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.
Zong E, Fan G.Generally speaking, the majority of F1 hybrids between the horse and donkey are sterile and do conform to the hypothesis of gametogenic breakdown. The results of our own research, nevertheless, lead us to conclude that there is variability in degree of sterility and fertility for both F1 and B1 individuals, with a gradual advance from sterility to fertility being seen. This is the subject we will discuss from the point of view of oestrus, ovulation, mating, pregnancy, spermatogenesis, endocrine activity, isozymes and karyotypic analysis in this paper.
Saudek V, Boyd J, Williams RJ, Stefani M, Ramponi G.A complete range of two-dimensional NMR experiments was used for the assignment of the 1H-NMR spectrum of horse muscle acylphosphatase. Firstly the spin systems of some easily identifiable amino acid side chains were assigned. These side chains involved all the aromatic residues and all the leucine, valine, isoleucine, threonine, alanine, proline as well as some of the glycine residues. Analysis of nuclear Overhauser enhancement spectra in our previous work had identified the sequential and long-range patterns characteristics for secondary structure elements. This result had also provided the ...
Saudek V, Wormald MR, Williams RJ, Boyd J, Stefani M, Ramponi G.Nuclear magnetic resonance spectra of acylphosphatase were searched for signs of beta-structure, i.e. characteristic nuclear Overhauser enhancement patterns displayed in the two-dimensional spectra, typical chemical shifts, coupling constants and slow 2H-H exchange. The results provided identification of the main-chain resonances of amino acid residues involved in the beta-structure. The full sequential assignment of this region was gained by identification of some amino acid spin systems and their alignment with the primary sequence. The assignment of the side-chains was virtually completed s...
al-Timimi I, Gaillard JL, Amri H, Silberzahn P.Whereas mare corpus luteum does not produce androgens or estrogens in vivo, the incubation of mare corpus luteum microsomes with progesterone and NADPH resulted in 17 alpha-hydroxyprogesterone and estrogen production with a small yield of androstenedione. In the presence of an aromatase inhibitor (4-hydroxyandrostenedione), 17 alpha-hydroxyprogesterone and androstenedione were accumulated. Aromatization of testosterone and androstenedione occurred via stereospecific loss of the 1 beta, 2 beta hydrogen atoms and was inhibited by MgCl2, KCl, and EDTA. The Km of estrogen synthetase from equine co...
Johnson L, Tatum ME.The temporal appearance of seasonal changes in numbers of Leydig, Sertoli, and germ cells was evaluated to determine if seasonally increased daily spermatozoan production might be preceded by changes in numbers of either of two somatic testicular cells. A significant increase in numbers of spermatogonia and Sertoli cells preceded the significant increase in number of Leydig cells in the approaching breeding season. Seasonal changes in parenchymal weight and in numbers of Sertoli cells, Leydig cells, and germ cells were maximal in May and June. Numbers of A or B spermatogonia in June were 2.4 t...
Parks AH, Scott EA, Cox JE, Stick JA.Six horses with monorchidism, identified at surgery for cryptorchidectomy, are reported. All six presented with a single scrotal testis. Following surgical removal of one testis, they were either hormonally, anatomically or behaviourally determined to be geldings. Three other horses reported in the literature are reviewed. Of these nine cases of monorchidism, eight were thought to be caused by testicular degeneration and one by testicular agenesis. The vaginal process was present in all of the former and absent in the latter. The left side was involved in five of these eight horses. In seven, ...
The Journal of heredityMay 1, 1989
Volume 80, Issue 3 173-178 doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.jhered.a110831
Woolf CM.The hypothesis was tested that white facial markings in the Arabian horse show multifactorial inheritance. The hypothesis assumes that (1) alleles at different loci acting in a cumulative manner influence the variation in white facial markings, (2) the amount of whiteness is correlated with the number of genes, and (3) interacting nongenetic factors influence the variation. The study was based on computerized data obtained from the Arabian Horse Registry of America, Inc. The facial region was divided into five areas, and each horse was given a score according to the number of areas with a whit...
Kinney RM, Johnson BJ, Welch JB, Tsuchiya KR, Trent DW.Nucleotide sequence analysis of cDNA clones covering the entire genomes of Trinidad donkey (TRD) Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE) virus and its vaccine derivative, TC-83, has revealed 11 differences between the genomes of TC-83 virus and its parent. One nucleotide substitution and a single nucleotide deletion occurred in the 5'- and 3'-noncoding regions of the TC-83 genome, respectively. The deduced amino acid sequences of the nonstructural polypeptides of the two viruses differed only in a conservative Ser(TRD) to Thr(TC-83) substitution in nonstructural protein (nsP) three at amino acid ...
