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.
Borges AS, Conceição LG, Alves AL, Fabris VE, Pessoa MA.Hereditary equine regional dermal asthenia belongs to a group of inherited, congenital connective tissue dysplasias usually described as hyperelastosis cutis, cutaneous asthenia, dermatosparaxis, or Ehlers-Danlos-like syndrome. This report presents the clinical and histological features of three related Quarter horses affected with regional dermal asthenia. These horses had bilateral asymmetric lesions of the trunk and lumbar regions, where the skin was hyperextensible. Handling of the skin elicited a painful response and superficial trauma led to skin wounds. The skin was thinner than normal ...
Lafont R, Dinan L.Ecdysteroids are widely used as inducers for gene-switch systems based on insect ecdysteroid receptors and genes of interest placed under the control of ecdysteroid-response elements. We review here these systems, which are currently mainly used in vitro with cultured cells in order to analyse the role of a wide array of genes, but which are expected to represent the basis for future gene therapy strategies. Such developments raise several questions, which are addressed in detail. First, the metabolic fate of ecdysteroids in mammals, including humans, is only poorly known, and the rapid catabo...
Hejmej A, Gorazd M, Kosiniak-Kamysz K, Wiszniewska B, Sadowska J, Bilińska B.Androgen metabolism may proceed to amplify the action of testosterone by its aromatisation to oestradiol. Recently, a growing body of evidence suggests a role of oestrogens in the male reproductive tract via their specific oestrogen receptors (ERs). In order to check whether androgens are converted to oestrogens in the testis, epididymis and prostate of the stallion, the expression of aromatase was visualised by means of immunohistochemistry. Moreover, to show the cellular targets for oestrogens the presence of oestrogen receptor alpha (ERalpha) and oestrogen receptor beta (ERbeta) was demonst...
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...
Traversa D, Otranto D, Iorio R, Giangaspero A.Equine thelaziosis caused by the eyeworm Thelazia lacrymalis is a parasitic disease transmitted by muscid flies. Although equine thelaziosis is known to have worldwide distribution, information on the epidemiology and presence of the intermediate hosts of T. lacrymalis is lacking. In the present work, a PCR-RFLP based assay on the first and/or second internal transcribed spacer (ITS1 and ITS2) of ribosomal DNA was developed for the detection of T. lacrymalis DNA in its putative vector(s). The sensitivity of the technique was also assessed. The restriction patterns obtained readily differentiat...
Weideman H, Schoeman SJ, Jordaan GF.This study was carried out to estimate the heritability of liability to epistaxis in the southern African Thoroughbred population. Data of all horses that suffered epistaxis while racing in southern Africa and Mauritius from 1986 to 2002 and involving 1252 bleeders were analysed. Pedigree data covering the period 1960-1986 was used as required to calculate the incidence of bleeding amongst ancestors of the post-1986 era. Only pedigrees of horses that raced were included in this study as it was not possible to predict whether non-runners would have bled had they raced. Consequently all non-runn...
Ward MP, Alinovi CA, Couëtil LL, Wu CC.The diagnostic accuracy of a PCR used to identify horses shedding Salmonella spp. in their feces during hospitalization was estimated, relative to bacterial culture of serially collected fecal samples, using longitudinal data. Five or more fecal samples were collected from each of 116 horses admitted as inpatients, for reasons other than gastrointestinal disease, between July 26, 2001 and October 25, 2002. All 873 fecal samples collected were tested with a PCR based on oligonucleotide primers defining a highly conserved segment of the histidine transport operon gene of Salmonella typhimurium, ...
King SS, Campbell AG, Dille EA, Roser JF, Murphy LL, Jones KL.Dopamine (DA) agonist and antagonist treatments can affect ovarian reproductive events in the mare. To support our theory that DA produces these effects by acting directly on the ovary, we analyzed equine ovarian tissues for the presence of dopamine receptor-1 (D1r) and dopamine receptor-2 (D2r) mRNA by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and D1r and D2r proteins by Western blot and immunohistochemistry (IHC). RT-PCR was performed on RNA isolated from ovarian cortex, medulla, granulosa/theca or corpus luteum (CL) tissues and from pituitary (D2r control) and renal artery (D...
