Genetics in horses encompasses the study of hereditary traits and the genetic makeup that influences various characteristics and health conditions in equine populations. This field involves the analysis of genes and their functions, inheritance patterns, and the impact of genetic variations on traits such as coat color, performance ability, and susceptibility to diseases. Research in equine genetics employs techniques such as genome mapping, sequencing, and genetic testing to identify specific genes and mutations associated with these traits. This page gathers peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the genetic basis of equine traits, the methodologies used in genetic research, and the implications for breeding, health management, and conservation of horse breeds.
Dall'Olio S, Scotti E, Fontanesi L, Tassinari M.The myostatin (MSTN) gene encodes a protein known to be a negative regulator of muscle mass in mammalian species. Different polymorphisms of the horse (Equus caballus) MSTN gene have been identified, including single nucleotide polymorphisms and a short interspersed nuclear element (SINE) insertion of 227 bp within the promoter of the gene. The SINE insertion has been associated with performance traits in Thoroughbred racehorses and it was proposed as a predictor of optimum racing distance. The aims of this study were to perform in silico analysis to identify putative gains or abrogation of tr...
Sijmons S, Vissani A, Tordoya MS, Muylkens B, Thiry E, Maes P, Matthijnssens J, Barrandeguy M, Van Ranst M.Equid herpesvirus 3 (EHV-3) is a member of the subfamily Alphaherpesvirinae that causes equine coital exanthema. Here, we report the first complete genome sequence of EHV-3. The 151,601-nt genome encodes 76 distinct genes like other equine alphaherpesviruses, but genetically, EHV-3 is significantly more divergent.
Jung H, Roser JF, Yoon M.Spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) continuously undergo self-renewal and differentiation to sustain spermatogenesis throughout adulthood in males. In stallions, SSCs may be used for the production of progeny from geldings after cryopreservation and therapy for infertile and subfertile stallions. Undifferentiated cell transcription factor 1 (UTF1) is a putative marker for undifferentiated spermatogonia in humans and rats. The main purposes of this study are to determine the following: 1) changes in the expression pattern of UTF1 at various reproductive stages of stallions, 2) subpopulations of sp...
Frischknecht M, Neuditschko M, Jagannathan V, Drögemüller C, Tetens J, Thaller G, Leeb T, Rieder S.A cost-effective strategy to increase the density of available markers within a population is to sequence a small proportion of the population and impute whole-genome sequence data for the remaining population. Increased densities of typed markers are advantageous for genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and genomic predictions. Methods: We obtained genotypes for 54 602 SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) in 1077 Franches-Montagnes (FM) horses and Illumina paired-end whole-genome sequencing data for 30 FM horses and 14 Warmblood horses. After variant calling, the sequence-derived SNP geno...
Kehrli D, Jandova V, Fey K, Jahn P, Gerber V.Multiple hypersensitivities (MHS) have been described in humans, cats, and dogs, but not horses. Objective: Horses suffering from recurrent airway obstruction (RAO), insect bite hypersensitivity (IBH), or urticaria (URT) will have an increased risk of also being affected by another one of these hypersensitivities. This predisposition for MHS also will be associated with decreased shedding of strongylid eggs in feces and with a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP BIEC2-224511), previously shown to be associated with RAO. Methods: The first population (P1) included 119 randomly sampled horses re...
Hendrix DV, Newkirk KM.To determine whether epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) are expressed in periocular squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) of horses. Methods: Biopsy specimens of SCCs from 46 horses. Methods: Pathology records were searched retrospectively for biopsy specimens of periocular SCCs obtained from horses. Slides of the specimens were reviewed histologically to confirm the SCC diagnosis and stained for EGFR and HER2 by immunohistochemical methods. For both EGFR and HER2, the immunohistochemical staining intensity and percentage of stain-positive cel...
Pereira GR, Lorenzo PL, Carneiro GF, Bilodeau-Goeseels S, Kastelic J, Liu IK.The objectives of this study were firstly to determine whether the stimulatory function of equine growth hormone (eGH) on equine oocyte maturation in vitro is mediated via cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP); and secondly if the addition of eGH in vitro influences oocyte nuclear maturation and if this effect is removed when GH inhibitors are added to the culture. Cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) were recovered from follicles <25 mm in diameter and randomly allocated as follows: (i) control (no additives); and (ii) 400 ng/ml of eGH. A specific inhibitor against cyclic AMP-dependent protein ...
