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.
Roth P, Stanley J, Chamoun-Emanuelli A, Whitfield-Cargile C, Coleman M.To compare the inflammatory response of murine macrophages exposed to the enteric microbiome of obese horses versus nonobese horses. Methods: Fecal samples from 12 obese horses (body condition score ≥ 7/9) and 12 nonobese horses (body condition score 4 to 5/9) with similar dietary management. Methods: Fecal supernatant was prepared from frozen fecal samples. RAW 264.7 macrophage cells were exposed to the fecal extract. Inflammatory cytokine (interleukin-1β, tumor necrosis factor-α, and interleukin-6) gene expression was quantified via real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR assay,...
Moore T, Williams JM, Becerra-Rodriguez MA, Dunne M, Kammerer R, Dveksler G.Pregnancy-specific glycoproteins (PSGs) are members of the immunoglobulin superfamily and are closely related to the predominantly membrane-bound CEACAM proteins. PSGs are produced by placental trophoblasts and secreted into the maternal bloodstream at high levels where they may regulate maternal immune and vascular functions through receptor binding and modulation of cytokine and chemokine expression and activity. PSGs may have autocrine and paracrine functions in the placental bed, and PSGs can activate soluble and extracellular matrix bound TGF-β, with potentially diverse effects on multip...
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...
Mahlobo-Shwabede SIC, Zishiri OT, Thekisoe OMM, Bakkes D, Bohloa L, Molomo M, Makalo MJR, Mahloane GR, Mtshali MS.A total of 3311 tick specimens were randomly collected from domestic animals including cattle, sheep, goats, horses, donkeys, and dogs from Lesotho districts namely, Berea, Butha-Buthe, Leribe, Mafeteng, Maseru, Mohale's Hoek, Mokhotlong, Qacha's Nek, Quthing and Thaba Tseka. Tick species were identified morphologically and verified by amplification and sequencing of the CO1 and 18S rRNA genes. Nine species were identified under different genera namely, Haemaphysalis elliptica 0.1% (n = 2), Hyalomma rufipes 2.6% (n = 87), Hy. truncatum 1.2% (n = 41), Otobius megnini 13.6% (n = 451), Rh...
Neto da Silva AC, Costa AL, Teixeira A, Alpoim-Moreira J, Fernandes C, Fradinho MJ, Rebordão MR, Silva E, Ferreira da Silva J, Bliebernicht M....In older mares, increasing collagen fibers (fibrosis) in the endometrium and oviduct predisposes to sub-fertility and infertility. In this study, (i) gene transcription of collagen (qPCR: COL1A1, COL1A2, COL3A1, COL5A1); (ii) total collagen protein (hydroxyproline); (iii) collagen distribution (Picrosirius red staining; polarized light microscopy); and (iv) microvascular density (Periodic acid-Schiff staining), were evaluated in mares' placenta, and related to mares age, and placenta and neonate weights. Samples were collected from the gravid horn, non-gravid horn, and body of the placenta fro...
Timms M, Steel R.The proteotypic human EPO peptides YLLEAK (T4), SLTTLLR (T11), TITADTFR (T14), and VYSNFLR (T17) are often used to confirm the presence of recombinant human EPO (rhEPO) in equine samples. Each of these peptides contains one or more isomeric leucine or isoleucine amino acids, raising the possibility that a simple leucine/isoleucine substitution could lead to a false identification when compared with a rhEPO reference standard. To examine this possibility variants of these four peptides were analysed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). These studies indicate that confir...
Wang L, Unger L, Sharif H, Eriksson S, Gerber V, Rönnberg H.Thymidine kinase 1 (TK1) plays a key role in the synthesis of deoxythymidine triphosphate (dTTP) and is thus important for DNA replication and cell proliferation. The expression of TK1 is highest during S-phase, and it is rapidly degraded after mitosis. In cancer cells, TK1 is upregulated, resulting in leakage of excess TK1 into the blood. Consequently, serum TK1 has been used as a diagnostic and prognostic cancer biomarker, mainly in human medicine. The aims of this work were to characterize equine TK1 and to evaluate its suitability as a serum biomarker for equine lymphoma. Results: Equine T...
