Genomics in horses involves the study and analysis of the horse genome to understand genetic variations and their implications for equine health, performance, and breeding. This field encompasses the identification and mapping of genes associated with specific traits, diseases, and conditions in horses. Techniques such as whole-genome sequencing and genome-wide association studies (GWAS) are employed to explore genetic diversity and inheritance patterns among different horse breeds. Genomics provides insights into hereditary disorders, informs selective breeding practices, and aids in the development of personalized veterinary care. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the applications, methodologies, and findings of genomic research in equine science.
Ehlers B, Borchers K, Grund C, Frölich K, Ludwig H, Buhk HJ.A consensus primer PCR approach was used to (i) investigate the presence of herpesviruses in wild and zoo equids (zebra, wild ass, tapir) and to (ii) study the genetic relationship of the herpesvirus of pigeons (columbid herpesvirus 1) to other herpesvirus species. The PCR assay, based on degenerate primers targeting highly conserved regions of the DNA polymerase gene of herpesviruses, was modified by using a mixture of degenerate and deoxyinosine-substituted primers. The applicability of the modification was validated by amplification of published DNA polymerase genes of 16 herpesvirus specie...
Ramina A, Dalla Valle L, De Mas S, Tisato E, Zuin A, Renier M, Cuteri V, Valente C, Cancellotti FM.The reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay was used to detect Equine Arteritis Virus (EAV) in the semen of 88 horses and 2 donkeys, with neutralising antibodies against EAV, on the basis of the amplification of a 279 bp long fragment located in the viral polymerase gene. The RT-PCR assay revealed the virus at 4 TCID50/ml in cell culture and showed a greater sensitivity (54.4%) than cell culture isolation (33.3%). Moreover, the two samples of donkey semen were found positive. The cDNAs obtained from 14 samples of horse and 2 of donkey semen were sequenced. Comparing the ...
Kim KI, Yang YH, Lee SS, Park C, Ma R, Bouzat JL, Lewin HA.Historical records suggest that horses inhabiting the island of Cheju in Korea are descendants of Mongolian horses introduced in 1276. Other studies, however, suggest that horses may have been present on the island prior to the Mongolian introduction. To determine the origin of the Cheju horses we used a phylogenetic analysis of sequences of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) D-loop region, including tRNA Pro and parts of tRNA thr and tRNA Phe sequences (1102-bp excluding the tandem repeat region). Maximum parsimony and neighbor-joining trees were constructed using sequences determined for seven Ch...
Sharma AK, Paramasivam M, Srinivasan A, Yadav MP, Singh TP.Lactoferrin is a monomeric glycoprotein with a molecular mass of approximately 80 kDa. The three-dimensional structure of mare diferric lactoferrin (mlf) has been determined at 2.6 A resolution. The protein crystallizes in the space group P 212121with a=85.2 A, b=99.5 A, c=103.1 A with a solvent content of 55 % (v/v). The structure was solved by the molecular replacement method using human diferric lactoferrin as the model. The structure has been refined using XPLOR to a final R -factor of 0.194 for all data in the 15-2.6 A resolution range. The amino acid sequence of mlf was determined using ...
Patton JF, Balasuriya UB, Hedges JF, Schweidler TM, Hullinger PJ, MacLachlan NJ.An avirulent, novel variant of equine arteritis virus (EAV; CA95G) was isolated from the semen of a persistently infected Standardbred stallion. The CA95G virus caused subclinical infection and seroconversion in susceptible horses, and virus was isolated only once from blood and nasal secretions collected from 6 experimentally infected horses. Sequence analysis of genes encoding the known EAV structural proteins shows that this highly attenuated strain of EAV is genetically similar to virulent field strains of EAV and, in particular, to a strain of EAV that was isolated during an outbreak of e...
Wang E, Barrera R, Boshell J, Ferro C, Freier JE, Navarro JC, Salas R, Vasquez C, Weaver SC.Recent studies have indicated that epizootic Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE) viruses can evolve from enzootic, subtype ID strains that circulate continuously in lowland tropical forests (A. M. Powers, M. S. Oberste, A. C. Brault, R. Rico-Hesse, S. M. Schmura, J. F. Smith, W. Kang, W. P. Sweeney, and S. C. Weaver, J. Virol. 71:6697-6705, 1997). To identify mutations associated with the phenotypic changes leading to epizootics, we sequenced the entire genomes of two subtype IC epizootic VEE virus strains isolated during a 1992-1993 Venezuelan outbreak and four sympatric, subtype ID enzootic...