Legrand R, Tiret L, Abitbol M.Seven donkey breeds are recognized by the French studbook. Individuals from the Pyrenean, Provence, Berry Black, Normand, Cotentin and Bourbonnais breeds are characterized by a short coat, while those from the Poitou breed (Baudet du Poitou) are characterized by a long-hair phenotype. We hypothesized that loss-of-function mutations in the FGF5 (fibroblast growth factor 5) gene, which are associated with a long-hair phenotype in several mammalian species, may account for the special coat feature of Poitou donkeys. To the best of our knowledge, mutations in FGF5 have never been described in Equi...
Canty MJ, Fogarty U, Sheridan MK, Ensley SM, Schrunk DE, More SJ.Four primary mycotoxicosis have been reported in livestock caused by fungal infections of grasses or cereals by members of the Clavicipitaceae family. Ergotism (generally associated with grasses, rye, triticale and other grains) and fescue toxicosis (associated with tall fescue grass, Festuca arundinacea) are both caused by ergot alkaloids, and referred to as 'ergot alkaloid intoxication'. Ryegrass staggers (associated with perennial ryegrass Lolium perenne) is due to intoxication with an indole-diperpene, Lolitrem B, and metabolites. Fescue-associated oedema, recently described in Australia, ...
Scholz HC, Pearson T, Hornstra H, Projahn M, Terzioglu R, Wernery R, Georgi E, Riehm JM, Wagner DM, Keim PS, Joseph M, Johnson B, Kinne J, Jose S....Glanders, caused by the gram-negative bacterium Burkholderia mallei, is a highly infectious zoonotic disease of solipeds causing severe disease in animals and men. Although eradicated from many Western countries, it recently emerged in Asia, the Middle-East, Africa, and South America. Due to its rareness, little is known about outbreak dynamics of the disease and its epidemiology. Results: We investigated a recent outbreak of glanders in Bahrain by applying high resolution genotyping (multiple locus variable number of tandem repeats, MLVA) and comparative whole genome sequencing to B. mallei i...
Donadeu FX, Fahiminiya S, Esteves CL, Nadaf J, Miedzinska K, McNeilly AS, Waddington D, Gérard N.Several aspects of equine ovarian physiology are unique among domestic species. Moreover, follicular growth patterns are very similar between horses and humans. This study aimed to characterize, for the first time, global gene expression profiles associated with growth and preovulatory (PO) maturation of equine dominant follicles. Granulosa cells (GCs) and theca interna cells (TCs) were harvested from follicles (n = 5) at different stages of an ovulatory wave in mares corresponding to early dominance (ED; diameter ≥22 mm), late dominance (LD; ≥33 mm) and PO stage (34 h after administration...
Komárková M, Bartošová J, Dubcová J.We present a study focused on those factors influencing dominance position in young horses, with emphasis on the role of the mother. Horses, as other group-living polygynous mammals, form stable linear dominance hierarchies based on agonistic interactions. Higher dominance positions are believed to be connected, in both sexes, to better condition and higher reproductive success. Many variables play a role in forming the dominant-submissive relationships between horses; however, the maternal effect on the dominance position of the offspring still remains unclear, as do the possible mechanisms o...
Finno CJ, Aleman M, Higgins RJ, Madigan JE, Bannasch DL.Genome-wide association (GWA) studies are widely used to investigate the genetic etiology of diseases in domestic animals. In the horse, GWA studies using 40-50,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in sample sizes of 30-40 individuals, consisting of only 6-14 affected horses, have led to the discovery of genetic mutations for simple monogenic traits. Equine neuroaxonal dystrophy is a common inherited neurological disorder characterized by symmetric ataxia. A case-control GWA study was performed using genotypes from 42,819 SNP marker loci distributed across the genome in 99 clinically phe...
Nielsen MK, Wang J, Davis R, Bellaw JL, Lyons ET, Lear TL, Goday C.The equine ascarid parasite Parascaris equorum is well known as a ubiquitous parasite infecting foals. A sibling species, Parascaris univalens, was first described over 130 years ago, but very little attention has been given to its existence and possible implications for anthelmintic resistance, clinical disease, or host age spectrum. P. univalens only possesses one germ line chromosome pair as opposed to two for P. equorum, but the two species are otherwise considered morphologically identical. For the present study, live worms obtained from the University of Kentucky parasitology horse herd ...
Desjardin C, Vaiman A, Mata X, Legendre R, Laubier J, Kennedy SP, Laloe D, Barrey E, Jacques C, Cribiu EP, Schibler L.MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are an abundant class of small single-stranded non-coding RNA molecules ranging from 18 to 24 nucleotides. They negatively regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level and play key roles in many biological processes, including skeletal development and cartilage maturation. In addition, miRNAs involvement in osteoarticular diseases has been proved and some of them were identified as suitable biomarkers for pathological conditions. Equine osteochondrosis (OC) is one of the most prevalent juvenile osteoarticular disorders in horses and represents a major concern f...