Drummond WH, Sanchez IR, Kosch PC, Webb AI.Adult ponies develop pulmonary hypertension at altitude (Bisgard, Orr and Will 1975), but the neonatal response to acute hypoxaemia is unknown. Seven foals aged five days were instrumented with a systemic and a Swan-Ganz pulmonary artery catheter while anesthetised and intubated. Cardiac index, pulmonary (PAP) and systemic (SAP) vascular pressures were measured as the foals breathed gas mixtures with FI02 of 8 to 94 per cent. Because foramen ovale or ductus arteriosus shunts might have altered thermodilution cardiac index measurements in the stressed foals, the ratio, PAP/SAP was calculated to...
Dacquet C, Loirand G, Rakotoarisoa L, Mironneau C, Mironneau J.1. Specific binding of the calcium-antagonist dihydropyridine derivative, (+)-[3H]-PN 200-110 (isradipine), to cell membranes of equine portal vein smooth muscle was compared with binding to intact strips isolated from rat portal veins. 2. Specific binding to vascular smooth muscle membranes was of high affinity, saturable and reversible. The dissociation constant obtained from association and dissociation kinetics of (+)-[3H]-PN 200-110 was similar to that obtained from equilibrium binding and competition experiments. 3. Specific binding of (+)-[3H]-PN 200-110 was completely displaced by unla...
Hüthwohl H, Weiss R, Schmeer N, Schliesser T.Classification based on biochemical characteristics of 389 strains of plasma-coagulase-negative (plc-) staphylococci isolated from the genital tract of mares and stallions resulted in the following distribution of species: St. sciuri 130 (33.4%), St. equorum 42 (10.8%), St. xylosus 16 (4.1%), St. epidermidis 35 (9.0%), St. simulans 24 (6.2%), St. haemolyticus 33 (8.5%), St. warneri 18 (4.6%), St. lentus 12 (3.1%), St. hyicus 11 (2.8%). Strains of St. cohnii, St. capitis, St. gallinarum, St. saprophyticus and St. hominis have only been found sporadically (a. 1%). 48 (12.3%) strains could not be...
Ricci G, Del Boccio G, Pennelli A, Aceto A, Whitehead EP, Federici G.Glutathione transferase (EC 2.5.1.18) from horse erythrocytes has been purified and some molecular and kinetic properties have been investigated. It appears to be a dimeric protein composed of subunits of about 23 kDa, indistinguishable either in sodium dodecyl sulfate or in urea electrophoresis. Amino acid composition, substrate specificities, sensitivity to inhibitors, CD spectra, and immunological studies provide evidence that the horse enzyme is related to the pi class transferases. This enzyme has only two reactive thiol groups/dimer whose integrity appears to be essential for the activit...
Schuh JC.Bilateral true colobomas with retrobulbar cysts located over the optic nerves are described in an 8-year-old Quarterhorse mare with a history of progressive blindness. Colobomas result from the failure of an embryonic fissure to close and retrobulbar cysts result from eversion of the neuroectoderm through the colobomas. It could not be determined whether the small optic nerves and the scars, rosettes and disorganization of the cell layers in the retina were the result of concurrent dysplasia or were secondary to degeneration.
de Lahunta A, Hatfield C, Dietz A.An unusual occipitoatlantoaxial malformation is described in a 2-week-old male part Arabian foal that was unable to stand at birth and showed signs of spastic tetraparesis due to a cervical spinal cord compression. There were 2 atlases present. One was fused to the occipital bones. The other articulated with the first atlas and an axis which had a long dens that projected into the vertebral canal. Examination of the ossification centers of the axis indicated partial duplication of that bone.
Shirakawa T, Ide M, Taniyama H, Tobiwatari K, Senba H, Oishi H, Matsui T, Ono T.A 1-month-old male thoroughbred foal, which had difficulty in walking, was killed and examined by histological, histochemical and ultrastructural methods. The muscles of the trunk and upper hind limbs were chiefly affected, and changes in the affected muscles resembled those in muscular dystrophy in man. The type of muscular dystrophy present in this foal and the significance of this disease in thoroughbred horses are discussed. The dystrophy in this foal resembled the limb-girdle type or myotonic dystrophy of muscular dystrophy in man.