Cothran EG, van Dyk E.Genetic variability at 7 blood-group and 10 biochemical genetic loci was examined in 3 South African horse breeds, the Nooitgedacht, Boerperd and Basuto Pony. Observed heterozygosity for these breeds was intermediate for domestic horses, with the highest heterozygosity in the Boerperd and the lowest in the Basuto Pony. The 3 breeds show greater genetic similarity to each other than to other domestic horse breeds. Compared to other breeds, the South African breeds show greater genetic similarity to breeds such as the Thoroughbred, Holstein, Trakehner and Hanovarian and also to North American br...
Wijesundera WS, Chandrasekharan NV, Karunanayake EH.A sensitive PCR assay for the detection of Setaria digitata has been developed. Two oligonucleotide primers (17 nt) were designed from a previously cloned and characterized tandemly arranged repetitive sequence of Setaria digitata. Using these primers, it was possible to amplify small quantities (100 fg) of S. digitata genomic DNA. A simple procedure, using proteinase K and non-ionic detergent NP 40, was followed to process the host blood samples and mosquitoes harbouring L3 larvae. The sensitivity of the polymerase chain reaction based assay surpasses the microscopic detection and the previou...
Bramucci M, Miano A, Quassinti L, Maccari E, Murri O, Amici D.This study was conducted to determine the presence of the angiotensin converting enzyme in commercial sera used in cell culture medium. The aim of the research was to bring the presence of proteinases (angiotensin converting enzyme) to cell culture users' knowledge and to give some data for solving problems about the development of peptides as useful drugs. The enzymes, purified from foetal bovine, adult bovine, foetal equine, adult equine, and human sera, showed molecular weights of about 170 kDa. Captopril and lisinopril inhibited enzyme activities at nanomolar concentrations. The enzymes we...
Stadejek T, Bj Rklund H, Bascu Ana CR, Ciabatti IM, Scicluna MT, Amaddeo D, McCollum WH, Autorino GL, Timoney PJ, Paton DJ, Klingeborn B, Bel K S.Equine arteritis viruses (EAV) from Europe and America were compared by phylogenetic analysis of 43 isolates obtained over four decades. An additional 22 virus sequences were retrieved from GenBank. Fragments of the glycoprotein G(L) and the replicase genes were amplified by RT-PCR, prior to sequencing and construction of phylogenetic trees. The trees revealed many distinctive lineages, consistent with prolonged diversification within geographically separated host populations. Two large groups and five subgroups were distinguished. Group I consisted mainly of viruses from North America, whilst...
Shiue YL, Bickel LA, Caetano AR, Millon LV, Clark RS, Eggleston ML, Michelmore R, Bailey E, Guérin G, Godard S, Mickelson JR, Valberg SJ, Murray JD....To generate a domestic horse genome map we integrated synteny information for markers screened on a somatic cell hybrid (SCH) panel with published information for markers physically assigned to chromosomes. The mouse-horse SCH panel was established by fusing pSV2neo transformed primary horse fibroblasts to either RAG or LMTk mouse cells, followed by G418 antibiotic selection. For each of the 108 cell lines of the panel, we defined the presence or absence of 240 genetic markers by PCR, including 58 random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers and 182 microsatellites. Thirty-three syntenic gr...
Marklund S, Moller M, Sandberg K, Andersson L.The roan coat color in horses is controlled by a dominant allele that is lethal in the homozygous condition. Phenotypic similarities to some pigmentation disorders in human and mouse, combined with comparative mapping data, identified KIT, encoding the mast cell growth factor receptor, as a major candidate gene for the roan locus (Rn). Rn has previously been mapped to equine linkage group (LG) II. In this study, LGII was expanded with KIT and PDGFRA (platelet-derived growth factor receptor alpha) by use of RFLP and linkage analysis. Moreover, highly significant linkage disequilibrium between R...