Hollyer JA, McGuinness E, Bowers LC, Didier ES, Giudice C, Perl DP, Fogarty U.A case of encephalitis of unknown origin in the horse was investigated. Postmortem examination findings revealed a nonsuppurative granulomatous meningoencephalitis in the right hemisphere of the cerebral cortex. Testing for West Nile virus, equine herpes virus, equine infectious anemia, , , and were negative. The horse had a titer for , and sections from the affected area of the brain tested positive for the organism using both polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and immunohistochemistry. Amplicons generated using PCR were sequenced, and genotype II was identified. This is the first case of gen...
Smet A, Cools P, Krizova L, Maixnerova M, Sedo O, Haesebrouck F, Kempf M, Nemec A, Vaneechoutte M.We previously reported the presence of an OXA-23 carbapenemase in an undescribed species of the genus Acinetobacter isolated from horse dung at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Belgium. Here we include six strains to corroborate the delineation of this taxon by phenotypic characterization, DNA-DNA hybridization, 16S rRNA gene and rpoB sequence analysis, % G+C determination, MALDI-TOF MS and fatty acid analysis. The nearly complete 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain UG 60467(T) showed the highest similarities with those of the type strains of Acinetobacter bouvetii (98.4 %)...
Giles C, Vanniasinkam T, Ndi S, Barton MD.For decades researchers have been targeting prevention of Rhodococcus equi (Rhodococcus hoagui/Prescottella equi) by vaccination and the horse breeding industry has supported the ongoing efforts by researchers to develop a safe and cost effective vaccine to prevent disease in foals. Traditional vaccines including live, killed and attenuated (physical and chemical) vaccines have proved to be ineffective and more modern molecular-based vaccines including the DNA plasmid, genetically attenuated and subunit vaccines have provided inadequate protection of foals. Newer, bacterial vector vaccines hav...
Mickelson JR, Valberg SJ.Horses are remarkable athletes and a fascinating species in which to study the genetic bases of athletic performance, skeletal muscle biology, and neuromuscular disease. Genetic selection in horses has resulted in many breeds that possess anatomical, physiological, and metabolic variations linked to speed, power, and endurance that are beginning to be defined at the molecular level. Along with the concentration of positive traits, equine breeding programs have also inadvertently concentrated heritable muscle diseases for which mutations impacting electrical conduction, muscle contraction, and ...
Rakhshandehroo E, Sharifiyazdi H, Shayegh H, Ahmadi A.Habronema muscae is a spirurid nematode that undergoes developmental stages in the stomach of equids, causing chronic catarrhal gastritis. Despite preceding investigations have developed polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based assays for molecular diagnosis, we aimed to assess the applicability of cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (cox1) sequences to identify the H. muscae infection and to assess the level of intraspecific variations in this parasite obtained from affected horses in Southern Iran. According to the morphological characterizations, two different isolates of H. muscae were identified....
Burk SV, Dangoudoubiyam S, Brewster-Barnes T, Bryant UK, Howe DK, Carter CN, Vanzant ES, Harmon RJ, Kazacos KR, Rossano MG.Currently, diagnosis of Parascaris equorum infection in equids is limited to patent infections. The goals of this study were to culture P. equorum larvae in vitro and identify excretory-secretory (ES) products for prepatent diagnostic testing. Parascaris equorum L2/L3 larvae were hatched and cultured for up to 3 weeks for ES product collection. Fifth stage (L5) P. equorum were also cultured for ES product collection. Examination of ES fractions by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and silver stain revealed L2/L3 products ranging from 12-94 kDa and L5 products...
Gómez MD, Menéndez-Buxadera A, Valera M, Molina A.The performance results of Spanish Trotter Horses were merged with the information from the nearest official weather stations, to estimate the effects of temperature (T) on speed during the day of the race. The resulting data set included: 104 125 individual results from 7653 races with 3772 participant horses and driven by 1402 jockeys. After a classical repeatability animal model in which the effects of T were assumed null, a total of five different random regression models (RRM) with the same fixed part were applied in a parsimonious nested process in which the (co)variance components for ...
Tanaka T, Kasai H, Yamashita A, Okuyama-Dobashi K, Yasumoto J, Maekawa S, Enomoto N, Okamoto T, Matsuura Y, Morimatsu M, Manabe N, Ochiai K....Equine hepacivirus (EHcV) has been identified as a closely related homologue of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany, but not in Asian countries. In this study, we genetically and serologically screened 31 serum samples obtained from Japanese-born domestic horses for EHcV infection and subsequently identified 11 PCR-positive and 7 seropositive serum samples. We determined the full sequence of the EHcV genome, including the 3' untranslated region (UTR), which had previously not been completely revealed. The polyprotein of a Japanese EHcV strain showed ap...