Elshalofy A, Wagener K, Weber K, Blanco M, Bauersachs S, Bollwein H.This study aimed to investigate the susceptibility to persistent breeding-induced endometritis (PBIE). Cytobrush samples were collected from 81 broodmares 1-3 days before artificial insemination (AI). Susceptibility to PBIE was evaluated by the presence of ≥ 2 cm of intrauterine fluid 24 h after AI, besides the fertility was determined by a sonographic pregnancy diagnosis 2 weeks after ovulation. RNA expressions were compared between susceptible non-pregnant (SNP) mares (n=9) and resistant pregnant (RP) mares (n=9) as well as between susceptible pregnant (SP) mares (n=9) and susceptible non-...
Ayad A, Almarzook S, Besseboua O, Aissanou S, Piórkowska K, Musiał AD, Stefaniuk-Szmukier M, Ropka-Molik K.Genetic disorders in horses are mostly fatal or usually cause significant economic losses for breeders and owners. Here we studied a total of 177 Arabian, Barb and Arab-Barb horses from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) using Sanger Sequencing and PCR-ACRS (polymerase chain reaction-artificially created restriction site) approaches to examine the genetic disorders in the studied horse breeds. We identified the genetic variations related to Cerebellar Abiotrophy (CA), Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID) occurrence, and the studied population was free of the mutant allele determined La...
Frontiers in allergyNovember 26, 2021
Volume 2 762026 doi: 10.3389/falgy.2021.762026
Ben Hamouda S, Miglino MA, de Sá Schiavo Matias G, Beauchamp G, Lavoie JP.Asthma is associated with increased deposition and altered phenotype of airway smooth muscle (ASM) cells. However, little is known about the processes responsible for these changes. It has been suggested that alterations of the extracellular matrix (ECM) contribute to the remodeling of ASM cells in asthma. Three-dimensional matrices allow the study of complex cellular responses to different stimuli in a close-to-natural environment. Thus, we investigated the ultrastructural and genic variations of ASM cells cultured on acellular asthmatic and control bronchial matrices. We studied horses, as ...
Rahmani SS, Malekifard F, Tavassoli M.Neospora caninum is an Apicomplexan parasite that can cause enormous economic losses due to abortions in cattle. The present study investigated the role of Neospora spp. infection in equine abortion in Iranian donkeys using molecular and phylogenetic analyses. Twenty-nine-aborted fetuses and 29 blood samples from their dams were collected from six different regions in the West and Northwest of Iran. They were tested for N. caninum by PCR at the Nc5 locus, followed by sequencing of five of the PCR products. The overall molecular prevalence was 34.5% in blood samples and the prevalence by DNA de...
Peano A, Arnoldi S, Čmoková A, Hubka V.This article reports the first verified cases of infection by Trichophyton bullosum in Africa since the description of the fungus, isolated in 1933 from the coat of horses in Tunisia and Mali. We found the fungus in cutaneous samples obtained from donkeys suffering from severe dermatitis with areas of alopecia and scaling in the surroundings of Cairo (Egypt). Fungal elements (arthroconidia and hyphae) were seen at the microscopy of material collected by skin scraping and digested in NaOH. Fungal colonies grown on various culture media were identified through PCR and sequencing of the ITS rDNA ...
Jasiński T, Zdrojkowski Ł, Kautz E, Juszczuk-Kubiak E, Ferreira-Dias G, Domino M.Endometrosis is an important mares' disease which considerably decreases their fertility. As classic endometrial classification methods might be insufficient for tissue pathological evaluation, further categorization into active/inactive and destructive/non-destructive types was developed by Hoffmann and others. This study aimed to compare NF-κB pathway genes transcription among histopathological types of endometrosis, following Hoffmann and co-authors' classification. Endometrial samples, collected postmortem from cyclic mares ( = 100) in estrus or diestrus, were classified histologically an...
Munday JS, Orbell G, Fairley RA, Hardcastle M, Vaatstra B.Equine sarcoids are common mesenchymal neoplasms of horses that are caused by cross-species infection by . While bovine papillomavirus (BPV) 1 and 2 are the most common causes, there are differences between countries regarding which of these BPV types cause the majority of sarcoids. Additionally, no causative PV can be detected in a subset of sarcoids, suggesting that other PV types could be rarer causes of these neoplasms. In the present study, consensus PCR primers and PCR primers specific for the five types currently known to cause mesenchymal neoplasia (BPV1, BPV2, BPV13, BPV14, and Ovis ...