Gallagher PC, Lear TL, Coogle LD, Bailey E.BLAST searches of 61 equine microsatellite sequences revealed two related families of retroposons. The first family included seven markers, all of which showed significant homology to the Equine Repetitive Element-1 (ERE-1) Short Interspersed Nucleotide Element (SINE) sequence. Length of homology ranged from 76 to 171 bases with identities to the ERE-1 consensus sequence ranging from 71% to 83%. The second family referred to as Equine Repetitive Element-2 (ERE-2) has a consensus sequence that showed homology to ERE-1 over approximately 60 bases. These 60 bases comprised subunit I. Sequence com...
Horín P, Cothran EG, Trtková K, Marti E, Glasnák V, Henney P, Vyskocil M, Lazary S.Analysis of MHC class I and class II polymorphism, as well as data from other polymorphic systems (non-MHC lymphocyte alloantigen, blood groups systems, biochemical polymorphisms and microsatellite loci), was used to characterize the extent and distribution of the genic polymorphism of Kladruber horses. A breed-characteristic distribution of the MHC polymorphism was found. The repertoire of defined MHC class I specificities was restricted, especially in the grey subpopulation and in stallions, but a high frequency of blanks suggests the possible existence of undetected specificities. Despite t...
Tozaki T, Hirota K, Mashima S, Tomita M, Mukoyama H.A genomic clone isolated from an equine genomic library probed with an oligonucleotide (CAG)10 showed high sequence similarity to the human F18 gene and was tentatively named equine F18 gene. Because the human F18 gene is expressed in many tissues, we examined whether this equine clone was also expressed in equine tissues. The cDNA encoding equine F18 was obtained by the reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) from equine thymus. The nucleotide sequence of the equine F18 cDNA (1940 bp) was determined and contained both the ATG initiation codon and a poly(A) sequence. The cDNA ...
Archambault D, Laganière G, St-Laurent G.The genetic variation in equine arteritis virus (EAV) nonstructural (NS) protein-encoding open reading frames (ORF) 3 and 4 genes was investigated. Nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequences from seven different EAV isolates (one European, one American and five Canadian isolates) and the Arvac vaccine strain were compared with those of the Bucyrus reference strain. ORF 3 nucleotide and amino acid sequence identities amongst these isolates (including the Arvac vaccine strain) and the Bucyrus reference strain ranged from 85.6 to 98.8%, and 85.3 to 98.2%, respectively, whereas ORF 4 nucleotide a...
Lindgren G, Sandberg K, Persson H, Marklund S, Breen M, Sandgren B, Carlstén J, Ellegren H.A primary male autosomal linkage map of the domestic horse (Equus caballus) has been developed by segregation analysis of 140 genetic markers within eight half-sib families. The family material comprised four Standardbred trotters and four Icelandic horses, with a total of 263 offspring. The marker set included 121 microsatellite markers, eight protein polymorphisms, five RFLPs, three blood group polymorphisms, two PCR-RFLPs, and one single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP). One hundred markers were arranged into 25 linkage groups, 22 of which could be assigned physically to 18 different...
Schambony A, Gentzel M, Wolfes H, Raida M, Neumann U, Töpfer-Petersen E.Although originally described in the male rodent genital tract, cysteine-rich secretory proteins (CRISPs) are expressed in a variety of mammalian tissue and cell types. The proteins of the male genital tract have been observed associated to spermatozoa and are believed to play a role in mammalian fertilization. Here we describe the identification and primary structure of the first equine member of the CRISP family. Equine CRISP-3 is transcribed and expressed in the stallion salivary gland, in the ampulla and the seminal vesicle. It displays all 16 conserved cysteine residues and shows 82% homo...
Angel-Velez D, Meese T, Hedia M, Fernandez-Montoro A, De Coster T, Pascottini OB, Van Nieuwerburgh F, Govaere J, Van Soom A, Pavani K, Smits K.In the last decade, in vitro embryo production in horses has become an established clinical practice, but blastocyst rates from vitrified equine oocytes remain low. Cryopreservation impairs the oocyte developmental potential, which may be reflected in the messenger RNA (mRNA) profile. Therefore, this study aimed to compare the transcriptome profiles of metaphase II equine oocytes vitrified before and after in vitro maturation. To do so, three groups were analyzed with RNA sequencing: (1) fresh in vitro matured oocytes as a control (FR), (2) oocytes vitrified after in vitro maturation (VMAT), a...