Ząbek T, Semik E, Wnuk M, Fornal A, Gurgul A, Bugno-Poniewierska M.DNA methylation patterns and their relation with genetic polymorphisms were determined in the equine OAS1 locus. Genetic variants of OAS1 were previously found to be associated with susceptibility to West Nile virus infections in horses. The subject of the study were white blood cells of 13 juvenile and 13 old horses from AA and HC breed and a set of solid tissues from a single adult horse. The aim was to determine the degree of variation of CpG methylation profiles with concern for tissue type, horse breed and age. Results of direct BSPCR and cloned BSPCR sequencing revealed that all of deter...
Hackett ES, Lunn DP, Ferris RA, Horohov DW, Lappin MR, McCue PM.Neonatal sepsis is a common problem in foals and is a primary cause of death in the post natal period. Transient bacteraemia and subsequent host responses have not been described in the equine neonate. Objective: The primary objective of this study was to determine if transient bacteraemia occurs in foals within the first 72 h of life. Additional objectives included description of bacterial organisms associated with transient bacteraemia and concurrent cytokine gene expression in healthy foals. Methods: Prospective observational study in healthy foals. Methods: Blood was aseptically collecte...
Park KD, Kim H, Hwang JY, Lee CK, Do KT, Kim HS, Yang YM, Kwon YJ, Kim J, Kim HJ, Song KD, Oh JD, Kim H, Cho BW, Cho S, Lee HK.Copy number variations (CNVs), important genetic factors for study of human diseases, may have as large of an effect on phenotype as do single nucleotide polymorphisms. Indeed, it is widely accepted that CNVs are associated with differential disease susceptibility. However, the relationships between CNVs and gene expression have not been characterized in the horse. In this study, we investigated the effects of copy number deletion in the blood and muscle transcriptomes of Thoroughbred racing horses. We identified a total of 1,246 CNVs of deletion polymorphisms using DNA re-sequencing data from...
Trewby H, Ayele G, Borzacchiello G, Brandt S, Campo MS, Del Fava C, Marais J, Leonardi L, Vanselow B, Biek R, Nasir L.Papillomaviruses are a family of slowly evolving DNA viruses and their evolution is commonly linked to that of their host species. However, whilst bovine papillomavirus-1 (BPV-1) primarily causes warts in its natural host, the cow, it can also cause locally aggressive and invasive skin tumours in equids, known as sarcoids, and thus provides a rare contemporary example of cross-species transmission of a papillomavirus. Here, we describe the first phylogenetic analysis of BPV-1 in equine sarcoids to our knowledge, allowing us to explore the evolutionary history of BPV-1 and investigate its cross...
Lee JH, Lee T, Lee HK, Cho BW, Shin DH, Do KT, Sung S, Kwak W, Kim HJ, Kim H, Cho S, Park KD.Genetics is important for breeding and selection of horses but there is a lack of well-established horse-related browsers or databases. In order to better understand horses, more variants and other integrated information are needed. Thus, we construct a horse genomic variants database including expression and other information. Horse Single Nucleotide Polymorphism and Expression Database (HSDB) (http://snugenome2.snu.ac.kr/HSDB) provides the number of unexplored genomic variants still remaining to be identified in the horse genome including rare variants by using population genome sequences of...
Battista JM, Tallmadge RL, Stokol T, Felippe MJ.We investigated how the equine fetus prepares its pre-immune humoral repertoire for an imminent exposure to pathogens in the neonatal period, particularly how the primary hematopoietic organs are equipped to support B cell hematopoiesis and immunoglobulin (Ig) diversity. We demonstrated that the liver and the bone marrow at approximately 100 days of gestation (DG) are active sites of hematopoiesis based on the expression of signature messenger RNA (mRNA) (c-KIT, CD34, IL7R, CXCL12, IRF8, PU.1, PAX5, NOTCH1, GATA1, CEBPA) and protein markers (CD34, CD19, IgM, CD3, CD4, CD5, CD8, CD11b, CD172A)...
De Cock HE, MacLachlan NJ.Neoplastic and hyperplastic disorders that affect multiple endocrine tissues in a single individual are well described in humans but less so in domestic animals. Multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN) in humans is a genetically determined syndrome characterized by the appearance of benign or malignant proliferations within two or more endocrine glands. The primary endocrine tumors that are characteristic of MEN arise from cells that share the capacity for amine precursor uptake and decarboxylation. Here we describe the case of a 22-year-old Thoroughbred mare that died during an unattended parturit...