Peng S, Petersen JL, Bellone RR, Kalbfleisch T, Kingsley NB, Barber AM, Cappelletti E, Giulotto E, Finno CJ.The horse reference genome assemblies, EquCab2.0 and EquCab3.0, have enabled great advancements in the equine genomics field, from tools to novel discoveries. However, significant gaps of knowledge regarding genome function remain, hindering the study of complex traits in horses. In an effort to address these gaps and with inspiration from the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) project, the equine Functional Annotation of Animal Genome (FAANG) initiative was proposed to bridge the gap between genome and gene expression, providing further insights into functional regulation within the horse ...
Druml T, Brem G, Velie B, Lindgren G, Horna M, Ricard A, Grilz-Seger G.In horses, the autoimmune disease vitiligo is characterized by the loss of melanocytes and results in patchy depigmentation of the skin around the eyes, muzzle and the perianal region. Vitiligo-like depigmentation occurs predominantly in horses displaying the grey coat colour and is observed at a prevalence level of 26.0-67.0% in grey horses compared with only 0.8-3.5% in non-grey horses. While the polygenetic background of this complex disease is well documented in humans, the underlying candidate genes for this skin disorder in horses remain unknown. In this study we aim to perform a genome-...
Druml T, Brem G, Horna M, Ricard A, Grilz-Seger G.Melanoma prevalence in gray horses reaches up to 50% and more. Several studies have documented a genetic melanoma predisposition which is referred to the 4.6 kb duplication in intron 6 of STX17 and its surrounding haplotype. However, the genetic background and mechanisms responsible for differences in etiopathogenesis of equine dermal melanomatosis still remain unknown. In the current study, we performed a genome wide association analysis in 141 Lipizzan horses and subsequently identified one candidate gene on chromosome 24 putatively involved in melanoma pathogenesis in gray horses. The assoc...
Takai S, Sudo M, Sakai M, Suzuki K, Sasaki Y, Kakuda T, Suzuki Y.Rhodococcus equi was isolated from the gastrointestinal contents of earthworms (family Megascolecidae) and their surrounding soil collected from pastures of two horse-breeding farms in Aomori Prefecture, outdoor pig pens, forest in Towada campus, orange groves and forest where wild boars (Sus scrofa) are established in Tanabe, Wakayama Prefecture. The number of R. equi in the lower gastrointestinal contents of 23 earthworms collected from our campus was significantly larger than that of the upper gastrointestinal content. The mean numbers of R. equi from the gastrointestinal contents of earthw...
Santos WB, Schettini GP, Maiorano AM, Bussiman FO, Balieiro JCC, Ferraz GC, Pereira GL, Baldassini WA, Neto ORM, Oliveira HN, Curi RA.The detection of signatures of selection in genomic regions provides insights into the evolutionary process, enabling discoveries regarding complex phenotypic traits. In this research, we focused on identifying genomic regions affected by different selection pressures, mainly highlighting the recent positive selection, as well as understanding the candidate genes and functional pathways associated with the signatures of selection in the Mangalarga Marchador genome. Besides, we seek to direct the discussion about genes and traits of importance in this breed, especially traits related to the typ...
Melzer M, Schubert S, Müller SF, Geyer J, Hagen A, Niebert S, Burk J.Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) represent a promising therapeutic tool for tendon regeneration. Their tenogenic differentiation is crucial for tissue engineering approaches and may support their beneficial effects after cell transplantation . The transforming growth factor (TGF)-, signalling via intracellular Smad molecules, is a potent paracrine mediator of tenogenic induction. Moreover, scaffold topography or tendon matrix components induced tenogenesis via activation of the Rho/ROCK cascade, which, however, is also involved in pathological adaptations in extracellular matrix pathologies. Th...
Klein C, Bruce P, Hammermueller J, Hayes T, Lillie B, Betteridge K.The current study used RNA sequencing to determine transcriptional profiles of equine endometrium collected 14, 22, and 28 days after ovulation from pregnant mares. In addition, the transcriptomes of endometrial samples obtained 20 days after ovulation from pregnant mares, and from non-pregnant mares which displayed and failed to display extended luteal function following the administration of oxytocin, were determined and compared in order to delineate genes whose expressions depend on the presence of the conceptus as opposed to elevated progesterone alone. A mere fifty-five transcripts were ...
Castaneda C, Juras R, Kjöllerström J, Hernandez Aviles C, Teague SR, Love CC, Cothran EG, Varner DD, Raudsepp T.This is a follow-up study to validate the previously detected association of the FKBP6 gene with stallion subfertility. Using a select cohort of 150 Thoroughbred stallions with detailed breeding records, we confirm significant association (P < 0.0001) between low per-cycle pregnancy rates (≤50%) and a combined A/A-A/A genotype of SNPs chr13:11 353 372G>A and chr13:11 353 436A>C in FKBP6 exon 5. We also show that stallion subfertility and the combined genotype A/A-A/A are not associated with the level of genetic diversity based on 12 autosomal microsatellite markers, or with pedig...
