Molecular biology in horses involves the study of molecular processes and genetic mechanisms that underpin equine physiology and health. This field encompasses the analysis of DNA, RNA, proteins, and other biomolecules to understand gene expression, genetic variation, and cellular functions in horses. Techniques such as genomic sequencing, gene expression profiling, and molecular diagnostics are employed to explore topics like hereditary diseases, performance traits, and immune responses in equines. This page assembles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that investigate the molecular biology of horses, focusing on genetic research, molecular techniques, and their applications in equine science.
Busch F, Leal ODA, Siebers N, Brüggemann N.During composting of organic waste, nitrogen is lost through gaseous forms and ion leaching. Biochar has been shown to capture mineral nitrogen (N: NH and NO ) from compost, which we hypothesize reduces NO formation. However, associating N captured by biochar with the dynamics of NO and other greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions during composting remains unstudied and was the aim of this work. We composted (outdoor for 148 days) together kitchen scraps (43.3% dw, where dw is dry weight), horse manure (40.9% dw), and wheat (Triticum aestivum L) straw (15.8% dw) without (Control) or with biochar (Bc,...
Pepper B, North E, Foster M, Culwell J, Nicodemus MC, Cavinder C, Harvey K, Williams T.Registration numbers for the Palomino Horse Breeders of America (PHBA) have risen with the assistance of new registration guidelines. These changes in guidelines allowed for registration of any horse with a palomino body color, including those with unknown pedigrees. While this promoted registry growth, documenting the breed's orgins from those known pedigrees making up the breed's foundation is important with the introduction of unknown pedigrees. This can be accomplished using pedigree tracing, which is of particular value for color registries as the study of coat color patterns is plagued w...
Feugang JM, Gad A, Menjivar NG, Ishak GM, Gebremedhn S, Gastal MO, Dlamini NH, Prochazka R, Gastal EL, Tesfaye D.Ovarian follicular fluid (FF) is a dynamic environment that changes with the seasons, affecting follicle development, ovulation, and oocyte quality. Cells in the follicles release tiny particles called extracellular vesicles (EVs) containing vital regulatory molecules, such as microRNAs (miRNAs). These miRNAs are pivotal in facilitating communication within the follicles through diverse signaling and information transfer forms. EV-coupled miRNA signaling is implicated to be associated with ovarian function, follicle and oocyte growth and response to various environmental insults. Herein, we in...
Knox A, Beddoe T. subspecies , commonly referred to as "strangles", poses a significant biosecurity challenge across equine farms worldwide. The continuous prevalence and highly transmissibility of strangles necessitates a rapid and accurate diagnostic procedure. However, current "gold-standard" techniques, such as cultures and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), are unreliable or inaccessible, and require lengthy periods between sample collection and results. Moreover, the lack of a standardized detection protocol can lead to variations in results. This study aimed to develop a reproducible and fie...
Bailey E, Finno CJ, Cullen JN, Kalbfleisch T, Petersen JL.Whole genome sequences (WGS) of 185 North American Thoroughbred horses were compared to quantify the number and frequency of variants, diversity of mitotypes, and autosomal runs of homozygosity (ROH). Of the samples, 82 horses were born between 1965 and 1986 (Group 1); the remaining 103, selected to maximize pedigree diversity, were born between 2000 and 2020 (Group 2). Over 14.3 million autosomal variants were identified with 4.5-5.0 million found per horse. Mitochondrial sequences associated the North American Thoroughbreds with 9 of 17 clades previously identified among diverse breeds. Indi...
Martano M, Power K, Cuccaro B, Razzuoli E, Maiolino P, Restucci B.The equine sarcoid is the most common skin neoplasia of fibroblastic origin in horses, characterized by an excessive accumulation of extracellular matrix produced by sarcoid fibroblasts under hypoxic condition. Neoplastic cells can adapt to hypoxia by using alternative energy sources, particularly those that arise from fatty acid oxidation (FAO). The Carnitine Palmitoyl Transferase 1A (CPT1A) belongs to Carnitine System (CS) and promotes the entrance of fatty acids into the mitochondria for β-oxidation. In this study, CPT1A expression was comparatively addressed in 25 equine sarcoids and 5 no...