Song Y, Massart C, Chico-Galdo V, Jin L, De Maertelaer V, Decoster C, Dumont JE, Van Sande J.In the literature, data obtained in signal transduction from various species thyroids and cells lines are often integrated in a common model. We investigate qualitatively and systematically, using the same protocol, the control by TSH of the two main functions of the thyrocytes, the synthesis and the secretion of thyroid hormones. In all species investigated, the TSH receptor activates both. In some species, including humans, rats and mice, the TSH receptor activates both the cAMP and phospholipase C-PIP2 cascades, in others (e.g. dog) it only stimulates the first. The cAMP pathway activates t...
Date T, Sugiyama M, Lkhagvasuren D, Wakita T, Oyunsuren T, Mizokami M.Equine hepacivirus (EHV) belongs to the hepacivirus A and is related to hepatitis C virus (HCV). This virus shows hepatic tropism and is known to chronically infect horses. EHV has been reported from various countries, but the prevalence in Mongolia, where large horse populations are pastured, remains unknown. This study collected serum samples from horses in six areas across Mongolia, in order to investigate the status of infection. The possibility of human infection was also examined. The results showed an infection rate among horses of about 40 % in all regions. However, no evidence of EHV ...
Furusawa Y, Yamada S, Itai S, Sano M, Nakamura T, Yanaka M, Handa S, Mizuno T, Maeda K, Fukui M, Harada H, Kaneko MK, Kato Y.Podoplanin (PDPN), a type I transmembrane glycoprotein, is expressed in several body tissues, including podocytes of renal glomerulus, type I alveolar cells of lung, and lymphatic endothelial cells. PDPN activates platelet aggregation by binding to C-type lectin-like receptor-2 (CLEC-2) presented on platelets. Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against human-, mouse-, rat-, rabbit-, dog-, bovine-, and cat-PDPN have already been established. However, anti-horse PDPN mAbs have not yet been developed. In this study, we immunized mice with synthetic horse PDPN peptides and developed anti-horse PDPN mAbs...
Gambini A, Duque Rodríguez M, Rodríguez MB, Briski O, Flores Bragulat AP, Demergassi N, Losinno L, Salamone DF.Several equids have gone extinct and many extant equids are currently considered vulnerable to critically endangered. This work aimed to evaluate whether domestic horse oocytes support preimplantation development of zebra embryos obtained by intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI, zebroid) and cloning, and to study the Hippo signaling pathway during the lineage specification of trophectoderm cells and inner cell mass cells. We first showed that zebra and horse sperm cells induce porcine oocyte activation and recruit maternal SMARCA4 during pronuclear formation. SMARCA4 recruitment showed to be...
Ekruth J, Gottschalk C, Ulrich S, Gareis M, Schwaiger K.Stachybotrys (S.) chartarum is a cellulolytic mould with the ability to produce highly cytotoxic macrocyclic trichothecenes. Two chemotypes are defined according to their ability to produce either atranones or satratoxins. S. chartarum has been well known as the causative agent of the lethal disease stachybotryotoxicosis in horses. Further investigations revealed that this disease is strictly correlated with the presence of macrocyclic trichothecenes. Furthermore, their occurrence in water-damaged buildings has been linked to adverse health effects such as the sick building syndrome. As the ch...
Jonsdottir S, Svansson V, Stefansdottir SB, Mäntylä E, Marti E, Torsteinsdottir S.Insect bite hypersensitivity is an immunoglobulin (Ig)E-mediated dermatitis of horses initiated by bites of midges of the genus Culicoides. Culicoides spp. are not indigenous to Iceland and the prevalence of insect bite hypersensitivity is much higher in horses born in Iceland and exported as compared to Icelandic horses born in a Culicoides rich environment. Immunotherapy is therefore needed. Objective: The aim of the study was to express an allergen from Culicoides in barley grain and investigate whether an immune response could be obtained in healthy Icelandic horses by oral treatment with ...
Fillion G, Beaudoin D, Rousselle JC, Jacob J.Glial cell membrane fractions were prepared using glial cells preparations isolated from horse brain striatum. [3H]5-HT binding was measured by the filtration technique and the adenylate cyclase activity determined by measuring the cAMP production using a radioimmunoassay. Serotonin binds to glial membrane fractions with an affinity corresponding to a dissociation constant Kd = nM. The corresponding site is serotoninergic specific: [3H]5-HT binding is inhibited by 5-HT agonists (5 OH NM-DMT, 5-MeOHT, 5-MeOH-DMT, NN-DMT) or antagonists (cinanserine, cyproheptadine, methysergide, LSD) and not (o...