Dintinger T, Gaillard JL, Zwain I, Bouhamidi R, Silberzahn P.The results of the measurement of 19-nortestosterone in the testiscular artery and vein of the stallion, the very low levels of this steroid in the peripheral blood of geldings and the similar patterns of increase in the peripheral levels of 19-nortestosterone and testosterone after hCG stimulation, show that 19-nortestosterone, like testosterone, is essentially synthesized in the testis. This testicular origin was confirmed by the ability of testicular tissue to synthesize 19-norandrogens from [4-14C]androgens in vitro. 19-Nortestosterone was 50% conjugated in the peripheral blood and almost ...
Zwain I, Gaillard JL, Dintinger T, Silberzahn P.A single i.m. injection of testosterone (750 mg of testosterone bexahydrobenzoate) or i.v. injection of human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) (10,000 IU) was given to geldings and stallions. Levels of unconjugated and conjugated (after solvolysis) androgens and estrogens were measured in blood and urine samples taken daily from the day of injection (D0) to the tenth day post-injection (D10). In the stallion, both treatments resulted in a sharp increase of plasma estrogens, which peaked one day before the androgen levels. Our results confirmed the testicular localization of a potent aromatase, wh...
Berndtson WE, Jones LS.Testes were obtained from 47 1-20-year-old stallions during the natural breeding season. Total testicular testosterone and testosterone/g testis increased with age (P less than 0.005), and total testicular testosterone was associated with larger testis size (P less than 0.05). Neither testosterone per gram nor per paired testes were related to total Sertoli cell number (P greater than 0.05), but greater testosterone per paired testes was associated with fewer Sertoli cells per unit of seminiferous tubule length (P less than 0.005) or basement membrane area (P less than 0.02) and with a higher ...
Passaniti A, Roth TF.Ferritin was purified from chicken liver by two different methods: gel filtration on controlled-pore glass beads, and immunoaffinity chromatography employing a chicken ferritin-specific monoclonal antibody that did not cross-react with horse spleen ferritin. This antibody recognizes intact ferritin and an oligomeric 240 kDa form of the molecule after protein transfer to nitrocellulose, but not the 22 kDa chicken ferritin subunit. Chicken liver ferritin purified by these methods exhibited reduced migration on non-denaturing polyacrylamide gels compared with horse spleen ferritin. These results ...
Moreno-Millan M, Delgado Bermejo JV, Lopez Castillo G.An X-trisomy has been detected in an intersexuality Spanish-bred horse by using G- and C-banding methods. The external characteristics and the behavioural and physiological irregularities of the horse are described. This is the first time that an association between an X-trisomy and a case of intersexuality has been reported in any domestic animal.
ter Laak EA, Fennema G, Jaartsveld FH.Contagious Equine Metritis (CEM) was detected in the Netherlands for the first time in 1987. A total number of five mares (Dutch saddle-horse) were infected in three separate outbreaks. The origin of the infection could not be determined in any of the cases. As the isolates of the causal organism, Taylorella equigenitalis, showed auto-agglutination, diagnosis was difficult. Therefore, an indirect immune fluorescence test as used to diagnose the second isolate. Five strains were isolated, which all were resistant to streptomycin. The prevalence of CEM since 1981 is summarised. The importance of...
Pirhonen A, Linnala-Kankkunen A, Mäenpää PH.Protamine 1 and two protamine 2 variants were isolated from stallion sperm and separated by acetic acid-urea gel electrophoresis. After electroblotting onto polyvinyldifluoride filters, their amino-terminal amino acid sequences were determined by pulse-liquid peptide sequencing. The sequences of the two protamine 2 variants are homologous but slightly different in length and amino acid composition and indicate for the first time the existence of two different genes for this protamine species.
Mendoza L, Marin G.Antigens and rabbit-antisera from holotypes of Pythium insidiosum and P. destruens were prepared to elucidate their antigenic relationship. The antigens and rabbit-antisera of P. insidiosum as well as P. destruens used as a reference system showed that both shared three precipitin bands in common. The antigen and rabbit-antisera of P. destruens and P. insidiosum used as a reference system against other strains isolated from humans and animals with pythiosis, also showed three precipitin bands in common. When we used sera taken from horses with proven pythiosis against antigens of P. insidiosum...