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 ...
Trapp S, von Einem J, Hofmann H, Köstler J, Wild J, Wagner R, Beer M, Osterrieder N.Key problems using viral vectors for vaccination and gene therapy are antivector immunity, low transduction efficiencies, acute toxicity, and limited capacity to package foreign genetic information. It could be demonstrated that animal and human cells were efficiently transduced with equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1) reconstituted from viral DNA maintained and manipulated in Escherichia coli. Between 13 and 23% of primary human CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, CD11b+, and CD19+ cells and more than 70% of CD4+ MT4 cells or various human tumor cell lines (MeWo, Huh7, HeLa, 293T, or H1299) could be transduced with o...
Tryon RC, White SD, Famula TR, Schultheiss PC, Hamar DW, Bannasch DL.To assess heritability and mode of inheritance for hereditary equine regional dermal asthenia (HERDA) in Quarter Horses. Methods: 1,295 horses with Quarter Horse bloodlines, including 58 horses affected with HERDA. Methods: Horses were classified as affected or unaffected or as undetermined when data were insufficient to assess phenotype. Pedigree data were analyzed to determine the probable mode of inheritance. Heritability was estimated by use of Bayesian statistical methods. Results: Heritability (mean+/-SD) of HERDA was estimated to be 0.38+/-0.13, with both sexes having an equal probabili...
Alhassan A, Pumidonming W, Okamura M, Hirata H, Battsetseg B, Fujisaki K, Yokoyama N, Igarashi I.With the aim of developing more simple diagnostic alternatives, a differential single-round and multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method was designed for the simultaneous detection of Babesia caballi and Babesia equi, by targeting 18S ribosomal RNA genes. The multiplex PCR amplified DNA fragments of 540 and 392 bp from B. caballi and B. equi, respectively, in one reaction. The PCR method evaluated on 39 blood samples collected from domestic horses in Mongolia yielded similar results to those obtained from confirmative PCR methods that had been established earlier. Thus, the single-roun...
Ginther OJ, Gastal EL, Gastal MO, Beg MA.During a follicular wave in mares, the two largest follicles (F1 and F2) begin to deviate in diameter when F1 is a mean of 22.5 mm. The intrafollicular effects of pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A), IGF-I, activin-A and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) on other follicular-fluid factors during deviation were studied. In four treated groups (n = 7/group), a single dose of one of the four factors was injected into F2 when F1 was > or = 20.0 mm (expected beginning of deviation). In a control group (n = 7), F2 was injected with vehicle. One day after treatment, a sample of f...
Borchers K, Daly J, Stiens G, Kreling K, Kreling I, Ludwig H.Reported here are the results of antigenic and genetic characterisation of equine influenza strains causing local outbreaks reported to the Equine Diagnostic Centre in Berlin, Germany. In 2000, equine influenza virus was detected in a nasal swab from a non-vaccinated horse using a rapid diagnostic kit, but was not successfully isolated. Partial direct sequencing of the haemagglutinin (HA1) gene, indicated that the virus was a European lineage H3N8 subtype strain representative of strains isolated in several European countries during 2000. In 2002, two equine influenza viruses were isolated fro...
Díaz S, Giovambattista G, Peral-García P.Sequence information was obtained on the variation of the ELA-DRB upstream regulatory region (URR) after polymerase chain reaction-single strand conformation polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) cloning and sequencing of approximately 220 bp upstream of the first exon of horse DRB genes. The sequence of the proximal URR of equine DRB is composed of highly conserved sequence motifs, showing the presence of the W, X, Y, CAAT and TATA conserved boxes of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II promoters. Five different polymorphic horse DRB promoter sequences were detected in five horse breeds. The res...
Harvey SP, Minter JM.In this study, the subspecies differentiation of 25 isolates of Burkholderia mallei was attempted based on their ribotype polymorphisms. The isolates were from human and equine infections that occurred at various times around the world. DNA samples from each isolate were digested separately with PstI and EcoRI enzymes and probed with an Escherichia coli-derived 18-mer rDNA sequence to identify diagnostic fragments. Seventeen distinct ribotypes were identified from the combined data obtained with the two restriction enzymes. The results demonstrate the general utility of ribotyping for the subs...