Vershinina AO, Kapp JD, Baryshnikov GF, Shapiro B.Museum collections are essential for reconstructing and understanding past biodiversity. Many museum specimens are, however, challenging to identify. Museum samples may be incomplete, have an unusual morphology, or represent juvenile individuals, all of which complicate accurate identification. In some cases, inaccurate identification can lead to false biogeographic reconstructions with cascading impacts on paleontological and paleoecological research. Here, we analyzed an unusual Equid mandible found in the Far North of the Taymyr peninsula that was identified morphologically as Equus hemionu...
Sudheer Kumar C, Swamy MJ.The major protein of horse seminal plasma, HSP-1/2, exhibits membranolytic and chaperone-like activities and plays a crucial role in regulating sperm capacitation. L-Carnitine is a small polar molecule present in high concentrations in mammalian seminal plasma. The present results demonstrate that L-carnitine binds to HSP-1/2 and increases its thermal stability, enhances cooperativity of its chemical unfolding and decreases both chaperone-like and membranolytic activities of this protein. The HSP-1/2-L-carnitine complex exhibits anti-oxidative behaviour by inhibiting the production of hydroxyl...
Szalai G, Bailey E, Gerber H, Lazary S.The genetic diversity at the ELA DQ beta locus was investigated using polymerase chain reaction and DNA sequencing. Based upon serological methods 16 class II homozygous animals were selected and their genomic DNA was used. A DQ beta gene from an equine cDNA library was also sequenced. Our methodology and the similarity between the genomic and the cDNA sequences suggest that the studied locus is expressed on equine lymphocytes. In the predicted amino acid sequence the most extensive variation is located at residues 56-60. The pattern of these five amino acids is strongly correlated to the sero...
Bartosik J, Łojek J, Długosz E, Górski P, Zygner W.Tapeworm infections in Konik Polski horses from Biebrza National Park were investigated in this study. Faecal samples were collected 10 times: in 2012 - 1 time, in 2013 - 4 times, in 2014 - 4 times and in 2015 - 1 time. In total, 162 faecal samples were collected and tested. Faecal egg counts (FECs) method was used in the study. Positive samples with cestode eggs were noted only twice - in October 2012 and December 2013 in two adult mares (9 and 11 years old). The determined prevalence was surprisingly low comparing to other studies, 4.3% in October 2013 and 28.5% in December 2013. Parasite ge...
Mata X, Vaiman A, Ducasse A, Diribarne M, Schibler L, Guérin G.Gene characterization is an important feature for genome annotation and more particularly for candidate genes that could be selected in domestic species. Associations between an alpha-actinin-3 gene polymorphism and muscle performance were reported in humans involving a nonsense mutation (R577X) and in mice after inactivation of the gene. Here, we characterized the equine alpha-actinin-3 (ACTN3) gene by sequencing and transcript analysis. The cDNA was determined to be 3.47 kb in length with an open reading frame of 2709 bp expectedly encoding a protein 902 amino acids long. The ACTN3 gene is 1...
Duan H, Gao JF, Su X, Fu X, Yue DM, Gao Y, Qiu JH, Wang CR.Triodontophorus spp. parasitizes the large intestine of equine, causing strongylid diseases. The present study assessed genetic variation in five gene regions within and between Triodontophorus brevicauda and Triodontophorus nipponicus from Heilongjiang Province and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous region. The five gene markers were three mitochondrial (mt) genes, cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (cox1), NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5 (nad5), cytochrome b (cytb); and two ribosomal RNA genes, the internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) and the internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2). Partial (p) sequences o...
Frisbie DD, Sandler EA, Trotter GW, McIlwraith CW.To determine response of interleukin-1alpha (IL-1alpha)-conditioned equine articular cartilage explants to insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1). Sample Population-Cartilage from the trochlea and condyles of the femur of a clinically normal 4-year-old horse. Methods: Effects of IGF-1 (0 to 500 ng/ml) after addition of IL-1alpha were evaluated by assessing matrix responses, using a sulfated glycosaminoglycan (GAG) assay, matrix 35SO4 GAG incorporation, and release of GAG. Mitogenic response was assessed by 3H-thymidine incorporation into DNA and fluorometric assay of total DNA concentration. Res...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Song X, Jiang H, Lv P, Cui K, Liu Q, Yin S, Liu H, Li Z.Oocyte in vitro maturation is necessary for the study and application of animal-assisted reproduction technology in animal reproduction and breeding. The comprehensive transcriptional profile of equine oocyte maturated in vitro has not been fully mined yet, which makes many key transcriptional events still unidentified. Here, Smart-seq2 was performed to analyse the gene expression pattern and the underlying regulatory mechanism of horse germinal vesicle (GV) and in vitro metaphase II (MII) oocytes. The results showed that 6402 genes (2640 up-regulated and 3762 down-regulated in MII samples com...