Nino-Fong R, Esparza Gonzalez BP, Rodriguez-Lecompte JC, Montelpare W, McD￮ L.Bone repair in horses implies invasive surgeries and increased cost. Research on musculoskeletal disorders therapy in horses includes cell-based therapy with mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs). Mesenchymal stromal cells can be obtained from bone marrow (BMMSCs). Unfortunately, BMMSCs have limited cell replication . The objective of this study was to develop a biologically immortalized equine stem cell line derived from bone marrow, with unlimited proliferation and the ability to differentiate into bone cells. Equine BMMSCs were transfected and immortalized with human telomerase reverse transcri...
Cassimeris L, Armstrong C, Burger QC, Stokes S, van Eps A, Galantino-Homer H.The euglycemic hyperinsulinemic clamp model (EHC) of equine endocrinopathic laminitis induces rapid loss of lamellar tissue integrity, disrupts keratinocyte functions, and induces inflammation similar to natural disease. Continuous digital hypothermia (CDH) blocks tissue damage in this experimental model, allowing identification of specific genes or molecular pathways contributing to disease initiation or early progression. Archived lamellar tissues (8 horses, 48 h EHC treatment, including CDH-treated front limbs) were used to measure relative expression levels of genes encoding keratin 17 (KR...
Walters M, Skovgaard K, Andersen PH, Heegaard PMH, Jacobsen S.The role of resident cells such a synoviocytes and chondrocytes in intra-articular inflammation is well-characterized, however the in vivo gene expression patterns of cells (predominantly leukocytes) in the synovial fluid (SF) of an inflamed joint have never previously been investigated. The aim of this study was to investigate gene expression in SF leukocytes from the inflamed joint cavity after intra-articular lipopolysaccharide (LPS) injection in horses to improve our understanding of the temporal regulation of the intra-articular inflammatory response. Gene expression was investigated in S...
Bundgaard L, Åhrman E, Malmström J, Auf dem Keller U, Walters M, Jacobsen S.The objectives of this study was to establish a sensitive and reproducible method to map the cartilage and subchondral bone proteomes in quantitative terms, and mine the proteomes for proteins of particular interest in the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis (OA). The horse was used as a model animal. Protein was extracted from articular cartilage and subchondral bone samples from three horses in triplicate by pressure cycling technology or ultrasonication. Digested proteins were analysed by data independent acquisition based mass spectrometry. Data was processed using a pre-established spectral li...
Li S, Zhao G, Han H, Li Y, Li J, Wang J, Cao G, Li X.It is important to resolve the evolutionary history of species genomes as it has affected both genome organization and chromosomal architecture. The rapid innovation in sequencing technologies and the improvement in assembly algorithms have enabled the creation of highly contiguous genomes. DNA Zoo, a global organization dedicated to animal conservation, offers more than 150 chromosome-length genome assemblies. This database has great potential in the comparative genomics field. Results: Using the donkey (Equus asinus asinus, EAS) genome provided by DNA Zoo as an example, the scaffold N50 leng...
Goszczynski DE, Tinetti PS, Choi YH, Hinrichs K, Ross PJ.Embryonic genome activation is a critical event in embryo development, in which the transcriptional program of the embryo is initiated. The timing and regulation of this process are species-specific. In vitro embryo production is becoming an important clinical and research tool in the horse; however, very little is known about genome activation in this species. The objective of this work was to identify the timing of genome activation, and the transcriptional networks involved, in in vitro-produced horse embryos. RNA-Seq was performed on oocytes and embryos at eight stages of development (MII,...
Goszczynski DE, Tinetti PS, Choi YH, Ross PJ, Hinrichs K.Embryonic genome activation and dosage compensation are major genetic events in early development. Combined analysis of single embryo RNA-seq data and parental genome sequencing was used to evaluate parental contributions to early development and investigate X-chromosome dynamics. In addition, we evaluated dimorphism in gene expression between male and female embryos. Evaluation of parent-specific gene expression revealed a minor increase in paternal expression at the 4-cell stage that increased at the 8-cell stage. We also detected eight genes with allelic expression bias that may have an imp...