Kakoi H, Hirota K, Gawahara H, Kurosawa M, Kuwajima M.Sex chromosome aberrations are often associated with clinical signs that affect equine health and reproduction. However, abnormal manifestation with sex chromosome aberration usually appears at maturity and potential disorders may be suspected infrequently. A reliable survey at an early stage is therefore required. Objective: To detect and characterise sex chromosome aberrations in newborn foals by the parentage test and analysis using X- and Y-linked markers. Methods: We conducted a genetic diagnosis combined with a parentage test by microsatellite DNA and analysis of X- and Y-linked genetic ...
Lamikanra A, Myers KA, Ferris N, Mitrophanous KA, Carroll MW.Lentiviral-based vectors hold great promise as gene delivery vehicles for the treatment of a wide variety of diseases. We have previously reported the development of a nonprimate lentiviral vector system based on the equine infectious anaemia virus (EIAV), which is able to efficiently transduce dividing and nondividing cells both in vitro and in vivo. Here, we report on the application of EIAV vectors for the systemic delivery of an antibody fusion protein designed for the treatment of cancer. The therapeutic potential of a single chain antibody against the tumour-associated antigen, 5T4, fuse...
Tandon R, Lyons ET, Tolliver SC, Kaplan RM.Cyathostomins are among the most important intestinal nematodes of horses, yet, the literature on the molecular genetics of these worms is scarce. In this study, the technique of amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) was applied to study the genetic diversity as well as to determine the effect of moxidectin selection on the population genetic diversity for Cylicocyclus nassatus, one of the most common cyathostomin species. Genomic DNAs from 30 individual male worms were used from each of two populations: an avermectin-milbemycin (AM)-naive population (Population-S) and a population der...
Miró J, Lobo V, Quintero-Moreno A, Medrano A, Peña A, Rigau T.The Sperm-Class Analyzer detected four subpopulations of spermatozoa with different motility characteristics in the ejaculate of the Catalonian donkey. Significant differences (P < 0.001) in the distribution of these subpopulations, as well as in total sperm number and percentage total motility, were seen in the diluted semen of four sampled donkeys. All the ejaculates evaluated showed excellent semen quality characteristics; the sperm they contained was more rapid than horse sperm. Principal components analysis showed sperm l-lactate production to be a good predictor of semen condition. This,...
Laviada MD, Roy P, Sánchez-Vizcaíno JM, Casal JI.Segment 10 of the double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) genome from African horse sickness virus serotype 4 (AHSV-4) was cloned and sequenced. The sequence of the coding region showed a total length of 667 bp. Nucleotide comparisons showed a 95% sequence similarity between serotypes 4 and 9, and 76% between serotypes 4 and 3. cDNA clones containing the coding region were cloned in the vector pET3xb and expressed in Escherichia coli. The NS3 gene product was synthesised at very high level as an insoluble fusion protein. The recombinant protein was used in a differential ELISA to distinguish horses that w...
DiMaio Knych HK, Stanley SD.Members of the CYP2D family constitute only about 2-4% of total hepatic CYP450s, however, they are responsible for the metabolism of 20-25% of commonly prescribed therapeutic compounds. CYP2D enzymes have been identified in a number of different species. However, vast differences in the metabolic activity of these enzymes have been well documented. In the horse, the presence of a member of the CYP2D family has been suggested from studies with equine liver microsomes, however its presence has not been definitively proven. In this study a cDNA encoding a novel CYP2D enzyme (CYP2D50) was cloned f...
Ginders M, Leschnik M, Künzel F, Kampner D, Mikula C, Steindl G, Eichhorn I, Feßler AT, Schwarz S, Spergser J, Loncaric I.The aim of the present study was to investigate the genetic relatedness and the antimicrobial resistance profiles of a collection of Austrian Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates from companion animals and horses. A total of 12 non-repetitive isolates presumptively identified as S. pneumoniae were obtained during routinely diagnostic activities between March 2009 and January 2017. Results: Isolates were confirmed as S. pneumoniae by bile solubility and optochin susceptibility testing, matrix-assisted laser desorption-ionization-time of flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry and sequence analysis of...