Wagner ML, Valberg SJ, Ames EG, Bauer MM, Wiseman JA, Penedo MC, Kinde H, Abbitt B, Mickelson JR.Glycogen Branching Enzyme Deficiency (GBED), a fatal condition recently identified in fetuses and neonatal foals of the Quarter Horse and Paint Horse lineages, is caused by a nonsense mutation in codon 34 of the GBE1 gene, which prevents the synthesis of a functional GBE protein and severely disrupts glycogen metabolism. The aims of this project were to determine the mutant GBE1 allele frequency in random samples from the major relevant horse breeds, as well as the frequency with which GBED is associated with abortion and early neonatal death using the tissue archives from veterinary diagnosti...
Feh C, Munkhtuya B.The sexual selection hypothesis explains infanticide by males in many mammals. In our 11-year study, we investigated this hypothesis in a herd of Przewalski's horses where we had witnessed infanticidal attacks. Infanticide was highly conditional and not simply linked to takeovers. Attacks occurred in only five of 39 cases following a takeover, and DNA paternity revealed that, although infanticidal stallions were not the genetic fathers in four cases out of five, stallions present at birth did not significantly attempt to kill unrelated foals. Infanticide did not reduce birth intervals; only in...
Bleumink-Pluym NM, van Dijk L, van Vliet AH, van der Giessen JW, van der Zeijst BA.The 16S ribosomal DNA sequence of Taylorella equigenitalis (formerly Haemophilus equigenitalis), the causative organism of contagious equine metritis, was determined. A phylogenetic analysis of this sequence revealed a phylogenetic position of T. equigenitalis in the beta subclass of the class Proteobacteria apart from the position of Haemophilus influenzae, which belongs to the gamma subclass of Proteobacteria. A close phylogenetic relationship among T. equigenitalis, Alcaligenes xylosoxidans, and Bordetella bronchiseptica was detected; Spirillum volutans and Chromobacterium fluviatile (Iodob...
Abdel-Moneim AS, Shehab GM, Abu-Elsaad AA.Phylogenetic and evolutionary patterns of the six internal genes of an equine H5N1 influenza A virus isolated in Egypt on 2009 were analyzed using direct sequencing. All of the internal genes of the equine H5N1 strain showed a genetic pattern potentially related to Eurasian lineages. Variable dendrogram topologies revealed an absence of reassortment in the equine strain while confirming its close relatedness to other Egyptian H5N1 strains from human and avian species. The equine strain is characterized by a variety of amino acid substitutions in six internal proteins compared to the available ...
Pine L, Reeves MW.Various sugars were tested for their effect on the differential rate of synthesis of M protein during the growth of Streptococcus pyogenes strain 0055 M12T12. In a semisynthetic medium alone, a high rate of M protein synthesis occurred with glucose as a substrate; decreasing rates of synthesis occurred with sucrose and trehalose, in that order, although the rates of growth were approximately equal with all sugars. A period of derepressed synthesis of M protein occurred in the lag phase of growth and in the stationary period as the substrates were being depleted. Although glucose inhibited the ...
Desideri A, Stefanini S, Polizio F, Petruzzelli R, Chiancone E.Apoferritin has been selectively labeled with a maleimide nitroxide derivative at Cys-126, located in the hydrophilic 3-fold channels. Titration of this derivative with Fe(II), which gives rise to the initial Fe(III)-apoferritin complex, produces, at low metal-to-protein ratios, a decrease of the intensity of the label EPR signal due to the occurrence of a magnetic dipolar interaction. A label-metal distance ranging between 8-12 A can be estimated from titrations performed with VO(IV), which is known to bind in the 3-fold channels, and likewise produces a decrease in the label EPR signal. The ...
Maury W, Thompson RJ, Jones Q, Bradley S, Denke T, Baccam P, Smazik M, Oaks JL.Equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) is a lentivirus with in vivo cell tropism primarily for tissue macrophages; however, in vitro the virus can be adapted to fibroblasts and other cell types. Tropism adaptation is associated with both envelope and long terminal repeat (LTR) changes, and findings strongly suggest that these regions of the genome influence cell tropism and virulence. Furthermore, high levels of genetic variation have been well documented in both of these genomic regions. However, specific EIAV nucleotide or amino acid changes that are responsible for cell tropism changes have ...
Ortved K, Wagner B, Calcedo R, Wilson J, Schaefer D, Nixon A.Intraarticular (IA) administration of viral vectors expressing a therapeutic transgene is an attractive treatment modality for osteoarthritis (OA) as the joint can be treated as a contained unit. Humoral and cell-mediated immune responses in vivo can limit vector effectiveness. Transduction of articular tissues has been investigated; however, the immune response to IA vectors remains largely unknown. We hypothesized that IA rAAV2 and rAAV5 overexpressing insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) would result in long-term IGF-I formation but would also induce neutralizing antibodies (NAb) and anti-c...