Rejman EE, Kehoe R, Barta JR.The complete mitochondrial genome of (Eimeriidae, Coccidia, Apicomplexa) was obtained. This morphologically distinctive coccidium is considered to be the only valid species of equids and it infects a range of both domestic and wild horses and their relatives. Despite the distinctive appearance of the oocysts of , the mitochondrial genome organization and gene contents were comparable to other spp. and related eimeriid coccidia infecting a range of mammals and birds. The greatly reduced 6242 bp genome is circular-mapping and contains three protein-coding genes (COI, COIII, CytB), 18 fragme...
Makrai L, Takai S, Tamura M, Tsukamoto A, Sekimoto R, Sasaki Y, Kakuda T, Tsubaki S, Varga J, Fodor L, Solymosi N, Major A.Rhodococcus equi isolates (204) obtained from foals (lung abscesses, lymph nodes, nasal discharge, rectal swabs) bred in 15 studs located throughout Hungary, isolates from soil samples, lymph nodes of pigs and from lesions of human patients were examined to determine genotypic diversity of virulence-associated plasmids. Isolates were tested for the presence of 15-17 kDa virulence-associated protein antigen (VapA) and 20k Da (VapB) genes by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Plasmid DNAs were isolated and analysed by digestion with restriction endonucleases for estimation of size and comparison o...
Hedges JF, Balasuriya UB, MacLachlan NJ.Open reading frame 3 (ORF 3) of equine arteritis virus (EAV) is predicted to encode a glycosylated membrane protein (GP3) that is uncharacterized. ORF 3 of the American Type Culture Collection strain of EAV was in vitro transcribed and the encoded GP3 protein was in vitro translated with and without canine microsomal membranes. The GP3 protein was approximately 17 kDa after in vitro translation without canine microsomal membranes whereas the glycosylated form, after translation with microsomal membranes, was a diffuse band of 36-42 kDa, indicating that the GP3 protein is extensively glycosylat...
Leon IM, Lawhon SD, Norman KN, Threadgill DS, Ohta N, Vinasco J, Scott HM.Although Salmonella enterica can produce life-threatening colitis in horses, certain serotypes are more commonly associated with clinical disease. Our aim was to evaluate the proportional morbidity attributed to different serotypes, as well as the phenotypic and genotypic antimicrobial resistance (AMR) of Salmonella isolates from patients at an equine referral hospital in the southern United States. A total of 255 Salmonella isolates was obtained from clinical samples of patients admitted to the hospital between 2007 and 2015. Phenotypic resistance to 14 antibiotics surveilled by the U.S. Nati...
O' Donnell MM, Harris HM, Lynch DB, Ross RP, O'Toole PW.Lactobacillus ruminis is a motile Lactobacillus that is autochthonous to the human gut, and which may also be isolated from other mammals. Detailed characterization of L. ruminis has previously been restricted to strains of human and bovine origin. We therefore sought to expand our bio-bank of strains to identify and characterise isolates of porcine and equine origin by comparative genomics. Results: We isolated five strains from the faeces of horses and two strains from pigs, and compared their motility, biochemistry and genetic relatedness to six human isolates and three bovine isolates incl...
Diallo IS, Hewitson G, Wright LL, Kelly MA, Rodwell BJ, Corney BG.A multiplex real-time PCR was designed to detect and differentiate equid herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1) and equid herpesvirus 4 (EHV-4). The PCR targets the glycoprotein B gene of EHV-1 and EHV-4. Primers and probes were specific to each equine herpesvirus type and can be used in monoplex or multiplex PCRs, allowing the differentiation of these two closely related members of the Alphaherpesvirinae. The two probes were minor-groove binding probes (MGB) labelled with 6-carboxy-fluorescein (FAM) and VIC for detection of EHV-1 and EHV-4, respectively. Ten EHV-1 isolates, six EHV-1 positive clinical samples...
Raudsepp T, Durkin K, Lear TL, Das PJ, Avila F, Kachroo P, Chowdhary BP.Male-to-female 64,XY sex reversal is a frequently reported chromosome abnormality in horses. Despite this, the molecular causes of the condition are as yet poorly understood. This is partially because only limited molecular information is available for the horse Y chromosome (ECAY). Here, we used the recently developed ECAY map and carried out the first comprehensive study of the Y chromosome in XY mares (n=18). The integrity of the ECAY in XY females was studied by FISH and PCR using markers evenly distributed along the euchromatic region. The results showed that the XY sex reversal condition...
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...
