proliferative potential and were capable of adipogenic and osteogenic differentiation. Expression of Alkaline phosphatase (AP), phosphoprotein (SPP1), Runx2 and osteocalcin (OC) mRNA were positive in osteogenic linea...
Giesecke K, Hamann H, Stock KF, Klewitz J, Martinsson G, Distl O, Sieme H.The research of fertility in humans and other mammals has strongly advanced in the recent years. The examination of molecular mechanisms influencing horse fertility is relatively recent. We chose the angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE), the sperm autoantigenic protein 17 (SP17) and the follicle stimulating hormone (FSHB) as candidates for determining stallion fertility and to analyze associations of intragenic single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), flanking microsatellites and candidate-gene linked haplotypes with the pregnancy rate per oestrus (PRO) in 179 Hanoverian stallions. Fertility tra...
Brandt S, Schoster A, Tober R, Kainzbauer C, Burgstaller JP, Haralambus R, Steinborn R, Hinterhofer C, Stanek C.Equine hoof canker is a chronic proliferative pododermatitis of as yet unknown aetiology. Like equine sarcoid disease, canker is a therapy-resistant disorder characterised by hyperkeratosis, acanthosis and a marked tendency to recur. Objective: There is an association of sarcoid-inducing bovine papillomaviruses of types 1 and 2 (BPV-1, BPV-2) with hoof canker disease. Methods: Using PCR-based techniques, we assessed canker tissue, intact skin and/or peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of 25 canker-affected horses for the presence of sarcoid-associated BPV-1 and -2. Results: Conventional...
Hilton H, Nieto JE, Moore PF, Harmon FA, Naydan DK, Snyder JR.To determine expression of cyclooxygenase (COX) genes 1 and 2 (also called prostaglandin-endoperoxide synthases 1 and 2) and stability of housekeeping gene expression during low-flow ischemia and reperfusion in the jejunum of horses. Methods: 5 healthy adult horses. Methods: Horses were anesthetized, and two 30-cm segments of jejunum were surgically exteriorized. Blood flow was maintained at baseline (untreated) values in 1 (control) segment and was decreased to 20% of baseline (low-flow ischemia) for 75 minutes, followed by 75 minutes of reperfusion, in the other (experimental) segment. Biops...
Li B, He XL, Zhao YP, Wang XJ, Manglai D, Zhang YR.Coat color can be used not only in identifying individuals and species, but also in diagnosing certain diseases. The coat color of horse mainly depends on the distribution and proportion of eumelanin and phaeomelanin, generated by melanocytes, which are regulated by the genes such as MC1R, ASIP, KIT, TYRP, and EDNRB. In addition, STX17, MATP, and PMEL17 also play a role in the formation of coat color of horse. In this review, the action mechanism of candidate genes for coat color and association of DNA sequence polymorphism of these candidate genes with color pattern phenotypes and melanoma we...
Tozaki T, Hill EW, Hirota K, Kakoi H, Gawahara H, Miyake T, Sugita S, Hasegawa T, Ishida N, Nakano Y, Kurosawa M.Using 1710 Thoroughbred racehorses in Japan, a cohort study was performed to evaluate the influence of genotypes at four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on equine chromosome 18 (ECA18), which were associated in a previous genome-wide association study for racing performance with lifetime earnings and performance rank. In males, both g.65809482T>C and g.65868604G>T were related to performance rank (P= 0.005). In females, g.65809482T>C (P = 1.76E-6), g.65868604G>T (P=6.81E-6) and g.66493737C>T (P=4.42E-5) were strongly related to performance rank and also to lifetime ...
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...
Nam GH, Ahn K, Bae JH, Han K, Lee CE, Park KD, Lee SH, Cho BW, Kim HS.Muscle glycogen Phosphorylase (PYGM) has been shown to catalyze the degradation of glycogen to glucose-1-phosphate. The PYGM gene can contribute to providing energy to the body by disassembling the glycogen in muscle. Here, we analyzed the genomic structure and expression of the PYGM gene in the thoroughbred horse. The PYGM gene, containing several transposable elements (MIRs, LINEs, and MERs), was highly conserved in mammalian genomes. In order to understand the expression of the horse PYGM gene, we performed quantitative RT-PCR using 11 thoroughbred horse tissue samples. The horse PYGM gene ...