Ibrahim el SM, Pagmajav O, Yamaguchi T, Matsumura T, Fukushi H.Nucleotide sequences of the intergenic region between ORF 62 and ORF 63 of equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1) isolates were analyzed. The sequences of this region consisted of variable and conserved domains among EHV-1 isolates. An EHV-1 mutant, Ab4-GFP, was constructed by inserting a green fluorescent protein (GFP) expression cassette flanked by lox P at both ends into the intergenic region between ORF 62 and ORF 63. Another mutant, Ab4-loxP, which contains one lox P site, was constructed by excision of the GFP cassette from the Ab4-GFP virus genome by cre enzyme. The recombinant Ab4-GFP formed sma...
Antosiewicz J, Porschke D.Hemoglobins from normal human cells, from sickle cells, and from horse were investigated by electrooptical methods in their oxy and deoxy forms. The reduced linear dichroism measured as a function of the electric field strength demonstrates the existence of permanent dipole moments in the range of 250-400 Debye units. The reduced limiting dichroism is relatively small (< or = 0.1); it is negative for hemoglobin from sickle cells and positive for the hemoglobins from normal human cells and from horse. The dichroism decay time constants are in the range from about 55 to 90 ns. Calculations of th...
Liu S, Yang Y, Pan Q, Sun Y, Ma H, Liu Y, Wang M, Zhao C, Wu C.Extremely low nucleotide diversity of modern horse Y-chromosome has been reported, and only poor phylogenetic resolution could be resulted from limited Y-chromosome markers. In this study, three types of horse Y-chromosome markers, including Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), copy number variants (CNVs), and allele-specific CNVs, were developed by screening more than 300 male horses from 23 indigenous Chinese horse populations and 4 imported horse breeds. Fourteen segregating sites including a novel SNP in the AMELY gene were found in approximately 53 kb of male-specific Y-chromosome sequ...
Capomaccio S, Willand ZA, Cook SJ, Issel CJ, Santos EM, Reis JK, Cook RF.The genetically distinct wild horse herds inhabiting Shackleford Banks, North Carolina are probably the direct descendents of Spanish stock abandoned after failed attempts to settle mid-Atlantic coastal regions of North America in the Sixteenth Century. In a 1996 island survey, 41% of the gathered horses were discovered seropositive for Equine Infectious Anemia Virus (EIAV) with additional cases identified in 1997 and 1998. As a result of their unique genetic heritage, EIAV seropositive individuals identified in the two latter surveys were transferred to a quarantine facility on the mainland. ...
Mizuguchi M, Nara M, Ke Y, Kawano K, Hiraoki T, Nitta K.Interactions between Ca2+ and the Asp side chains in the Ca2+-binding site of equine lysozyme were investigated by Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. In the spectrum of equine lysozyme, the intensities of the bands at about 1595 cm-1 and 1578 cm-1 in the region of the COO antisymmetric stretches increased upon Ca2+ binding. In the region of the COO- symmetric stretches, the loss of intensity at about 1388 cm-1 and gains of intensities at about 1423 cm-1 and 1403 cm-1 were observed due to Ca2+ binding to equine lysozyme. The spectral changes for equine lysozyme indicate that the C...
Navarro D, Vargas M, Herrera M, Segura Á, Gómez A, Villalta M, Ramírez N, Williams D, Gutiérrez JM, León G.A chicken-derived antivenom (ChDAv) towards taipan snake (Oxyuranus scutellatus) venom was produced by purifying anti-taipan IgY from egg yolks of hens immunized with taipan venom. The productivity, antivenomic profile, neutralization ability, pharmacokinetic properties and immunogenicity of the ChDAv were compared with those of an antivenom produced in horses (EDAv). We found that 382 eggs are required to produce the mass of anti-taipan antibodies contained in one liter of equine hyperimmune plasma, and that 63 chickens would be needed to generate the amount of anti-taipan antibodies annually...
Petrucci L, Maranesi M, Verini Supplizi A, Dall'Aglio C, Mandara MT, Quassinti L, Bramucci M, Miano A, Gobbetti A, Catone G, Boiti C, Zerani M.The objectives of this study were to evaluate in horse testes the expression of kisspeptin (KiSS) and GnRH1 neuropeptides and their cognate receptors, KiSS1R and GnRH1R, as well as their action on testosterone, GnRH1, prostaglandin F2α (PGF2α), and PGE2 synthesis and cyclooxygenase 1 (COX1) and COX2 activity by Leydig cells in vitro. Testes were obtained from 9 sexually mature horses by surgical castration. Immunohistochemistry, evidenced the presence of KiSS, KiSS1R, GnRH, and GnRH1R in Leydig cells, whereas germinal and Sertoli cells were positive only for GnRH1. Transcripts for both neur...