Grilz-Seger G, Druml T, Neuditschko M, Dobretsberger M, Horna M, Brem G.The sample ascertainment bias due to complex population structures remains a major challenge in genome-wide investigations of complex traits. In this study we derived the high-resolution population structure and levels of autozygosity of 377 Lipizzan horses originating from five different European stud farms utilizing the SNP genotype information of the high density 700 k Affymetrix Axiom™ Equine genotyping array. Scanning the genome for overlapping runs of homozygosity (ROH) shared by more than 50% of horses, we identified homozygous regions (ROH islands) in order to investigate the gene ...
Ochoa M, Bárcena J, de la Luna S, Melero JA, Douglas AR, Nieto A, Ortín J, Skehel JJ, Portela A.Characterization of the epitopes recognized by 21 monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) specific for the influenza A virus PA (13 MAbs) and PB2 (8 MAbs) polypeptides (Bárcena et al. (1994) J. Virol. 68, 6900-6909) raised against denatured polypeptides produced in E. coli is described. MAbs were characterized by: (1) competitive binding ELISAs; (2) mapping of the protein regions that specify their binding sites; and (3) analyses of their ability to recognize the corresponding viral protein in a number of viral isolates. Five and three non-overlapping antigenic areas were defined by the anti-PA and anti...
Côté GP.The non-muscle tropomyosins (TMs), isolated from such tissues as platelets, brain and thyroid, are structurally very similar to the muscle TMs, being composed of two highly alpha-helical subunits wound around each other to form a rod-like molecule. The non-muscle TMs are shorter than the muscle TMs; sequence analysis demonstrates that each subunit of equine platelet TM consists of 247 amino acids, 37 fewer than for skeletal muscle TM. The major differences in sequence between platelet and skeletal muscle TM are found near the amino and carboxyl terminal ends of the proteins. Probably as the re...
Graves KT, Henney PJ, Ennis RB.Laminin 5 is a heterotrimeric basement membrane protein integral to the structure and function of the dermal-epidermal junction. It consists of three glycoprotein subunits: the alpha3, beta3 and gamma2 chains, which are encoded by the LAMA3, LAMB3 and LAMC2 genes respectively. A mutation in any of these genes results in the condition known as hereditary junctional epidermolysis bullosa (JEB). A 6589-bp deletion spanning exons 24-27 was found in the LAMA3 gene in American Saddlebred foals born with the skin-blistering condition epitheliogenesis imperfecta. The deletion confirms that this autoso...
Tozaki T, Ohnuma A, Takasu M, Kikuchi M, Kakoi H, Hirota KI, Kusano K, Nagata SI.Indiscriminate genetic manipulation to improve athletic ability is a major threat to human sports and the horseracing industry, in which methods involving gene-doping, such as transgenesis, should be prohibited to ensure fairness. Therefore, development of methods to detect indiscriminate genetic manipulation are urgently needed. Here, we developed a highly sensitive method to detect horse erythropoietin () transgenes using droplet digital PCR (ddPCR). We designed two TaqMan probe/primer sets, and the transgene was cloned into a plasmid for use as a model. We extracted the spiked transgene f...
Naccache F, Metzger J, Distl O.Osteochondrosis (OC) is an injury to cartilage canals with a following necrosis in the growth cartilage, from there it can develop to osteochondrosis dissecans (OCD). Due to its high impact in the equine industry, new insights into predisposing factors and potential high-risk genetic variants are warranted. This article reviews advancements in quantitative and molecular genetics in refining estimation of genetic parameters and identifying predisposing genetic loci. Heritabilities were highest for hock OC with estimates at 0.29-0.46 in Hanoverian warmblood and Norwegian trotters, whereas in Tho...
Metzger J, Tonda R, Beltran S, Agueda L, Gut M, Distl O.Domestication has shaped the horse and lead to a group of many different types. Some have been under strong human selection while others developed in close relationship with nature. The aim of our study was to perform next generation sequencing of breed and non-breed horses to provide an insight into genetic influences on selective forces. Results: Whole genome sequencing of five horses of four different populations revealed 10,193,421 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and 1,361,948 insertion/deletion polymorphisms (indels). In comparison to horse variant databases and previous reports, w...
Hedrick PW, Parker KM, Miller EL, Miller PS.The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is a fundamental part of the vertebrate immune system, and the high variability in many MHC genes is thought to play an essential role in recognition of parasites. The Przewalski's horse is extinct in the wild and all the living individuals descend from 13 founders, most of whom were captured around the turn of the century. One of the primary genetic concerns in endangered species is whether they have ample adaptive variation to respond to novel selective factors. In examining 14 Przewalski's horses that are broadly representative of the living animal...