Parkinson NJ, Ward A, Malbon AJ, Reardon RJM, Kelly PG.Equine sarcoids are common non-metastasising skin tumours in horses, associated with bovine papillomavirus (BPV) infection. Six subtypes are recognised (occult, verrucose, nodular, fibroblastic, mixed and malevolent lesions), with variable clinical behaviour. The pathophysiology underlying varying tumour phenotype is poorly understood, and previous data on associations with viral load have been conflicting. To better understand this clinical variation, we investigated associations between tumour subtype and viral load, viral early protein gene expression, and expression of 10 host genes by qua...
Sergazy S, Zhetkenev S, Shulgau Z, Chulenbayeva L, Kamyshanskiy Y, Nurgaziyev M, Nurgozhina A, Mukhanbetzhanova Z, Berikkhanova K, Gulyayev A....Exosomes are cell-derived, membrane-surrounded particles that deliver bioactive molecules to various cells. Due to their small size, low immunogenicity, extended blood circulation, and involvement in cellular communication, they hold potential as effective drug carriers. Exosomes are present in various biological fluids, including mare's milk, a traditional drink in Central Asia. This study aims to compare exosome isolation methodologies and determine the stability of mare's milk-derived exosomes as potential therapeutic carriers. Three extraction methods-immunoprecipitation, size exclusion ch...
In this paper, we report a comprehensive and consistent annotation of the locus encoding the β-chain of the equine T-cell receptor (TRB), as inferred from recent genome assembly using bioinformatics tools. The horse TRB locus spans approximately 1 Mb, making it the largest locus among the mammalian species studied to date, with a significantly higher number of genes related to extensive duplicative events. In the region, 136 TRBV (belonging to 29 subgroups), 2 TRBD, 13 TRBJ, and 2 TRBC genes, were identified. The general genomic organization resembles that of other mammals, with a V cluster o...
Dubey JP, Gupta A, Calero-Bernal R, de Araujo LS, García-Gil ML, Battle J, Ankarah A, Van Why K, Brown JD, Rosenthal BM.The protozoan Sarcocystis neurona can cause severe disease in horses, marine mammals, and several other animal species in North America. The Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana) is its definitive host, and the raccoon (Procyon lotor) has been considered its primary intermediate host in the USA. Although canids have not previously been identified as important intermediate hosts for this parasite, we here report several natural cases in the gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus). We identified muscular infections in 11 (23.9 %) of 46 gray foxes from Pennsylvania, USA. In hematoxylin and eosin ...
Kader T, Lin JR, Hug C, Coy S, Chen YA, de Bruijn I, Shih N, Jung E, Pelletier RJ, Leon ML, Mingo G, Omran DK, Lee JS, Yapp C, Satravada BA, Kundra R....High-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer (HGSOC) originates from fallopian tube (FT) precursors. However, the molecular changes that occur as precancerous lesions progress to HGSOC are not well understood. To address this, we integrated high-plex imaging and spatial transcriptomics to analyze human tissue samples at different stages of HGSOC development, including p53 signatures, serous tubal intraepithelial carcinomas (STIC), and invasive HGSOC. Our findings reveal immune modulating mechanisms within precursor epithelium, characterized by chromosomal instability, persistent interferon (IFN) signaling...
Cabrera G, Cabezas C, Estay-Olea D, Stoore C, Baquedano MS, Paredes R, Hidalgo C.Liver fluke infection, caused by the trematode Fasciola hepatica, is a parasitic zoonotic disease affecting various mammals, including humans, and has significant implications for public, animal, and ecosystem health. This study provides the first genetic characterization of F. hepatica in Chile, focusing on the complete mitochondrial gene cox1. Samples were collected from two different host species: cattle and horses. Our findings revealed that 70 % of detected haplotypes were found in either cattle or horses, which coincides with their geographical origin. Interestingly, the use of full-len...