Jablonka-Shariff A, Roser JF, Bousfield GR, Wolfe MW, Sibley LE, Colgin M, Boime I.To study structure-activity relationships and the role of equine gonadotropins in the normal and pathophysiology of equine reproduction, the availability of purified hormones is essential. Previous expression studies in transfected CHO cells showed inefficient assembly of the human and bovine alpha and beta subunits, resulting in low levels of recombinant LH. The ability to express a single chain bearing genetically linked alpha and beta subunits bypasses this rate-limiting assembly step. A chimera was constructed by overlap PCR in which the carboxy terminal end of the eLHbeta subunit was gene...
Cui C, Li L, Wu L, Wang X, Zheng Y, Wang F, Wei H, Peng J.A healthy intestine plays an important role in the growth and development of farm animals. In small intestine, Paneth cells are well known for their regulation of intestinal microbiota and intestinal stem cells (ISCs). Although there has been a lot of studies and reviews on human and murine Paneth cells under intestinal homeostasis or disorders, little is known about Paneth cells in farm animals. Most farm animals possess Paneth cells in their small intestine, as identified by various staining methods, and Paneth cells of various livestock species exhibit noticeable differences in cell shape, ...
Ek N.The Pr protein, which is one of the major equine acidic prealbumins and which consists of a large number of phenotypes, has been studied with regard to its chemical identity. Serum samples of known Pr phenotype which had been treated with varying amounts of bovine trypsin were subjected to starch gel electrophoresis at pH 4.8. When a certain amount of trypsin was used, the Pr protein was markedly affected, whereas the other acidic prealbumins retained their normal electrophoreitic pattern. Extracts from three different regions of the acidic prealbumin field were tested by the casein precipitat...
Walter I.Uterine tubes from cow, sheep, horse, pig, dog, cat, rabbit, and guinea pig were examined immunohistochemically for presence and distribution of contractile cells in the mucosal lamina propria. We tested for the presence of alpha-smooth muscle actin, tropomyosin, desmin, smooth muscle myosin (heavy chain) and cytoskeletal proteins vimentin and cytokeratin. Immunostaining for alpha-smooth muscle actin showed two distribution patterns: either positive cells were freely dispersed in the mucosal lamina propria or a distinct subepithelial layer of positive cells was seen. The first distribution pat...
Balena V, Pradhan SS, Bera BC, Anand T, Sansanwal R, Khetmalis R, Madhwal A, Bernela M, Supriya K, Pavulraj S, Tripathi BN, Virmani N.Equid alphaherpesvirus 1 (EHV-1) infection causes significant health problems in equines. The EHV-1 infection leads to abortion storm in mares, respiratory disease and myeloencephalopathy. Despite the wide use of vaccines, the outbreaks of EHV-1 infections keep occurring globally, suggesting the need for the development of improved vaccines. Gene deletion attenuated mutant viruses could be a good candidate for the development of modified live vaccines. Here, we report the generation of mutant EHV-1 by deleting virulence (glycoprotein E & internal repeat 6; IR6) and immune evasive (pUL43 &a...
Schröper F, Baumann A, Offenhäusser A, Mayer D.During the last decade protein electrochemistry at miniaturized electrodes has become important not only for functional studies of the charge transfer properties of redox proteins but also for fostering the development of sensitive biosensor and bioelectronic devices. One of the major challenges in this field is the directed coupling between electronic and biologically active components. A prerequisite for a fast and reversible electron transfer between electrode and protein is that the protein can be bound to the electrode in a favourable orientation. We examined electrostatic and bioaffinity...