Jiang L, Campagne C, Sundström E, Sousa P, Imran S, Seltenhammer M, Pielberg G, Olsson MJ, Egidy G, Andersson L, Golovko A.Constitutive activation of the ERK pathway, occurring in the vast majority of melanocytic neoplasms, has a pivotal role in melanoma development. Different mechanisms underlie this activation in different tumour settings. The Grey phenotype in horses, caused by a 4.6 kb duplication in intron 6 of Syntaxin 17 (STX17), is associated with a very high incidence of cutaneous melanoma, but the molecular mechanism behind the melanomagenesis remains unknown. Here, we investigated the involvement of the ERK pathway in melanoma development in Grey horses. Methods: Grey horse melanoma tumours, cell lines ...
Simões J, Batista M, Tilley P.Severe equine asthma is a chronic respiratory disease of adult horses, occurring when genetically susceptible individuals are exposed to environmental aeroallergens. This results in airway inflammation, mucus accumulation and bronchial constriction. Although several studies aimed at evaluating the genetic and immune pathways associated with the disease, the results reported are inconsistent. Furthermore, the complexity and heterogeneity of this disease bears great similarity to what is described for human asthma. Currently available studies identified two chromosome regions (ECA13 and ECA15) a...
Rooney MF, Porter RK, Katz LM, Hill EW.Variation in the myostatin (MSTN) gene has been reported to be associated with race distance, body composition and skeletal muscle fibre composition in the horse. The aim of the present study was to test the hypothesis that MSTN variation influences mitochondrial phenotypes in equine skeletal muscle. Mitochondrial abundance and skeletal muscle fibre types were measured in whole muscle biopsies from the gluteus medius of n = 82 untrained (21 ± 3 months) Thoroughbred horses. Skeletal muscle fibre type proportions were significantly (p < 0.01) different among the three MSTN genotypes and mito...
Perryman LE.Severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) is an inherited disorder of humans, mice, horses, and dogs, in which affected individuals are incapable of generating antigen-specific immune responses. It occurs when lymphocyte precursors fail to differentiate into mature lymphocytes because of mutations within recombinase-activating genes 1 and 2 or within the genes encoding deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK). It also occurs when differentiated lymphocytes are incapable of completing signal transduction pathways because of defects in cell surface receptors for interleukins (...
Wimer CL, Schnabel CL, Perkins G, Babasyan S, Freer H, Stout AE, Rollins A, Osterrieder N, Goodman LB, Glaser A, Wagner B.The equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) ORF1 and ORF71 genes have immune modulatory effects in vitro. Experimental infection of horses using virus mutants with multiple deletions including ORF1 and ORF71 showed promise as vaccine candidates against EHV-1. Here, the combined effects of ORF1 and ORF71 deletions from the neuropathogenic EHV-1 strain Ab4 on clinical disease and host immune response were further explored. Three groups of EHV-1 naïve horses were experimentally infected with the ORF1/71 gene deletion mutant (Ab4ΔORF1/71), the parent Ab4 strain, or remained uninfected. In comparison t...
Wang T, Shi X, Liu Z, Ren W, Wang X, Huang B, Kou X, Liang H, Wang C, Chai W.Several studies have shown the association between the ligand-dependent nuclear receptor compression-like protein (LCORL) gene and body size in horses, pigs and donkeys. Based on previous studies, the LCORL gene was hypothesized to be associated with growth traits and hide weight in Dezhou donkeys. In this study, we aimed to reveal the variation of the LCORL gene in the Dezhou donkey and explore whether the gene is associated with hide weight and body size. In this study, genetic polymorphisms in the LCORL gene of the Dezhou donkey were studied using targeted sequencing technology, and single ...
Barrey E, Mucher E, Robert C, Amiot F, Gidrol X.Genomics using cDNA microarrays could provide useful information about physiological adaptations and metabolic disorders in endurance horses. Objective: In order to show that genes are modulated in leucocytes in relationship with performance and clinical status of the horses, gene expression in leucocytes, haematological and biochemical parameters were compared between successful and disqualified endurance horses. Methods: Blood samples were collected at rest (TO) and just after a 140-160 km endurance race (T1) in 2 groups of horses: 10 continuing successful (S) and 10 disqualified horses stop...