Loup B, André F, Leuenberger N, Marchand A, Barnabé A, Delcourt V, Garcia P, Popot MA, Bailly-Chouriberry L.Detection and monitoring of biomarkers related to doping is particularly suitable for the development of analytical strategies dedicated to indirect detection of banned substances. Previous studies in horses have already allowed the investigation of transcriptomic biomarkers in equine blood associated with reGH and rHuEPO administrations. Our most recent developments continue to focus on the discovery and monitoring of transcriptomic biomarkers for the control of ESAs, and a collaborative study with WADA-accredited doping control laboratories has recently been initiated to conduct a pilot stud...
de Oliveira UV, Varjão JL, de Jesus Deiró AG, Maciel BM, Silva FL, Pinheiro AM, Gondim LFP, Munhoz AD.The aim of this study was to isolate from equids destined for slaughter in a Brazilian slaughterhouse. A total of 354 equids were analyzed, with blood samples collected from all the animals and samples of masseter muscle and brain tissue collected from 319 animals. A serological test was conducted to detect equids with specific antibodies for . Molecular detection of by nested PCR was performed on the tissue samples collected. Tissue samples were tested by murine bioassay in an attempt to isolate either the parasite or the parasite DNA. Real-time PCR was performed on the brain samples from 1...
de Albuquerque CV, da Silva Andrade M, de Freitas MS, Paulino PG, Santos HA, de Tarso Landgraf Botteon P.Equine Piroplasmosis (EP) and Equine Granulocytic Anaplasmosis (EGA) are diseases that affect horses, transmitted by ixodid ticks, causing a nonspecific febrile syndrome. Equine Piroplasmosis is endemic in Brazil, and most horses are in enzootic stability. Serological and molecular studies carried out on horses in Brazil have shown the presence of Anaplasma phagocytophilum, however, the clinical relevance of this infection has not yet been established. The present study aims to evaluate the importance of Babesia caballi, Theileria equi, and A. phagocytophilum as etiological agents in horses wi...
Aguiar LH, Pinto CRF.Sperm capacitation is considered the main factor limiting conventional in vitro fertilization (IVF) in horses. A recent scientific breakthrough in sperm processing for IVF in horses has resulted in embryos and foals being produced; however, various aspects of the IVF process remain to be fully elucidated. Lysine acetylation has been shown to play a role in sperm capacitation in several species and the objective of this study was to detect and evaluate this process in the horse. Ejaculates of two stallions were collected and incubated in different conditions with deacetylase inhibitors to induc...
Wu Y, Li L, Bai W, Li T, Qian X, Liu Y, Wang S, Liu C, Wan F, Zhang D, Liu Y, Wu K, Ling Y, Zhou H, Meng F, Zhang Y, Cao J.Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) is an important pathogen of the MicroRNA virus family. Infection of livestock can cause physical weakness, weight loss, reduced milk production, and a significant reduction in productivity for an extended period. It also causes a high mortality rate in young animals, seriously affecting livestock production. The host range of FMDV is mainly limited to cloven-hoofed animals such as cattle and sheep, while odd-toed ungulates such as horses and donkeys have natural resistance to FMDV. The mechanism underlying this resistance in odd-toed ungulates remains unclea...
Eskola K, Aimo-Koivisto E, Heikinheimo A, Mykkänen A, Hautajärvi T, Grönthal T.Extended-spectrum β-lactamase -producing Enterobacterales (ESBL-E) are important zoonotic pathogens that can cause serious clinical infections, also in horses. Preventing the spread of ESBL-E, especially in the equine hospital environment, is key to reducing the number of difficult-to-treat infections. Estimating the local prevalence of ESBL-E in horses is crucial to establish targeted infection control programs at equine hospitals. We conducted a prevalence and risk factor study in equine patients on admission to an equine teaching hospital in Finland through a rectal ESBL-E screening specim...
Botelho JHV, Pessoa GO, Caixeta ES, Sales G, de Oliveira KR, Nascimento Neto JDP, Ferreira RD, Palhão MP.This study aimed to evaluate the localised effects of intrauterine ozone therapy on endometrial recovery in mares with endometritis. Our investigation assessed changes in gene expression profiles of anti-inflammatory (IL-1RA and IL-10), proinflammatory (IL-R1B3i and TNFα) and pleiotropic (IL-6) cytokines, along with detailed histological measurements of epithelial and endometrial thickness and the glandular area ratio. Twenty mares were assigned to a 2 × 2 factorial design based on endometritis diagnosis and treatment (control or 42 μg/mL ozone insufflation), resulting in four groups: N...