Mugnier S, Boittin S, Douet C, Monget P, Magistrini M, Goudet G.In human and rodents, sperm-zona pellucida binding is mediated by a sperm surface Galactosyltransferase that recognizes N-Acetylglucosamine residues on a glycoprotein ZPC. In large domestic mammals, the role of these molecules remains unclear: in bovine, they are involved in sperm-zona pellucida binding, whereas in porcine, they are not necessary. Our aim was to clarify the role of Galactosyltransferase and N-Acetylglucosamine residues in sperm-zona pellucida binding in ungulates. For this purpose, we analyzed the mechanism of sperm-zona pellucida interaction in a third ungulate: the horse, si...
Schlindwein X, Werneburg I.We compared embryogenesis of five species of domesticated even-toed and one odd-toed ungulate and used a phylogenetic framework to contextualize such comparison. Organ systems that occur relatively earlier in embryogenesis generally have more time to develop and therefore are found to be more mature at birth when compared to structures that appear later in development. We hypothesized that the less mature the animals' organs are at birth, the more they are susceptible to artificial selection. The horse had the most mature organs at birth, followed by cattle, reindeer, sheep/goat, and pig. This...
Asmis R, Jörg A.Horse eosinophils preincubated with 3H-labelled acetate and stimulated with the Ca2+ ionophores ionomycin or A23187 form a radioactive compound, which we have shown to be 1-O-alkyl-2-[3H]acetyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (platelet-activating factor). We could detect no 1-O-acyl-2-[3H]acetyl-glycero-3-phosphocholine in the radioactive fraction. The formation of platelet-activating factor was strongly correlated to the generation of leukotriene C4, the main arachidonate metabolite in horse eosinophils, suggesting that platelet-activating factor and leukotriene C4 have a common precursor pool (1...
McElhone RL, Meakin GE, French JC, Alexander T, Morgan RM.A study was designed to investigate the effects of external variables, including blood type, flooring surface, footwear tread depth and blood dryness, on the appearance of blood-based footwear marks, with particular reference to simulating a specific casework scenario. Results showed that footwear marks left in human blood tended to be of greater quality than those in equine blood, highlighting a potential issue in applying data generated with equine blood to human bloodstains in casework. Footwear tread effects were also dependent on blood type, but the type of flooring surface did not affect...
Wiebe ME, Scherer WF, Peick WJ.Ninety-four strains of Venezuelan encephalitis (VE) virus isolated from sentinel hamsters exposed in the Middle American countries of Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras were examined for the presence of virions with marker characteristics of strains that cause large epidemics and equine epizootics. Thirty-four strains came from before and 60 strains came from after the Middle American epidemics and equine epizootics of 1966 and 1969-1972. Twenty-three virion clones that resembled epizootic strains by hydroxylapatite chromatography and Vero monkey kidney cell plaque size determinations wer...
Perryman LE, Magnuson NS.Significant contributions to understanding the role of lymphocyte subpopulations in the immune response and to the characterization of immunodeficiencies in children have been achieved through study of animal models of immunodeficiency. Additional contributions can be made in two important areas. One is through identification of relevant, naturally-occurring models of adenosine deaminase deficiency and purine nucleoside phosphorylase deficiency. The second, and potentially more important contribution, would be the identification of the metabolic basis for existing immune deficiencies. The nece...
Ahn B, Zhang Y, Osterrieder N, O'Callaghan DJ.The 150 kbp genome of equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) is composed of a unique long (UL) region and a unique short (Us) segment, which is flanked by identical internal and terminal repeat (IR and TR) sequences of 12.7 kbp. We constructed an EHV-1 lacking the entire IR (vL11ΔIR) and showed that the IR is dispensable for EHV-1 replication but that the vL11ΔIR exhibits a smaller plaque size and delayed growth kinetics. Western blot analyses of cells infected with vL11ΔIR showed that the synthesis of viral proteins encoded by the immediate-early, early, and late genes was reduced at immediate-early...
Arosio P, Gatti G, Bolognesi M.Various precipitating agents were examined in order to crystallize horse heart and spleen ferritins. Cadmium sulfate induced the crystallization of the spleen ferritin, while 2-methyl-2,4-pentanediol and poly(ethylene glycol) only induced that of the heart ferritin. Isoelectric focusing analysis showed that the crystals grown from cadmium sulfate contained only the more acidic isoferritins, and those grown from methyl pentanediol only the less acidic isoferritins. Heart ferritin crystallizes in a cubic space group, as previously reported for spleen ferritin crystals grown from cadmium sulfate....