Corradetti B, Correani A, Romaldini A, Marini MG, Bizzaro D, Perrini C, Cremonesi F, Lange-Consiglio A.Amniotic membrane-derived mesenchymal cells (AMCs) are considered suitable candidates for a variety of cell-based applications. In view of cell therapy application in uterine pathologies, we studied AMCs in comparison to cells isolated from the endometrium of mares at diestrus (EDCs) being the endometrium during diestrus and early pregnancy similar from a hormonal standpoint. In particular, we demonstrated that amnion tissue fragments (AM) shares the same transcriptional profile with endometrial tissue fragments (ED), expressing genes involved in early pregnancy (AbdB-like Hoxa genes), pre-imp...
Klein C.Maintenance of pregnancy is dependent on the exchange of signals between the conceptus and the endometrium. The objective of this study was to use next-generation sequencing to determine transcriptome blueprints of the conceptus and endometrium 16 days after ovulation in the horse. There were 7760 and 10 182 genes expressed in the conceptus and endometrium, respectively, of which 7029 were present in both. Genes related to developmental processes were enriched among conceptus-specific transcripts, whereas many endometrium-specific genes had known roles in cell communication, cell adhesion and ...
Scocchi M, Bontempo D, Boscolo S, Tomasinsig L, Giulotto E, Zanetti M.Cathelicidins are precursors of defense peptides of the innate immunity and are widespread in mammals. Their structure comprises a conserved prepropiece and an antimicrobial domain that is structurally varied both intra- and inter-species. We investigated the complexity of the cathelicidin family in horse by a reverse transcription-PCR-based cloning strategy of myeloid mRNA and by Southern and Western analyses. Three novel cathelicidin sequences were deduced from bone marrow mRNA and designated equine cathelicidins eCATH-1, eCATH-2 and eCATH-3. Putative antimicrobial domains of 26, 27 and 40 r...
Vidugiris GJ, Royer CA.The volume change for the transition from the native state of horse heart apomyoglobin to a pressure-induced intermediate with fluorescence properties similar to those of the well-established molten globule or I form was measured to be -70 ml/mol. Complete unfolding of the protein by pressure at pH 4.2 revealed an upper limit for the unfolding of the intermediate of -61 ml/mol. At 0.3 M guanidine hydrochloride, the entire transition from native to molten globule to unfolded state was observed in the available pressure range below 2.5 kbar. The volume change for the N-->I transition is relat...
Baxi MK, Efstathiou S, Lawrence G, Whalley JM, Slater JD, Field HJ.Neural tissues from specific pathogen-free ponies that had been experimentally infected with equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1) were analysed by in situ hybridization. Digoxigenin-labelled EHV-1 BamHI fragments spanning almost the entire EHV-1 genome were hybridized to RNA in tissue sections from latently infected trigeminal ganglia. The BamHI E fragment detected EHV-1 RNA antisense to gene 63 (HSV-1 homologue ICP0) in a small number of neurons. Sixteen other BamHI fragments gave negative results in 20 sections tested with each fragment. Latency associated transcripts (LATs) were localized to the ne...
Gadsby PM, Peterson J, Foote N, Greenwood C, Thomson AJ.Magnetic-circular-dichroism (m.c.d.) spectra over the wavelength range 300-2000 nm at room temperature and at 4.2K of horse heart cytochrome c are reported at a series of pH values between 7.8 and 11.0, encompassing the alkaline transition. The effect of glassing agents on the e.p.r. spectrum at various pH values is also reported. Comparison of these results with spectra obtained for the n-butylamine adduct of soybean leghaemoglobin support the hypothesis that lysine is the sixth ligand in the alkaline form of horse heart cytochrome c. The m.c.d. and e.p.r. spectra of horse heart cytochrome c ...
Sherman GB, Wolfe MW, Farmerie TA, Clay CM, Threadgill DS, Sharp DC, Nilson JH.Equine (e) CG and LH beta-subunits have identical amino acid sequences, including an extended carboxyl-terminal peptide (CTP). This suggests that unlike the corresponding human genes, the beta-subunits of eCG and eLH may be encoded by a single gene and share a common proximal promotor region. To explore this, we isolated and characterized the eLH/CG beta gene(s). Data from Southern analyses suggest that the eCG beta and eLH beta subunits are products of the same single copy gene (eLH/CG beta). Overlapping fragments of the eLH/CG beta gene and cDNA were amplified from equine genomic DNA and pit...
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 ...