Pearson EK, Guarino C, Cercone M, Divers T, Lambert J, García-López J, Johnson AL, Engiles JB, Marconi R, Smith J, Brown K, Pinn-Woodcock T.Evaluate the incidence of Borrelia burgdorferi in cases of equine nuchal bursitis (NB) and investigate the relationship between elevated serum outer surface protein A (OspA) antibodies and the molecular identification of B burgdorferi in bursal tissue or synovial fluid. Additionally, describe clinical cases and compare the histologic changes in NB with and without detection of B burgdorferi. Methods: This was a retrospective multicenter cohort study (2013 to 2022). Medical records from horses with a diagnosis of NB and B burgdorferi PCR testing on NB tissue or synovial fluid were reviewed. The...
Lawrence KE, Gedye K, Carvalho L, Wang B, Fermin LM, Pomroy WE.To determine whether evidence for infection with (Ikeda) could be identified in samples of commercial red deer , horses, and working farm dogs in New Zealand. Unassigned: Blood samples were collected during October and November 2019 from a convenience sample of red deer (n = 57) at slaughter. Equine blood samples (n = 50) were convenience-sampled from those submitted to a veterinary pathology laboratory for routine testing in January 2020. Blood samples, collected for a previous study from a convenience sample of Huntaway dogs (n = 115) from rural regions throughout the North and ...
Kannekens-Jager MM, Duim B, der Graaf-van Bloois LV, Zomer AL, Broekhuizen-Stins MJ, Boswinkel M, Wagenaar JA, Broens EM.In 2020 and 2022, nine cases of surgical site infections with a methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) were diagnosed in horses in an equine referral clinic. Sixteen isolates (horses, n=9; environment, n=3; and staff members, n=4) were analysed retrospectively using Nanopore whole-genome sequencing to investigate the relatedness of two suspected MRSA outbreaks (2020 and 2022). The MRSA isolates belonged to ST398 and ST612. ST398 genomes from 2020 and 2022 formed three phylogenetic clusters. The first ST398 cluster from 2020 consisted of isolates from five horses and one staff membe...
Centeno LAM, Bastos HBA, Bueno VLC, Trentin JM, Fiorenza M, Panziera W, Winter GHZ, Kretzmann NA, Fiala-Rechsteiner S, Mattos RC, Rubin MIB.Equine endometrosis is a degenerative and predominantly fibrotic condition resulting from progressive and irreversible multifactorial causes that influence the endometrium of mare. Tissue remodeling in the equine endometrium occurs as part of the pathogenesis of endometrosis, a process characterized by a shift in extracellular matrix (ECM) components. The relationship between matrix metalloproteinases and their specific inhibitors is crucial for the remodeling process. Collagen play a significant role in maintaining a healthy uterus and may promote fibrotic processes. The aim of this study was...
Rubin CJ, Hodge M, Naboulsi R, Beckman M, Bellone RR, Kallenberg A, J'Usrey S, Ohmura H, Seki K, Furukawa R, Ohnuma A, Davis BW, Tozaki T, Lindgren G....The Greying with age phenotype in horses involves loss of hair pigmentation whereas skin pigmentation is not reduced, and a predisposition to melanoma. The causal mutation was initially reported as a duplication of a 4.6 kb intronic sequence in Syntaxin 17. The speed of greying varies considerably among Grey horses. Here we demonstrate the presence of two different Grey alleles, G2 carrying two tandem copies of the duplicated sequence and G3 carrying three. The latter is by far the most common allele, probably due to strong selection for the striking white phenotype. Our results reveal a rem...
Forman R, Lalzar M, Inbar M, Berman TS.Reintroduced animals face disease risks, potentially impacting both the reintroduced and the local wildlife/domestic populations. This study focuses on the Asiatic wild asses () reintroduced to the Negev desert in southern Israel. Despite potential threats of disease spill-over to and from domesticated donkeys and horses in the area, there are no records of the gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN) of the wild ass population. We used DNA metabarcoding on fecal samples of wild asses collected across seasons and habitats, near water sources that they frequently use. Ten GIN species were detected in t...