Warme PK, Scheraga HA.The reported X-ray structure of horse-heart ferricytochrome c has been refined by conformational energy calculations, using a three-stage computational procedure. In stage I, the atomic positions are adjusted to conform to idealized bond lengths and bond angles characteristic of small amino acid derivatives, while yet remaining as close as possible to the X-ray coordinates. In stage II, atomic overlaps are eliminated by adjusting the backbone and side-chain dihedral angles to minimize the nonbonded energy, hydrogen-bonded energy, and rotational energy contributions. In the final stage of refin...
Byrns G, Crump AL, Lalonde G, Bernoco D, Antczak DF.The ELY-1 locus controls the expression of a polymorphic cell surface antigen of equine lymphocytes which was detected using antibodies generated by alloimmunization with peripheral blood lymphocytes. The ELY-1 antigens were not detected on erythrocytes or platelets by absorption experiments. The two alleles, which have been designated ELY-1.1 and ELY-1.2, are expressed codominantly and appear to constitute a closed system at the population level. In family studies, the ELY-1 antigens segregated as products of an autosomal locus not linked to the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) of the h...
Gurusinghe S, Hilbert B, Trope G, Wang L, Bandara N, Strappe P.Immortalization of chondrocytes enables long term in vitro culture; however, the chondrogenic capacity of transformed cells varies, thus highlighting the need to develop a proliferative and tuneable chondrocyte cell line where hypertrophic differentiation can be controlled. In this study the SV40 large T antigen and human telomerase reverse transcriptase were employed to immortalize pooled equine chondrocytes through lentiviral vector mediated transduction either singly or on combination. Transformed chondrocytes proliferated stably over multiple passages, but resulted in significantly lower e...
Rukavian D, Hasanbasic D, Ramic J, Zahirovic A, Ajanovic A, Beganovic K, Durmic-Pasic A, Kalamujic B, Pojskic N.The focus of this study was on genetic diversity of TB horse population raised in B&H. Genomic DNA was genotyped by using 17 microsatellite markers. A total of 103 alleles were detected. The average number of alleles per locus was 6.059 and effective number of alleles was 3.293. Means of observed and expected heterozygosity were calculated 0.645 and 0.696, respectively. The average PIC values was 0.649 and inbreeding coefficient was 0.090. Based on all observed parameters, ASB2 locus showed the highest genetic diversity while locus HMS2 was the least diverse. These results suggest that the pop...
García-Rubio I, Fittipaldi M, Trandafir F, Van Doorslaer S.In this work, we show the extreme power of multifrequency HYSCORE (hyperfine sublevel correlation spectroscopy) techniques to unravel the hyperfine interactions of the electron spin with the remote nuclei in the heme site of high-spin ferric heme proteins. Horse heart aquo-metmyoglobin was used as a model system to demonstrate the power of these techniques. Experimental evidence was collected and assigned to protons of the proximal histidine ligand, to the mesoprotons of the heme ligand, and to two different protons of the distal water ligand. The latter difference relates to the stabilization...
Rojas G, Vargas M, Robles A, Gutiérrez JM.Twenty batches of polyvalent antivenom produced at the Instituto Clodomiro Picado were analyzed for turbidity, both before and after freezing-thawing and lyophilization. Eight batches became turbid upon freezing-thawing, and this change correlated with high levels of cholesterol, triglycerides and lipoproteins, especially beta-lipoprotein. Since normal horse serum does not become turbid after freezing-thawing, despite the fact that it has high lipoprotein levels, the possibility was raised that phenol, used as a preservative during serum fractionation, might affect lipoproteins, inducing the a...
Faria R, Vicente A, Silva J.The aim of this study was to evaluate the sprint racing performance of Quarter Horses in Brazil. Estimating genetic parameters, trends and correlations were obtained by single- and two-trait analyses using Bayesian inference (earnings to 2 years of equestrian age, best time and time class at distances of 301 m and 402 m). The data comprised a period of 38 equestrian years (1978 to 2015) with 23,482 sprint race records from 5861 animals. The heritability estimates were of low to moderate magnitude, ranging from 0.10 to 0.37 (single-trait) and from 0.15 to 0.41 (two-traits), and the repeatabilit...