Satterlee JD, Moench SJ, Erman JE.Cytochrome-c peroxidase (ferrocytochrome-c:hydrogen-peroxide oxidoreductase, EC 1.11.1.5) forms a noncovalent 1:1 complex with horse cytochrome c in low ionic strength solution that is detectable by proton NMR spectroscopy. When the entire proton hyperfine-shifted spectrum is considered only five hyperfine resonances exhibit unambiguously detectable shifts: the heme 8-CH3 and 3-CH3 resonances, single proton resonances near 19 ppm and -4 ppm and the methionine-80 methyl group. These shifts are very similar to those observed for the covalently crosslinked complex of cytochrome-c peroxidase and h...
Hauser H, Richter DC, van Tonder A, Clark L, Preston A.Contagious equine metritis (CEM) is an important venereal disease of horses that is of concern to the thoroughbred industry. Taylorella equigenitalis is a causative agent of CEM but very little is known about it or its close relative Taylorella asinigenitalis. To reveal novel information about Taylorella biology, comparative genomic analyses were undertaken. Whole genome sequencing was performed for the T. equigenitalis type strain, NCTC11184. Draft genome sequences were produced for a second T. equigenitalis strain and for a strain of T. asinigenitalis. These genome sequences were analysed an...
Staji H, Yousefi M, Hamedani MA, Tamai IA, Khaligh SG.Anaplasma spp. are among the most recognized arthropod-borne infectious agents. Although the novel A. capra has been isolated from wildlife, livestock, and hard ticks from many parts of the world, there is no report regarding the identification of this pathogen from equines and little is known about the epidemiology of A. capra in Equidae. In this study, A. capra was identified in two out of ten blood specimens of wild onagers (Equus hemionus onager) during a routine health check-up in Semnan, Iran by light microscopy and molecular analyses while other pathogens were not detected. First, inclu...
Catania KC.In March 1800, Alexander von Humboldt observed the extraordinary spectacle of native fisherman collecting electric eels (Electrophorus electricus) by "fishing with horses" [von Humboldt A (1807) Ann Phys 25:34-43]. The strategy was to herd horses into a pool containing electric eels, provoking the eels to attack by pressing themselves against the horses while discharging. Once the eels were exhausted, they could be safely collected. This legendary tale of South American adventures helped propel Humboldt to fame and has been recounted and illustrated in many publications, but subsequent investi...
Esteves CL, Sharma R, Dawson L, Taylor SE, Pearson G, Keen JA, McDonald K, Aurich C, Donadeu FX.Expression of several putative markers of pluripotency (OCT4, SOX2, NANOG, LIN28A, REX1, DNMT3B and TERT) was examined in a range of equine tissues, including early embryos, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), testis, adipose- and bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs), and keratinocytes. Transcript levels of all markers were highest in embryos and iPSCs and, except for SOX2, were very low or undetectable in keratinocytes. Mean expression levels of all markers were lower in testis than in embryos or iPSCs and, except for DNMT3B, were higher in testis than in MSCs. Expression ...
Deeg CA, Hauck SM, Amann B, Kremmer E, Stangassinger M, Ueffing M.Equine recurrent uveitis (ERU) is a valuable model for autoimmune diseases, since it develops frequently and occurs spontaneously. We investigated the overall expression level of three major retinal autoantigens in normal retinas and various ERU stages. Analysis of retinal proteomes of both, healthy and diseased retinas revealed an almost unaffected expression of IRBP, S-antigen and cRALBP in ERU cases. Validation of these findings with western blots and immunohistochemistry confirmed constant to increased expression of these autoantigens, although loss of their physiological expression sites ...
McCoy AM, Norton EM, Kemper AM, Beeson SK, Mickelson JR, McCue ME.Osteochondrosis is a common developmental orthopedic disease characterized by a failure of endochondral ossification. Standardbred horses are recognized as being predisposed to tarsal osteochondrosis. Prior heritability estimates for tarsal osteochondrosis in European Standardbreds and related trotting breeds have been based on pedigree data and range from 17-29%. Here, we report on genetic architecture and heritability based on high-density genotyping data in a cohort of North American Standardbreds (n = 479) stringently phenotyped for tarsal osteochondrosis. Whole-genome array genotyping d...