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...
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...
Onasanya AE, El-Hage C, Diaz-Méndez A, Vaz PK, Legione AR, Browning GF, Devlin JM, Hartley CA.Equid gammaherpesvirus 2 (EHV2) is a gammaherpesvirus with a widespread distribution in horse populations globally. Although its pathogenic significance can be unclear in most cases of infection, EHV2 infection can cause upper respiratory tract disease in foals. Co-infection of different strains of EHV2 in an individual horse is common. Small regions of the EHV2 genome have shown considerable genetic heterogeneity. This could suggest genomic recombination between different strains of EHV2, similar to the extensive recombination networks that have been demonstrated for some alphaherpesviruses. ...
Bömcke E, Soyeurt H, Szydlowski M, Gengler N.Relationship coefficients are traditionally based on pedigree data. Today, with the development of molecular techniques, they are often completely replaced by coefficients calculated from molecular data. Examples are relationships from microsatellites for biodiversity studies but also genomic relationships from SNP as currently used in genomic prediction of breeding values. There are, however, many situations in which optimal combination of both sources would be the best solutions. Obviously, this is the case for incompletely genotyped populations, but also when pedigree information is sparse....
van Maanen C, Vreeswijk J, Moonen P, Brinkhof J, de Boer-Luijtze E, Terpstra C.Ten monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) were produced against equine herpes virus type 1 (EHV1). Two appeared type-specific, while the other eight were directed against epitopes common to both EHV1 and EHV4. Two MAbs directed against the glycoprotein gp2 recognized linear epitopes, as demonstrated by Western blotting. With pools of type-specific MAbs, 282 field isolates were typed in an immunoperoxidase monolayer assay (IPMA). From a total of 254 fetal or neonatal isolates, 244 (96%) were typed as EHV1, whereas 14 out of 15 (93%) respiratory tract isolates were typed as EHV4. Surprisingly, 3 out of 1...
Awasthi G, Srivastava G, Das A.Comparative genomics and evolutionary analyses of conserved genes have enabled us to understand the complexity of genomes of closely related species. For example: β-globin gene present in human hemoglobin is one such gene that has experienced many genetic changes in many related taxa and produced more than 600 variants. One of the variant, HBS causes sickle-cell anemia in humans but offers protection against severe malaria due to Plasmodium falciparum. In the present study, we characterized and performed evolutionary comparative analyses of the ?-globin gene in different related and unrelated...
Frontiers in geneticsAugust 14, 2023
Volume 14 1201628 doi: 10.3389/fgene.2023.1201628
Momen M, Brauer K, Patterson MM, Sample SJ, Binversie EE, Davis BW, Cothran EG, Rosa GJM, Brounts SH, Muir P. Spontaneous rupture of tendons and ligaments is common in several species including humans. In horses, degenerative suspensory ligament desmitis (DSLD) is an important acquired idiopathic disease of a major energy-storing tendon-like structure. DSLD risk is increased in several breeds, including the Peruvian Horse. Affected horses have often been used for breeding before the disease is apparent. Breed predisposition suggests a substantial genetic contribution, but heritability and genetic architecture of DSLD have not been determined. To identify genomic regions associated with DSLD, we recr...
Aucamp J, van der Zwan H, Geldenhuys Z, Abera A, Louw R, van der Sluis R.In animal breeding, a species sex can influence the value of the animal. For example, in the horse breeding industry, mares are preferred as polo horses, while in wildlife breeding males with larger horns are more valuable. Therefore, the economic advantages of knowing the unborn fetus' sex are important to successful animal management. Ultrasonography is used to determine the sex of unborn fetuses, but this method places additional stress on the animal and require specialized equipment and expertise. Conversely, molecular-based sexing techniques require less invasive sampling and can determin...