Lawson EF, Ghosh A, Grupen C, Netherton J, Aitken RJ, Smith ND, Lim R, Drury HR, Pickford R, Gibb Z, Baker M, Tanwar PS, Swegen A.In many mammals, the lipid platelet-activating factor (PAF) has important functions in female reproduction and fertility. This study shows that PAF is present in the reproductive tissues of mares and is involved in processes related to ovulation and early pregnancy. Platelet-activating factor (PAF) has been implicated in a number of reproductive processes ranging from ovulation to embryo motility but has not been widely explored in the mare. To identify the presence and examine the role of PAF in the equine periconception processes, targeted mass spectrometry coupled with chromatographic separ...
Li X, Du M, Liu Y, Wang M, Shen Y, Xing J, Zhang L, Zhao Y, Bou G, Bai D, Dugarjaviin M, Xia W.During follicular development, changes in the composition of the follicular fluid are synchronized with the development of oocytes. Our aim was to screen the key factors affecting oocyte maturation and optimize the in vitro culture protocol by understanding the changes of proteins and metabolites in follicular fluid. Follicles are divided into three groups according to their diameter (small follicle fluid (SFF): 10 mm < d < 20 mm; medium follicle fluid (MFF): 20 mm < d < 30 mm; large follicle fluid (LFF): 30 mm < d). Proteins and metabolites from the follicular fluid w...
Wang X, Shi M, Cao C, Zeng R, Yao Y.Lactobacillus casei Zhang (Lac.z), isolated from traditional sour horse milk in Inner Mongolia, can alleviate various diseases and promote health. Our previous studies found that pretreatment with live Lac.z (L-Lac.z) could significantly attenuate acute kidney injury and delay the progression of chronic renal fibrosis. However, it is unknown whether these effects could be maintained by pasteurized Lac.z (P-Lac.z). Mouse models of acute kidney injury and chronic renal fibrosis induced by renal bilateral ischemia-reperfusion (BIR) surgery were treated with L-Lac.z or P-Lac.z by gavage. Serum and...
Anandu S, Tanuj GN, Vijayasarathi MK, Manjusha KM, Samanta S, Bandyopadhyay S, Sankar M.Ocular setariasis is an ectopic infection caused by a parasite under the genus Setaria. Adult worms belong to the Setariidae family and typically reside in the peritoneal cavity of ungulates. However, immature forms of these species may aberrantly migrate to the eyes of cattle, buffalo, goats, horses and several other hosts, leading to corneal opacity and blindness. Here, we have distinguished the Setaria digitata collected from both equine and buffalo hosts based on the morphology, molecular profiling of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (Cox1), cytochrome c oxidase subunit 3 (Cox3...
Alber J, El-Sayed A, Lämmler C, Hassan AA, Weiss R, Zschöck M.The closely related streptococcal species Streptococcus equi subsp. zooepidemicus and S. equi subsp. equi were identified by polymerase chain reaction using oligonucleotide primers designed according to species-specific parts of the superoxide dismutase A encoding gene sodA. A further differentiation of both subspecies could be performed by amplification of the genes seeH and seeI encoding the exotoxins SeeH and SeeI, respectively, which could be detected for S. equi subsp. equi but not for S. equi subsp. zooepidemicus. A further simplification of the identification and differentiation of both...
Buechli ME, Lamarre J, Koch TG.MicroRNAs are a class of short noncoding RNAs that are involved in various biological processes, including differentiation. MicroRNA-140 (miR-140) has been identified as a cartilage-specific microRNA with several targets involved in cartilage development and homeostasis. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of miR-140 during chondrogenic differentiation of equine cord blood-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (eCB-MSCs). We demonstrate both that miR-140 is highly expressed in normal equine articular cartilage and that eCB-MSCs express significantly higher levels of this microR...