Andersson LS, Lyberg K, Cothran G, Ramsey DT, Juras R, Mikko S, Ekesten B, Ewart S, Lindgren G.The syndrome Multiple Congenital Ocular Anomalies (MCOA) is the collective name ascribed to heritable congenital eye defects in horses. Individuals homozygous for the disease allele (MCOA phenotype) have a wide range of eye anomalies, while heterozygous horses (Cyst phenotype) predominantly have cysts that originate from the temporal ciliary body, iris, and/or peripheral retina. MCOA syndrome is highly prevalent in the Rocky Mountain Horse but the disease is not limited to this breed. Affected horses most often have a Silver coat color; however, a pleiotropic link between these phenotypes is y...
Lindahl S, Söderlund R, Frosth S, Pringle J, Båverud V, Aspán A.Strangles is a serious respiratory disease in horses caused by Streptococcus equi subspecies equi (S. equi). Transmission of the disease occurs by direct contact with an infected horse or contaminated equipment. Genetically, S. equi strains are highly homogenous and differentiation of strains has proven difficult. However, the S. equi M-protein SeM contains a variable N-terminal region and has been proposed as a target gene to distinguish between different strains of S. equi and determine the source of an outbreak. In this study, strains of S. equi (n=60) from 32 strangles outbreaks in Sweden ...
Baldani CD, Hilario E, Nakaghi AC, Bertolini MC, Machado RZ.The erythrocytic-stage surface protein, Equi Merozoite Antigen 1 (EMA-1), is a major candidate for the development of a diagnostic antigen for equine piroplasmosis. In order to establish an effective diagnostic method for practical use, the gene encoding the entire EMA-1 of Theileria equi Jaboticabal strain was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli as a histidine-tagged protein (His6-EMA1). The expressed EMA-1 reacted with specific antibodies in Western blot and had an apparent molecular mass of 34 kDa which was largely consistent with its theoretical value. The nucleotide sequence of the E...
Awasthi G, Srivastava G, Das A.Comparative genomics and evolutionary analyses of conserved genes have enabled us to understand the complexity of genomes of closely related species. For example: β-globin gene present in human hemoglobin is one such gene that has experienced many genetic changes in many related taxa and produced more than 600 variants. One of the variant, HBS causes sickle-cell anemia in humans but offers protection against severe malaria due to Plasmodium falciparum. In the present study, we characterized and performed evolutionary comparative analyses of the ?-globin gene in different related and unrelated...
Knobbe MG, Maenhoudt C, Turner RM, McDonnell SM.2 Standardbred racehorses that had been winning races while competing as mares underwent postrace drug testing and had serum testosterone concentrations above the acceptable limit for female racehorses. Results: Initial physical examinations by the referring veterinarian revealed ambiguous external genitalia and suspected intra-abdominally located testes leading to a preliminary diagnosis of male pseudohermaphroditism. Horses were referred for further evaluation of sex. Physical examination of the external genitalia confirmed the findings of the referring veterinarian. Transrectal palpation an...
Hudgens E, Tompkins D, Boyd P, Lunney JK, Horohov D, Baldwin CL.This report describes the cloning and characterization of expressed gene sequences of bovine, equine, and swine CXCL9 from RNA obtained from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and other tissues. The bovine coding region was 378 nucleotides in length, while the equine and swine coding regions were 381 nucleotides. Mapping showed that all three sequences were coded for in four exons in the genome, as are the human and mouse genes. The bovine, equine, and swine coding regions shared 83%, 86%, and 84% homology with human CXCL9, respectively, and all three were 74% homologous with mouse CXCL...
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...
Deschene K, Céleste C, Boerboom D, Theoret CL.As a transient hypoxic state exists within skin wounds in horses and may be important for the healing process, this study sought to identify a molecular hypoxia response occurring in horse limb and body wounds healing by second intention. Hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF1α) protein expression was studied throughout repair by Western blotting and immunofluorescence. Paradoxically, HIF1α was strongly expressed in intact skin and its expression decreased dramatically following wounding (p<0.01), despite the expected hypoxic state within the wounded tissue. HIF1α levels reincreased in parallel...
Kayis SA, Atli MO, Kurar E, Bozkaya F, Semacan A, Aslan S, Guzeloglu A.The aim was an evaluation of a set of housekeeping genes (HKGs) to be used in the normalization of gene expression in the equine endometrium. Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), hypoxanthine ribosyl transferase 1 (HPRT1), ubiquitin B (UBB), tubulin alpha 1 (TUBA1), ribosomal protein L32 (RPL32), beta-2-microglobulin (B2M), 18S rRNA (18S), and 28S rRNA (28S) HKGs were evaluated using real-time PCR and were compared in different physiological stages of the endometrium. Endometrial biopsies were obtained from mares on day of ovulation (d0, n=4), at late diestrus (LD, n=4), after lut...