Everest GJ, Meyers PR.Two actinomycete strains were isolated from within the fynbos-rich area surrounded by the horseracing track at Kenilworth Racecourse in Cape Town, South Africa. Rapid molecular identification indicated that the isolates belonged to the family Micromonosporaceae. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence blast analysis, the isolates were identified as members of the genus Micromonospora. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the isolates clustered with each other and were most closely related to Micromonospora viridifaciens DSM 43909(T). Further 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis using EzTaxon revealed that the...
Shchit IY, Ignatov KB, Biketov SF.Results of detection of Burkholderia mallei and Burkholderia pseudomallei DNA strains by LAMP (Loop-mediated Isothermal Amplification) and Real Time PCR are shown. It has been revealed that, in Real Time PCR, primers steadily detected DNA of those microorganism for the sequences of which they were designed. The above mentioned primers did not detect DNA of heterologous strains. During LAMP method no set of primers showed high analytical sensitivity and specificity. Primers did not detected DNA of all the strains under research to target genes of which they were not intended, but they were capa...
Thompson MA, McCann BE, Rhen T, Simmons R.Theodore Roosevelt National Park (TRNP) manages a herd of feral horses () which was present on the landscape prior to the establishment of the park. The population presents a unique scenario in that it has experienced fairly intensive and well-documented management since the park's establishment, including herd size reductions, intentional introduction of diversity, and subsequent attempts to remove introduced lineages. This provides an interesting case study on the genetic effects of diverse evolutionary forces on an isolated feral population. To explore the effects of these forces and clarif...
Fegraeus K, Rosengren MK, Naboulsi R, Orlando L, Åbrink M, Jouni A, Velie BD, Raine A, Egner B, Mattsson CM, Lång K, Zhigulev A, Björck HM....The control of transcription is crucial for homeostasis in mammals. A previous selective sweep analysis of horse racing performance revealed a 19.6 kb candidate regulatory region 50 kb downstream of the Endothelin3 (EDN3) gene. Here, the region was narrowed to a 5.5 kb span of 14 SNVs, with elite and sub-elite haplotypes analyzed for association to racing performance, blood pressure and plasma levels of EDN3 in Coldblooded trotters and Standardbreds. Comparative analysis of human HiCap data identified the span as an enhancer cluster active in endothelial cells, interacting with genes relevant ...
Bacon EK, Donnelly CG, Bellone RR, Haase B, Finno CJ, Velie BD.The pleiotropic effects of the melanocortin system show promise in overcoming limitations associated with large variations in opioid analgesic effectiveness observed in equine practice. Of particular interest is variation in the melanocortin-1-receptor (MC1R) gene, which dictates pigment type expression through its epistatic interaction with the agouti signalling protein (ASIP) gene. MC1R has previously been implicated in opioid efficacy in other species; however, this relationship is yet to be explored in horses. In this study, analgesic effectiveness was scored (1-3) based on noted response...
Ustyantsev IG, Kosushkin SA, Borodulina OR, Vassetzky NS, Kramerov DA.Short Interspersed Elements (SINEs) are eukaryotic retrotransposons transcribed by RNA polymerase III (pol III). Many mammalian SINEs (T SINEs) contain a polyadenylation signal (AATAAA), a pol III transcription terminator, and an A-rich tail in their 3'-end. The RNAs of such SINEs have the capacity for AAUAAA-dependent polyadenylation, which is unique to pol III-generated transcripts. The structure, evolution, and polyadenylation of the Ere SINE of ungulates (horses, rhinos, and tapirs) were investigated in this study. A bioinformatics analysis revealed the presence of up to ~4 × 10 Ere copie...
Ing NH, Konganti K, Ghaffar N, Johnson CD, Forrest DW, Love CC, Varner DD.Males of some species, from horses to humans, require medical help for subfertility problems. There is an urgent need for novel molecular assays that reflect spermatozoal function. In the last 25 years, studies examined RNAs in spermatozoa as a window into gene expression during their development and, more recently, for their functions in early embryo development. In clinics, more dense spermatozoa are isolated by density gradient centrifugation before use in artificial insemination to increase pregnancy rates. The objectives of the current study were to discover and quantify the microRNAs i...