McGivney BA, Browne JA, Fonseca RG, Katz LM, Machugh DE, Whiston R, Hill EW.Myostatin, encoded by the MSTN gene, is a member of the TGF-β superfamily that regulates skeletal muscle development. A MSTN SNP significantly associated with Thoroughbred horse racing phenotypes has recently been identified as well as significant reductions in Thoroughbred skeletal muscle gene expression for three transcripts 400-1500 base pairs downstream of the MSTN gene following a period of training. Together, these findings indicate that MSTN genotypes may influence MSTN gene expression. To investigate this, MSTN mRNA expression was measured in biopsies from the middle gluteal muscle fr...
Dakin SG, Smith RK, Heinegård D, Önnerfjord P, Khabut A, Dudhia J.During inflammatory processes the extracellular matrix (ECM) is extensively remodeled, and many of the constituent components are released as proteolytically cleaved fragments. These degradative processes are better documented for inflammatory joint diseases than tendinopathy even though the pathogenesis has many similarities. The aims of this study were to investigate the proteomic composition of injured tendons during early and late disease stages to identify disease-specific cleavage patterns of the ECM protein cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP). In addition to characterizing fragme...
Vaz PK, Horsington J, Hartley CA, Browning GF, Ficorilli NP, Studdert MJ, Gilkerson JR, Devlin JM.Recombination in alphaherpesviruses allows evolution to occur in viruses that have an otherwise stable DNA genome with a low rate of nucleotide substitution. High-throughput sequencing of complete viral genomes has recently allowed natural (field) recombination to be studied in a number of different alphaherpesviruses, however, such studies have not been applied to equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1) or equine herpesvirus 4 (EHV-4). These two equine alphaherpesviruses are genetically similar, but differ in their pathogenesis and epidemiology. Both cause economically significant disease in horse popul...
Tanhauser SM, Yowell CA, Cutler TJ, Greiner EC, MacKay RJ, Dame JB.Studies designed to investigate the causative agent of equine protozoal myeloencephalitis and its life cycle have been hampered by the marked similarity of Sarcocystis neurona to other Sarcocystis spp. present in the same definitive host. Random-amplified polymorphic DNA techniques were used to amplify DNA from isolates of S. neurona and Sarcocystis falcatula. DNA sequence analysis of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products was then used to design PCR primers to amplify specific Sarcocystis spp. DNA products. The ribosomal RNA internal transcribed spacer was also amplified and compared betwee...
Vance SJ, McDonald RE, Cooper A, Smith BO, Kennedy MW.Latherin is a highly surface-active allergen protein found in the sweat and saliva of horses and other equids. Its surfactant activity is intrinsic to the protein in its native form, and is manifest without associated lipids or glycosylation. Latherin probably functions as a wetting agent in evaporative cooling in horses, but it may also assist in mastication of fibrous food as well as inhibition of microbial biofilms. It is a member of the PLUNC family of proteins abundant in the oral cavity and saliva of mammals, one of which has also been shown to be a surfactant and capable of disrupting m...
Young R, Taylor JE, Kurioka A, Becker M, Louis EJ, Rudenko G.African trypanosomes (including Trypanosoma brucei) are unicellular parasites which multiply in the mammalian bloodstream. T. brucei has about twenty telomeric bloodstream form Variant Surface Glycoprotein (VSG) expression sites (BESs), of which one is expressed at a time in a mutually exclusive fashion. BESs are polycistronic transcription units, containing a variety of families of expression site associated genes (ESAGs) in addition to the telomeric VSG. These polymorphic ESAG families are thought to play a role in parasite-host adaptation, and it has been proposed that ESAG diversity might ...
Steiner CC, Ryder OA.Prdm9 (Meisetz) is the first speciation gene discovered in vertebrates conferring reproductive isolation. This locus encodes a meiosis-specific histone H3 methyltransferase that specifies meiotic recombination hotspots during gametogenesis. Allelic differences in Prdm9, characterized for a variable number of zinc finger (ZF) domains, have been associated with hybrid sterility in male house mice via spermatogenic failure at the pachytene stage. The mule, a classic example of hybrid sterility in mammals also exhibits a similar spermatogenesis breakdown, making Prdm9 an interesting candidate to e...