Armstrong C, Cassimeris L, Da Silva Santos C, Micoogullari Y, Wagner B, Babasyan S, Brooks S, Galantino-Homer H.The equine hoof inner epithelium is folded into primary and secondary epidermal lamellae which increase the dermo-epidermal junction surface area of the hoof and can be affected by laminitis, a common disease of equids. Two keratin proteins (K), K42 and K124, are the most abundant keratins in the hoof lamellar tissue of Equus caballus. We hypothesize that these keratins are lamellar tissue-specific and could serve as differentiation- and disease-specific markers. Our objective was to characterize the expression of K42 and K124 in equine stratified epithelia and to generate monoclonal antibodie...
Flisikowski K, Flisikowska T, Sikorska A, Perkowska A, Kind A, Schnieke A, Switonski M.Cancer is a complex disease caused in part by predisposing germline gene polymorphisms. Knowledge of carcinogenesis in companion mammals (dog and cat) and some livestock species (pig and horse) is quite advanced. The prevalence of certain cancers varies by breed in these species, suggesting the presence of predisposing genetic variants in susceptible breeds. This review summarizes the present understanding of germline gene polymorphisms, including BRCA1, BRCA2, MC1R, KIT, NRAS and RAD51, associated with predisposition to melanoma, mammary cancer, osteosarcoma and histiocytic sarcoma in dogs, c...
Matsuyama S, Kubo K, Ohashi F, Takamori Y.Prohibitin is the protein which has an inhibitory function in cell growth, and its gene is suggested to be one of putative tumor suppressor genes. In this report, we described a partial cloning of prohibitin cDNAs from canine, feline, bovine, equine, and rabbit liver mRNAs by RT-PCR, and their homology analysis. The sequences of these RT-PCR products were compared with each other as well as those reported for human and rat. The homology in this region of prohibitin cDNA was approximately 90%, and the amino acid sequence of each RT-PCR product shared more than 95% identity. Therefore, it is con...
Meta geneJune 30, 2015
Volume 5 120-123 doi: 10.1016/j.mgene.2015.06.006
Ito H, Langenhorst T, Ogden R, Inoue-Murayama M.Androgen receptor genes (AR) have been found to have associations with reproductive development, behavioral traits, and disorders in humans. However, the influence of similar genetic effects on the behavior of other animals is scarce. We examined the loci AR glutamine repeat (ARQ) in 44 Grevy's zebras, 23 plains zebras, and three mountain zebras, and compared them with those of domesticated horses. We observed polymorphism among zebra species and between zebra and horse. As androgens such as testosterone influence aggressiveness, AR polymorphism among equid species may be associated with diffe...
Löfgren M, Ekman S, Ekholm J, Engström M, Fjordbakk CT, Svala E, Holm Forsström K, Lindahl A, Skiöldebrand E.Autologous conditioned serum (ACS) is used to treat osteoarthritis in horses, although its effects are not fully investigated. Objective: To investigate the effects of equine serum and conditioned serum on chondrocytes stimulated with interleukin (IL)-1β and cartilage explants with mild osteoarthritis. Methods: In vitro experimental study. Methods: The effect of three different serum preparations (unincubated control [PS], serum incubated 24 h [PS24h] and serum incubated 24 h in ACS containers [PCS]) pooled from lame horses were tested in two in vitro models. IL-1β and IL-1 receptor anta...
Liu S, Jiang S, Dong XG, Cui R, Ling Y, Zhao C.The Debao pony is a well-known dwarf horse breed in China. High-mobility group AT-hook 2 (HMGA2) gene is regarded as one of the important candidate genes regulating body height in horses. The aim of this study was to study the association between mutations in HMGA2 gene and withers height in Debao ponies. The polymorphisms in all exons and partial introns of the HMGA2 gene were screened with sequencing across 180 Debao ponies. And the association between the DNA variants and withers height was analyzed. Seven genetic variants were identified in HMGA2 gene, including six novel variants. Among t...