Balke E, Weiss R, Seipp A.A total of 110 strains of beta-hemolytic streptococci, belonging to serogroup C (Lancefield), isolated from horses (71 S. zooepidemicus, 27 S. equisimilis and 12 S. equi) as well as 5 reference strains were tested for their ability to produce hyaluronidase. The determinations were carried out in a culture test on agarose gel and in a liquid test system (turbidity test according to DiFerrante). The results of both methods used showed that the three Streptococcus species could be differentiated by the relative quantitative determination of hyaluronidase activity. S. equisimilis strains produce 5...
Balkman CE, Nixon AJ.To clone and determine molecular structure of equine stromelysin 1 (matrix metalloproteinase 3) and examine stromelysin expression in articular cartilage. SAMPLES AND PROCEDURE: Total RNA was harvested from equine arthritic cartilage specimens and was used for reverse transcription and polymerase chain reaction amplification to develop overlapping complementary DNA (cDNA) clones. Four cDNA sequences were ligated into plasmid (pGEM3Z) constructs and subcloned into bacterial expression vectors, and sequence was determined by automated dye terminator sequencing. Stromelysin mRNA expression was as...
Roels K, Smits K, Ververs C, Govaere J, D'Herde K, Van Soom A.In horse breeding, intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) has gained interest to obtain offspring from subfertile individuals. This paper presents a case report of a stallion with severe testicular degeneration. Semen analysis showed very low motility and 83.5% of detached heads. Histology of a testicular biopsy showed severely decreased spermatogenesis, while transmission electron microscopy of the sperm cells revealed no significant abnormalities. A total of 39 oocytes were fertilized by ICSI with frozen-thawed spermatozoa of this stallion: 25 oocytes with intact spermatozoa and 24 with det...
Kerfelec B, Foglizzo E, Bonicel J, Bougis PE, Chapus C.The complete sequence of the horse pancreatic lipase was elucidated by combining polypeptide chain and cDNA sequencing. Among the structural features of horse lipase, it is worth mentioning that Lys373 is not conserved. This residue, which is present in human, porcine and canine lipases, has been assumed to be involved in p-nitrophenyl acetate hydrolysis by pancreatic lipases. Kinetic investigation of the p-nitrophenyl acetate hydrolysis by the various pancreatic lipases and by the C-terminal domain (336-449) of human lipase reveals that this hydrolysis is the result of the superimposition of ...
Nogueira MB, McManus C, de Faria DA, Santos SAO, Ianella P, Paiva SR.Among the animal species first introduced in Brazil during the country's discovery, horses (Equus caballus) stand out because of their evolutionary history and relationship with humans. Among the Brazilian horse breeds, the Pantaneiro draws attention due to its adaptative traits. Blood samples of 116 Pantaneiro horses were divided into six populations based on their sampling location, aiming to identify the existence of genetic structure and quantify genetic diversity within and between them. Populations were compared to elucidate genetic variability and differentiation better and assess the i...
Traversa D.The recognition that the health and welfare of some humans are improved through contact and relationships with animals is now established. Two commonly recognized assistance animals are dogs and horses. Both provide therapeutic benefits to humans with some physical and mental illnesses and both assist people with disabilities. Moreover, the public and scientific attention to the health and conservation of many animal breeds is also increasing worldwide. In the past few years, two potentially life-threatening nematode infections that can induce tumours or tumour-like masses in canids and equids...
Park HB, Marklund S, Jeon JT, Mickelson JR, Valberg SJ, Sandberg K, Andersson L.The PRKAG3 gene encodes a muscle-specific isoform of the regulatory gamma subunit of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK). A major part of the coding PRKAG3 sequence was isolated from horse muscle cDNA using reverse-transcriptase (RT)-PCR analysis. Horse-specific primers were used to amplify genomic fragments containing 12 exons. Comparative sequence analysis of horse, pig, mouse, human, Fugu, and zebrafish was performed to establish the exon/intron organization of horse PRKAG3 and to study the homology among different isoforms of AMPK gamma genes in vertebrates. The results showed conclusively...
Foster SJ, Marshall DE, Houghton E, Gower DB.In on-going studies of 'classical' and ring B-unsaturated oestrogens in equine pregnancy, the products of metabolism of [2,2,4,6,6-2H(5)]-testosterone and [16,16,17-2H(3)]-5,7-androstadiene-3 beta,17 beta-diol with equine placental subcellular preparations and allantochorionic villi have been identified. Using mixtures of unlabelled and [2H]-labelled steroid substrates has allowed the unequivocal identification of metabolites by twin-ion monitoring in gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Two types of incubation were used: (i) static in vitro and (ii) dynamic in vitro. The latter invol...