Sherman GB, Wolfe MW, Farmerie TA, Clay CM, Threadgill DS, Sharp DC, Nilson JH.Equine (e) CG and LH beta-subunits have identical amino acid sequences, including an extended carboxyl-terminal peptide (CTP). This suggests that unlike the corresponding human genes, the beta-subunits of eCG and eLH may be encoded by a single gene and share a common proximal promotor region. To explore this, we isolated and characterized the eLH/CG beta gene(s). Data from Southern analyses suggest that the eCG beta and eLH beta subunits are products of the same single copy gene (eLH/CG beta). Overlapping fragments of the eLH/CG beta gene and cDNA were amplified from equine genomic DNA and pit...
Whatmore AM, King SJ, Doherty NC, Sturgeon D, Chanter N, Dowson CG.Although often considered a strict human pathogen, Streptococcus pneumoniae has been reported to infect and cause pneumonia in horses, although the pathology appears restricted compared to that of human infections. Here we report on the molecular characterization of a group of S. pneumoniae isolates obtained from horses in England and Ireland. Despite being obtained from geographically distinct locations, the isolates were found to represent a tight clonal group, virtually identical to each other but genetically distinguishable from more than 120 divergent isolates of human S. pneumoniae. A co...
Kim MC, Lee SW, Ryu DY, Cui FJ, Bhak J, Kim Y.The role of microRNAs (miRNAs) as a post-transcriptional gene regulator has been elucidated in a broad range of organisms including domestic animals. Characterization of miRNAs in normal tissues is an important step to investigate the functions of miRNAs in various physiological and pathological conditions. Using Illumina Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technology, we identified a total of 292 known and 329 novel miRNAs in normal horse tissues including skeletal muscle, colon and liver. Distinct sets of miRNAs were differentially expressed in a tissue-specific manner. The miRNA genes were dis...
Kamath PL, Getz WM.Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) genes are central to vertebrate immune response and are believed to be under balancing selection by pathogens. This hypothesis has been supported by observations of extremely high polymorphism, elevated nonsynonymous to synonymous base pair substitution rates and trans-species polymorphisms at these loci. In equids, the organization and variability of this gene family has been described, however the full extent of diversity and selection is unknown. As selection is not expected to act uniformly on a functional gene, maximum likelihood codon-based models o...
Hung GC, Chilton NB, Beveridge I, Gasser RB.In this study, molecular data sets were used to address the controversies relating to the systematics of strongyloid nematodes of equids utilising morphological data sets. DNA sequences of the first and second internal transcribed spacers (ITS-1 and ITS-2) of ribosomal DNA were determined for 30 species of equine strongyles and the systematic relationships reconstructed using phenetic and phylogenetic tree-building methods. The molecular data provided support for the hypothesis that the genera with large subglobular buccal capsules are ancestral to those with small cylindrical buccal capsules,...
Rode HJ, Janssen W, Rösen-Wolff A, Bugert JJ, Thein P, Becker Y, Darai G.A gene was identified within the DNA sequences of the EcoRI DNA fragment N (4.3 kbp) of the genome of equine herpesvirus type 2 (EHV-2) coding for a protein (179 amino acid residues) homologous to the cytokine synthesis inhibitory factor (CSIF; interleukin 10) of the human and mouse, and to the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) protein BCRF1. This finding is further significant evidence that the interleukin 10 (IL-10) and/or IL-10-like gene can indeed be present in the genomes of members of the herpesviral family.
Filannino A, Stout TA, Gadella BM, Sostaric E, Pizzi F, Colenbrander B, Dell'Aquila ME, Minervini F.The aim of this study was to investigate the in vitro effects of the Fusarium fungus-derived mycotoxin, zearalenone and its derivatives alpha-zearalenol and beta-zearalenol on motility parameters and the acrosome reaction of stallion sperm. Since the toxic effects of zearalenone and its derivatives are thought to result from their structural similarity to 17beta-estradiol, 17beta-estradiol was used as a positive control for 'estrogen-like' effects. Methods: Stallion spermatozoa were exposed in vitro to zearalenone, alpha-zearalenol, beta-zearalenol or 17beta-estradiol at concentrations ranging...