Shiue Y-L , Millon LV, Skow LC, Honeycutt D, Murray JD, Bowling AT.The hypothesis that the conservation of sex-chromosome-linked genes among placental mammals could be extended to the horse genome was tested using the UCDavis horse-mouse somatic cell hybrid (SCH) panel. By exploiting the fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH) technique to localize an anchor locus, X-inactivation-specific transcript (XIST) on the horse X chromosome, together with the fragmentation and translocation of the X- and Y-chromosome fragments in a somatic cell hybrid panel, we regionally assigned 13 type I and 13 type II (microsatellite) markers to the horse X- and Y-chromosomes. T...
McFadden A, Martin K, Foster G, Vierra M, Lundquist EW, Everts RE, Martin E, Volz E, McLoone K, Brooks SA, Lafayette C.Mutations causing depigmentation are relatively common in Equus caballus (horse). Over 40 alleles in multiple genes are associated with increased white spotting (as of February 2023). The splashed white phenotype, a coat spotting pattern described as appearing like the horse has been splashed with white paint, was previously associated with variants in the PAX3 and MITF genes. Both genes encode transcription factors known to control melanocyte migration and pigmentation. We report two novel mutations, a stop-gain mutation in PAX3 (XM_005610643.3:c.927C>T, ECA6:11,196,181, EquCab3.0) and a m...
Andersson L, Sandberg K.The equine coat color genes chestnut (e) and roan (Rn) have been tested for linkage to 15 protein and blood group loci. Data showing close or fairly close linkage to the serum albumin locus (Al) and loose linkage to the serum esterase locus (Es) for both e and Rn are presented. This means that three coat color genes (To, e and Rn) and three serum protein loci (Al, Gc, and Es) are linked in the same linkage group. The gene order can tentatively be written Al, Gc, Rn, To-e-Es. The implications of the results for studies on coat color inheritance in horses are discussed. The possibility of using ...
Hjertner B, Olofsson KM, Lindberg R, Fuxler L, Fossum C.There is accumulating evidence for the involvement of pro-inflammatory cytokines associated with a T helper 17 response in intestinal disorders such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in humans. The involvement of interleukin (IL)-17 or IL-23 in equine IBD has not been studied and most gene expression studies in the equine intestine have been limited to the use of a single non-validated reference gene. In this study, expression of the reference gene candidates β2 microglobulin (β2M), glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), histone H2A type 1, hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltra...
Cavalcanti MC, Rizgalla M, Geyer J, Failing K, Litzke LF, Bergmann M.In eukaryotic cells, the major protein constituents of the chromatin are histones, which can be divided into five classes, identified as H1, H2A, H2B, H3 and H4. During normal spermatogenesis, a testis-specific H1t is expressed in primary spermatocytes and believed to facilitate histone to protamine exchanges during spermiogenesis. In equine testes we detected the H1 protein at 22kDa by western blot analysis while H1t was detected at 29kDa. H1 protein was found to be expressed in all germ cells up to elongating spermatids (Sc) at stage IV. In peripubertal animals, there was a prolonged express...
Jasiński T, Zdrojkowski Ł, Kautz E, Juszczuk-Kubiak E, Ferreira-Dias G, Domino M.Endometritis is an important issue decreasing mares' fertility. In the case of endometritis, both inflammatory cells infiltration and proinflammatory molecules production are regulated by various cellular and gene regulatory mechanisms, including the nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB)-dependent pathway. NF-κB-signalling pathway has been recently studied in the equine endometrium in the context of endometrosis. Thus, this study aimed to determine gene transcription of NF-κB subunits (RelA; NF-κB1; NF-κB2), proinflammatory molecules (MCP-1; IL-6) and hyaluronan synthases (HAS 1; HAS 2; HAS 3) in en...
Open life sciencesSeptember 26, 2022
Volume 17, Issue 1 1269-1281 doi: 10.1515/biol-2022-0487
Pan J, Purev C, Zhao H, Zhang Z, Wang F, Wendoule N, Qi G, Liu Y, Zhou H.The Mongolian horses have excellent endurance and stress resistance to adapt to the cold and harsh plateau conditions. Intraspecific genetic diversity is mainly embodied in various genetic advantages of different branches of the Mongolian horse. Since people pay progressive attention to the athletic performance of horse, we expect to guide the exercise-oriented breeding of horses through genomics research. We obtained the clean data of 630,535,376,400 bp through the entire genome second-generation sequencing for the whole blood of four Abaga horses and ten Wushen horses. Based on the data an...
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...
Paris DB, Kuijk EW, Roelen BA, Stout TA.Real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) is invaluable for investigating changes in gene expression during early development, since it can be performed on the limited quantities of mRNA contained in individual embryos. However, the reliability of this method depends on the use of validated stably expressed reference genes for accurate data normalisation. The aim of the present study was to identify and validate a set of reference genes suitable for studying gene expression during equine embryo development. The stable expression of four carefully selected reference genes and one developmentally regula...