Nakamura M, Tozaki T, Kakoi H, Nakamura K, Rajabi-Toustani R, Ohba Y, Matsubara T, Takasu M.The Kiso horse is native to Japan and is on the verge of extinction. Here, we used microsatellites to characterize changes in their genetic diversity over time. We divided a population of Kiso horses that genotyped during 2007-2017 into three groups based on birth year: Group 1, 1980-1998 (70 horses); Group 2, 1999-2007 (61 horses); and Group 3, 2008-2017 (42 horses). We genotyped 31 microsatellites to calculate average number of alleles, observed heterozygosity, and expected heterozygosity. All indicators decreased across age groups. The results indicate that Kiso horses have been experiencin...
Hristov P, Yordanov G, Vladov V, Neov B, Palova N, Radoslavov G.It is well known that horse breeding in Bulgaria is a cultural heritage in Bulgaria, dating from prehistoric and historic times. Until now, molecular data on Bulgarian horses from the plain regions of the country were not available. Therefore, for the first time, we have collected genetic information about some modern horse breeds from the plain regions in Bulgaria. A total of 50 horses originating from different families from two different breeds were investigated: the first one was the Pleven horse (n = 11, breeding in the Danubian Plain), and the second one was the East Bulgarian horse bre...
O'Rourke BA, Dennis JA, Healy PJ.Improvements to restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP)-based genotyping assays currently used for detection of mutations responsible for bovine ferrochelatase and myophosphorylase deficiencies, and equine hyperkalemic periodic paralysis (HYPP) are described. Reports of sporadic inhibition of restriction enzyme activity suggest a critical factor in RFLP-based genotyping assays should be assurance that restriction enzymes perform to specification with every sample. The RFLP genotyping assays that use either a mismatched recognition sequence in one or both of the oligonucleotides, or inc...
Diaz-Méndez A, Viel L, Shewen P, Nagy E.Equine rhinitis A virus (ERAV) is an ubiquitous virus, routinely identified in equine respiratory infections; however, its role in disease and genetic features are not well defined due to a lack of genomic characterization of the recovered isolates. Therefore, we sequenced the full-length genome of a Canadian ERAV (ERAV/ON/05) and compared it with other ERAV sequences currently available in GenBank. The ERAV/ON/05 genome is 7,839 nucleotides (nts) in length with a variable 5'UTR and a more conserved 3'UTR. When ERAV/ON/05 was compared to other reported ERAV isolates, an insertion of 13 nt in t...
Holowka DA, Cathou RE.IgM antibodies specific for the fluorophore epsiolon-1-dimethylamino-5-naphthalenesulfonyl-L-lysine(DNS-lysine) were elicited in the horse and nurse shark by immunization with a DNS-lysine streptococcal conjugate; the antibodies were purified by specific adsorption with an immunoadsorbent followed by gel filtration to select the IgM class (molecular weight 900 000). About 90% of the equine anti-DNS was IgM.DNS-Lysine, when bound in the combining sites of a population of these anti-DNS IgM antigodies from horse and nurse shark, as well as from pig, exhibited a marked fluorescence enhancement an...
Johannessen MK, Skretting G, Ytrehus B, Røed KH.Endochondral bone formation is an important process in development and growth of the skeleton; still many of the mechanisms of growth cartilage remain unknown. The aim of this study was to identify genes specifically expressed in growth cartilage by constructing a subtraction cDNA library of the articular-epiphyseal cartilage complex from neonatal foal. Two hundred and eighty-four differently expressed clones, representing five novel and 37 known genes, were detected by subtraction hybridization. The tissue specificity of these genes was verified by reverse Northern analysis, and tissue distri...
Cheng FP, Fazeli AR, Voorhout WF, Tremoleda JL, Bevers MM, Colenbrander B.The aim of this study was to investigate whether mare follicular fluid (FF) induces the acrosome reaction (AR) in stallion spermatozoa and, if so, to identify the component in FF responsible for it. Furthermore, the effect of this component on sperm-zona binding and the subsequent AR was studied. Pooled FF, aspirated from the preovulatory follicles of mares in oestrous, was used and aliquots of the fluid were treated with charcoal to remove steroids (CFF). Charcoal treatment reduced the progesterone concentration in FF from 153 to < 2 ng/mL. Spermatozoa from fertile stallions collected by a...