Roelfstra L, Deeg CA, Hauck SM, Buse C, Membrez M, Betschart B, Pfister K.Little information is available on the immunological aspect of parasitic Gasterophilus intestinalis (Diptera, Oestridae) larvae causing horse gastric myiasis. The objectives of this research were to analyze the protein content of larval crude extracts of the migrating second and third larvae (L2 and L3) of G. intestinalis in order to characterize the immune response of horses. Results: The proteomic profile of L2 and L3, investigated by using one and two dimensional approaches, revealed a migration pattern specific to each larval stage. Furthermore, Western blots were performed with horse sera...
Meng Q, Li S, Liu L, Xu J, Liu Y, Zhang Y, Zhang X, Shao Y.Equine Infectious Anemia Virus (EIAV), like other lentiviruses, has a transmembrane glycoprotein with an unusually long cytoplasmic tail (CT). Viral envelope (Env) proteins having CT truncations just downstream the putative membrane-spanning domain (PMSD) are assumed to exist among all wild-type budded virions, and also in some cell-adapted strains. To determine whether CT-truncated Env proteins can cause particularly deleterious effects on the Env expressing cells and/or their neighboring cells, plasmids encoding codon-optimized env gene including full-length (pE863) or CT-truncated (pE686* a...
Umbilical cord matrix mesenchymal stem cells (UCM-MSCs) present a wide range of potential therapeutical applications. The extracellular calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR) regulates physiological and pathological processes. We investigated, in a large animal model, the involvement of CaSR in triggering osteogenic and neurogenic differentiation of two size-sieved UCM-MSC lines, by using AMG641, a novel potent research calcimimetic acting as CaSR agonist. Results: Large (>8 µm in diameter) and small (<8 µm) equine UCM-MSC lines were cultured in medium with high calcium (Ca2+) concentration (...
Savini F, Gallina L, Prosperi A, Battilani M, Bettini G, Scagliarini A.BPV-1 is known as the main causative agent of equine sarcoid, but the virus has also been detected in skin and blood of healthy horses. Previous reports demonstrated the presence of E5 variants in sarcoids of donkeys and horses; we investigated whether this genetic variability might be also found in BPV-1, PBMC associated, of sub-clinically infected horses. With this aim, we analyzed the E5 gene of 21 BPV-1 strains from diseased and sub-clinically infected horses. Our analyses lead us to demonstrate that multiple sequence variants can be present in the blood of sub-clinically infected horses, ...
Colbath AC, Kisiday JD, Phillips JN, Goodrich LR.Both bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMDMSCs) and extracorporeal shockwave (ESW) have shown promise for enhancing fracture repair. If exposure of BMDMSCs to ESW enhances osteogenic differentiation, these therapies may be combined in vivo or used as a method for preconditioning BMDMSCs. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of ESW on the osteogenic ability of equine BMDMSCs. We hypothesized that ESW would promote osteogenesis evidenced by increased gene expression, alkaline phosphatase (ALPL) expression, slide morphologic score, and protein expression. BMDMSCs were...
Norred WP, Voss KA.Fumonisins are secondary metabolites of Fusarium moniliforme , Fusarium proliferatum and several other Fusaria that commonly contaminate corn. Only recently discovered in 1988, these mycotoxins appear to be the causative agents of several toxicoses in animals that result from ingestion of moldy corn or corn-based feeds. The syndromes observed vary considerably among the different species affected and include brain lesions in equids, lung edema in swine, and nephrotoxicity, hepatotoxicity and hepatocellular carcinoma in laboratory rats. There is also evidence that suggests that F. moniliforme a...
Giese A, Jude R, Kuiper H, Raudsepp T, Piumi F, Schambony A, Guérin G, Chowdhary BP, Distl O, Töpfer-Petersen E, Leeb T.The cysteine-rich secretory protein (CRISP) family consists of three members called acidic epididymal glycoprotein 1 (AEG1), AEG2, and testis-specific protein 1 (TPX1), which share 16 conserved cysteine residues at their C-termini. The CRISP proteins are primarily expressed in different sections of the male genital tract and are thought to mediate cell-cell interactions of male germ cells with other cells during sperm maturation or during fertilization. Therefore, their genes are of interest as candidate genes for inherited male fertility dysfunctions and as putative quantitative trait loci fo...