Serwotka-Suszczak AM, Marcinkowska KA, Smieszek A, Michalak IM, Grzebyk M, Wiśniewski M, Marycz KM.Insulin resistance (IR) is one of the characteristic features of equine metabolic syndrome (EMS). Presently, the only therapies of choice are caloric restrictions combined with mineral supplementation, which might improve insulin sensitivity. In this study we investigated the effect of Haematococcus pluvialis algae water extract enriched in bioaccumulation process in magnesium ions (Hp_Mg(II)) on equine adipose derived mesenchymal stromal stem cells, in which insulin resistance was induced by palmitic acid (IR-EqASCs). For this purpose, chemical characterization of H. pluvialis was performed w...
Selvaggi M, Pesce Delfino AR, Dario C.The aim of this study was to assess genetic polymorphism at two loci in the exon 1 of the CSN3 gene in Murgese horse breed by PCR-RFLP analysis. The overall frequencies of alleles A and G at c.-66A > G locus were 0.80 and 0.20, respectively, and no GG animals were found in the population. At the c.-36C > A locus allelic frequencies were 0.74 and 0.26 for allele C and A, respectively, and no AA animals were detected. Population genetic indexes, namely gene heterozygosity, gene homozygosity, effective allele numbers, fixation index, and polymorphism information index were calculated. C...
Eckert RE, Neuder LE, Bell JL, Trujillo JC, Jones SL.The goal of this study was to define the role for p38 mitogen-activated kinase (MAPK) in the signaling mechanism regulating pro-inflammatory cyclooxygenase (COX) gene expression in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-activated equine leukocytes for the purposes of identifying novel targets for anti-inflammatory therapy in endotoxemic horses. The p38 MAPK has been shown to positively regulate inflammatory gene expression in human leukocytes and can be activated by a variety of stimuli including LPS, TNF-alpha, and IL-1. Activation-associated phosphorylated p38 MAPK has been implicated in the up-regulation...
Pawlak EA, Geor RJ, Watts MR, Black SJ, Johnson PJ, Belknap JK.Hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1A) is an important protein in the regulation/induction of many genes in the cellular and tissue response to hypoxia and a central mediator in inflammatory signalling. As both hypoxia and inflammatory events are purported to occur in the lamellar epidermis in sepsis-related laminitis in the equid, HIF-1A may play a central role in this disease process. Objective: To assess the regulation of HIF-1A and HIF-1A-related genes in the equine keratinocyte in vitro and in the lamellar tissue of horses with sepsis-related laminitis. Methods: In vivo and in vitro experi...
Thorsteinsdóttir L, Guðmundsson GÖ, Jensson H, Torsteinsdóttir S, Svansson V.Equine coital exanthema (ECE) caused by equid alphaherpesvirus 3 (EHV-3) is a contagious venereal disease. It is characterized by the formation of papules, vesicles, pustules and ulcers on the external genitals of both mares and stallions. The Icelandic horse is the only breed in Iceland and has lived isolated in the country for over 1000 years. Three types of equine herpesviruses (EHV) have been found in Iceland, EHV-4, EHV-2 and EHV-5, while EHV-1 has never been detected. Symptoms resembling ECE have previous been observed in horses in Iceland, arousing suspicion of EHV-3 infection, but thi...
Vanderman KS, Tremblay M, Zhu W, Shimojo M, Mienaltowski MJ, Coleman SJ, MacLeod JN.Brother of CDO (BOC) is a cell surface receptor that derives its name from the structurally related protein, cell adhesion molecule-related/down-regulated by oncogenes (CDO, sometimes CDON). High levels of BOC mRNA and protein expression have been described in embryonic tissues with active cell proliferation and ongoing cellular differentiation(1,2). A microarray-based screen of RNA isolated from 11 different adult equine tissues unexpectedly identified BOC as having an expression pattern restricted to articular cartilage. The objective of this study was to further investigate BOC expression i...
Andersson L, Juneja RK, Sandberg K.Genetic linkage between the equine loci for phosphohexose isomerase (PHI) and serum Xk protein was demonstrated by means of segregation data from three sire families. The recombination frequency was estimated from pooled data to be 0.23 +/- 0.02; a significant heterogeneity between sires for estimates of the recombination frequency was observed. No indication of linkage was detected between Xk and 14 other blood marker loci. Linkage between the Xk locus and the locus for soluble malic enzyme (ME1) has recently been reported in horses. An equine linkage group designated LG IV comprising the thr...
Giese A, Jude R, Kuiper H, Piumi F, Schambony A, Guérin G, Distl O, Töpfer-Petersen E, Leeb T.Acidic epididymal glycoprotein 1 (AEG1), also called cysteine-rich secretory protein 1 (CRISP1), is a member of the CRISP protein family which is characterized by 16 conserved cysteine residues at the C-terminus. The CRISP proteins are expressed in the male genital tract and are thought to be involved in sperm-egg fusion. Therefore, their genes are of interest as candidate genes for inherited male fertility dysfunctions and as putative quantitative trait loci for male fertility traits. In this report, the cloning and DNA sequence of 90 kb of horse genomic DNA from equine chromosome 20q22 conta...
Tozaki T, Swinburne J, Hirota K, Hasegawa T, Ishida N, Tobe T.Genetic maps are extremely important tools for tracing the genes that govern economically significant traits, and microsatellites are a significant component of these. In this study, we isolated 2346 novel horse microsatellites as resources for the construction of high-density horse genetic maps. Of these 2346 markers, 339 (14.5%) horse sequences showed sequence homology to DNA sequences in the human genome, demonstrating that microsatellites as type II markers are valuable resources for developing linkage maps and that they have a potential equal to that of type I markers for developing compa...
Bell K, Patterson S, Pollitt CC.The plasma protease inhibitor system (Pi) of Standardbred horses was studied by thin-layer, high-voltage, acid polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (pH 4.6) followed by protein staining and staining for trypsin and chymotrypsin inhibition. In addition to the eight Thoroughbred alleles (PiF, G, I, L, N, S1, S2, U), another 10 alleles, designated PiH, J, K, O, P, Q, R, V, X, Z, were postulated to account for the 98 Pi types which were observed in Standardbreds. Detailed inhibitory spectra of the 'new' alleles were determined and further exceptions to the Pi1, Pi2 classification of Juneja et al. (1...
Wilgus H, Stellwagen E.Changes in the visible absorbance spectra of complexes of horse heart cytochrome c hemopeptide 1-65, peptide 66-104, and their guanidinated counterparts are compared with those characteristic of native and fully guanidinated ferricytochrome c over the pH range 7 to 11. Upon raising the pH, the methionine ligand in the guanidinated hemopeptide 1-65.peptide 66-104 complex is replaced by a strong field ligand. By contrast, the methionine ligand in the hemopeptide 1-65.guanidinated peptide 66-104 is replaced by a weak field ligand. These results demonstrate that lysine 13 does not ligate with the ...
Pöschke A, Krähling B, Failing K, Staszyk C.The equine periodontal ligament (PDL) is a fibrous connective tissue that covers the intra-alveolar parts of the tooth and anchors it to the alveolar bone-it, therefore, provides a similar function to a tendinous structure. While several studies have considered the formation and structure of tendons, there is insufficient information particularly on the molecular composition of the PDL. Especially for the equine PDL, there is limited knowledge concerning the expression of genes commonly regarded as typical for tendon tissue. In this study, the gene expression of, e.g., (, and fibrocartilage m...
Sun L, Gong Z, Oberst EJ, Betancourt A, Adams AA, Horohov DW.While born with a limited production, foals' interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) expression increases after birth. The underlying mechanisms remain unknown. DNA methylation is considered to be involved. Therefore, the DNA methylation status of the Ifng promoter in CD4(+) cells from neonatal foal was determined using a methylation-specific PCR (MSP), and its relevance to IFN-γ mRNA expression was estimated. The effect of environment on the DNA methylation was also evaluated by comparing ponies that were kept in a barn versus those on pasture. The DNA in the Ifng promoter was hypermethylated and its deme...
Semevolos SA, Strassheim ML, Haupt JL, Nixon AJ.Hypertrophic differentiation and endochondral ossification of growth cartilage are regulated by a complex array of signaling peptides, including parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTH-rP), Indian hedgehog (Ihh), and bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs). This study investigated the expression of Ihh, Patched1 and 2 (Ptc1, Ptc2), Smoothened (Smo), Gli1, and Gli3, in naturally acquired articular osteochondrosis, using an equine model. Cartilage was harvested from osteochondrosis (OC) affected femoropatellar or scapulohumeral joints from immature horses and normal control horses of similar age. Ih...