Capobianco G, Cherchi PL, Ambrosini G, Cosmi E, Andrisani A, Dessole S.Alobar holoprosencephaly is a rare and severe brain malformation due to early arrest in brain cleavage and rotation. Methods: We report a congenital anomalous fetus with alobar holoprosencephaly, prenatally diagnosed by two-dimensional (2D) sonography at the 40 weeks of gestation. The mother was affected by gestational diabetes mellitus and was obese (BMI > 30 kg/m(2)). 2D Ultrasound depicted the cerebral malformation, cyclopy, proboscis, cardiac defects (atrial septal defect, hypoplastic left heart, anomalous communication between right ventricle and aorta) and extremities defects. The new...
Groot MT, Merkx M, Koper MT.The redox properties of horse and yeast cytochrome c electrostatically immobilized on carboxylic acid-terminated self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) have been determined over a broad pH range (pH 3.5-8) in the absence and presence of nitric oxide. Below pH 6, both proteins exhibit comparable midpoint potentials, coverages, and electron-transfer rate constants, which suggests that they are adsorbed on the SAM in a similar fashion. Above pH 6, a sharp decrease in electron-transfer rate constants is observed for immobilized yeast cytochrome c, which is indicative of a change in the electron tunnelin...
Huang Z, Depoortere I, De Clercq P, Peeters T.Motilin is involved in the regulation of the fasting motility pattern in man and in dog, but may have a different role in other species. Immunoreactive motilin has been demonstrated in several species, but the sequence is mostly unknown. The aim of this study was to isolate and sequence the cDNA encoding the motilin precursor from several mammalian species and from chicken. Total RNA was isolated from the duodenal mucosa of the chicken, dog, cow and horse. In each case single stranded cDNA was synthesized. Motilin cDNA fragments were amplified by PCR, ligated into a plasmid and cloned. Clones ...
Tozaki T, Ohnuma A, Nakamura K, Hano K, Takasu M, Takahashi Y, Tamura N, Sato F, Shimizu K, Kikuchi M, Ishige T, Kakoi H, Hirota KI, Hamilton NA....The creation of genetically modified horses is prohibited in horse racing as it falls under the banner of gene doping. In this study, we developed a test to detect gene editing based on amplicon sequencing using next-generation sequencing (NGS). We designed 1012 amplicons to target 52 genes (481 exons) and 147 single-nucleotide variants (SNVs). NGS analyses showed that 97.7% of the targeted exons were sequenced to sufficient coverage (depth > 50) for calling variants. The targets of artificial editing were defined as homozygous alternative (HomoALT) and compound heterozygous alternative (ALT1/...
Cook BR.Twenty-five years ago Williams and Sweatman suggested that in Great Britain there are two subspecies of Echinococcus granulosus--E. granulosus granulosus and E. granulosus equinus. Echinococcus granulosus granulosus does not mature either in foxes or in horses: E. granulosus equinus will mature in either. The prepatent period of E. granulosus granulosus in the definitive host is about 42 days while that of E. granulosus equinus is about 70 days. Each subspecies has a characteristic morphology. More recently, in the course of seven experiments, dogs, red foxes (Vulpes vulpes crucigera), arctic ...
Matiasovic J, Kubícková S, Musilová P, Rubes J, Horín P.The complete coding cDNA sequence of the horse NRAMP1 (SLC11A1) gene was determined (GenBank accession number AF354445). The nucleotide sequence of the horse NRAMP1 gene is similar to sequences of this gene in other species. The gene contains 15 exons whose total length of 1,635 bp corresponds to 544 amino acids constituting the resulting putative protein. Hydrophobicity profile analysis of the deduced horse NRAMP1 gene product showed a nearly identical structure with the mouse NRAMP1 protein. The gene was found to be located on the short arm of ECA 6p12-13 by fluorescence in situ hybridizatio...
Seo MG, Ouh IO, Kwak D.A clinical case of was reported for the first time in our previous study (2019) in a horse, a nondefinitive host. Although is a ruminant and not a zoonotic pathogen, it is responsible for persistent infections in horses. In this follow-up study, the prevalence of spp., including , was assessed in horse blood and lung tissue samples to fully understand spp. pathogen distribution and the potential risk factors of infection. Among 1696 samples, including 1433 blood samples from farms nationwide and 263 lung tissue samples from horse abattoirs on Jeju Island, a total of 29 samples (1.7%) teste...
Michler JK, Hillmann A, Savkovic V, Mülling CKW.The easily accessible niche represented by skin and its appendages may serve as a promising source to complement modern regenerative medicine for horses. In humans and in animal models for human medicine, the hair follicle and its stem cell niches are well characterized. Since literature in this field of equine research is scarce, we sought to analyze cells of the dermal stem cell niche of the equine hair follicle morphologically and for a subset of markers useful for cell characterization via immunolabeling. We cultured equine forelock skin explants to obtain cultures with cells migrating fro...
Kimur J, Tsukise A, Yokota H, Nambo Y, Higuchi T.The ovary of the mare has a unique structure which differs totally from that of other mammals. However, because of its relatively large size, conventional histological techniques were unsuitable for the observation of the internal structure of the whole ovary. Three-dimensional internal structure microscopy (3D-ISM) consists of a cryotome-CCD camera-laser disc recorder-PC-based control system coupled with a graphic workstation. The internal structure of the ovary is observed by processing over more than 1,000 stored images of serially sliced surfaces of each frozen equine ovary. The 3D reconst...
Lee S, Baker ME, Clinton M, Taylor SE.Despite many recent advances in imaging and epidemiological data analysis, musculoskeletal injuries continue to be a welfare issue in racehorses. Peptide biomarker studies have failed to consistently predict bone injury. Molecular profiling studies provide an opportunity to study equine musculoskeletal disease. A systematic review of the literature was performed using preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses protocols (PRISMA-P) guidelines to assess the use of miRNA profiling studies in equine and human musculoskeletal injuries. Data were extracted from 40 papers betw...
Newton JR, Woodt JL, Chanter N.Recurring respiratory infections can contribute to prolonged burdens of disease, especially in younger horses and better knowledge of factors and effective interventions, such as vaccines, should improve therapeutic and preventive strategies. Objective: To identify factors and infections associated with naturally occurring respiratory disease in recently weaned Welsh Mountain ponies maintained at pasture and to determine whether ponies vaccinated with an experimental inactivated bacterial vaccine had lower burdens of disease and infection compared to nonvaccinated controls. Transferrin allele,...
Warme PK.Conformational energies have been evaluated for each of the staggered side-chain conformations associated with the 261 amino acid substitutions known to occur among 60 eucaryotic species. At least 86% of these substitutions can be sterically accommodated (one at a time) within the structure of horse-heart cytochrome c resulting from conformational energy refinement. Simultaneous incorporation of all pertinent amino acid substitutions found in eight representative species into the refined horse-heart structure is also shown to be sterically possible, with few exceptions. In two cases (Pekin duc...
Tamamura-Andoh Y, Niwa H, Kinoshita Y, Uchida-Fujii E, Arai N, Watanabe-Yanai A, Iwata T, Akiba M, Kusumoto M.Extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Enterobacteriaceae have become a cause for great concern. Although some studies have reported the prevalence of ESBL-producing bacteria and ESBL-encoding genes in horses worldwide, the genetic structure surrounding the ESBL gene has not been analysed in detail. In the present study, we isolated two ESBL-producing Escherichia coli strains from diseased racehorses in Japan and demonstrated the mechanisms underlying the acquisition of their antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes. Two ESBL-producing E. coli strains (E148 and E189) were isolated from th...
Brown JJ, Ollier WE, Thomson W, Matthews JB, Carter SD, Binns M, Pinchbeck G, Clegg PD.Tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) is a pro-inflammatory cytokine that plays a crucial role in the regulation of inflammatory and immune responses. In all vertebrate species the genes encoding TNF-alpha are located within the major histocompatability complex. In the horse TNF-alpha has been ascribed a role in a variety of important disease processes. Previously two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been reported within the 5' un-translated region of the equine TNF-alpha gene. We have examined the equine TNF-alpha promoter region further for additional SNPs by analysing DNA from...