Glowatzki-Mullis ML, Muntwyler J, Pfister W, Marti E, Rieder S, Poncet PA, Gaillard C.Genetic characterization helps to assure breed integrity and to assign individuals to defined populations. The objective of this study was to characterize genetic diversity in six horse breeds and to analyse the population structure of the Franches-Montagnes breed, especially with regard to the degree of introgression with Warmblood. A total of 402 alleles from 50 microsatellite loci were used. The average number of alleles per locus was significantly lower in Thoroughbreds and Arabians. Average heterozygosities between breeds ranged from 0.61 to 0.72. The overall average of the coefficient of...
Nicolaiewsky TB, Richter MF, Lunge VR, Cunha CW, Delagostin O, Ikuta N, Fonseca AS, da Silva SS, Ozaki LS.We describe a nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the detection of Babesia equi in equine infected erythrocytes using oligonucleotides designed on the published sequence of a B. equi merozoite antigen gene (ema-1). A 102bp DNA fragment is specifically amplified from B. equi but not from Babesia caballi, Babesia bovis or Babesia bigemina DNA. In a mock infection we were able to detect down to six infected cells in 10(8) equine erythrocytes or to detect the parasite in blood with an equivalent parasitemia of 0.000006%. Furthermore, gene polymorphism was found by performing a PCR-RFLP (PCR...
Zwart L, Potgieter CA, Clift SJ, van Staden V.African horse sickness is a serious equid disease caused by the orbivirus African horse sickness virus (AHSV). The virus has ten double-stranded RNA genome segments encoding seven structural and three non-structural proteins. Recently, an additional protein was predicted to be encoded by genome segment 9 (Seg-9), which also encodes VP6, of most orbiviruses. This has since been confirmed in bluetongue virus and Great Island virus, and the non-structural protein was named NS4. In this study, in silico analysis of AHSV Seg-9 sequences revealed the existence of two main types of AHSV NS4, designat...
Dall'Olio S, Fontanesi L, Nanni Costa L, Tassinari M, Minieri L, Falaschini A.Myostatin (MSTN) is a negative modulator of muscle mass. We characterized the horse (Equus caballus) MSTN gene and identified and analysed single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in breeds of different morphological types. Sequencing of coding, untranslated, intronic, and regulatory regions of MSTN gene in 12 horses from 10 breeds revealed seven SNPs: two in the promoter, four in intron 1, and one in intron 2. The SNPs of the promoter (GQ183900:g.26T>C and GQ183900:g.156T>C, the latter located within a conserved TATA-box like motif) were screened in 396 horses from 16 breeds. The g.26C an...
Spier SJ, Leutenegger CM, Carroll SP, Loye JE, Pusterla JB, Carpenter TE, Mihalyi JE, Madigan JE.To develop and use a sensitive molecular assay for detecting the phospholipase D (PLD) exotoxin gene of Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis in an attempt to identify insect vectors that may be important in transmission of clinical disease in horses. Methods: 2,621 flies of various species. Methods: A real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based fluorogenic 5' nuclease (TaqMan) system (ie, TaqMan PCR assay) was developed for the detection of the PLD gene in insects. Flies were collected monthly (May to November 2002) from 5 farms in northern California where C. pseudotuberculosis infection in...
Pusterla N, Magdesian KG, Mapes S, Leutenegger CM.To determine gene expression of selected molecular markers (tumor necrosis factor [TNF]-alpha, interleukin [IL]-1beta, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, procalcitonin [PCT], and transforming growth factor [TGF]-beta) in the blood of healthy and sick foals. Methods: 28 sick foals without sepsis, 21 foals with sepsis, and 21 healthy foals. Methods: Total RNA was extracted from blood samples and converted into complementary DNA (cDNA). Gene expression was measured for the molecular markers by use of real-time PCR assay, and final quantitation was performed with the comparative threshold cycle method. Results: S...
Damiani AM, de Vries M, Reimers G, Winkler S, Osterrieder N.A particularly severe equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) abortion outbreak occurred at a breeding farm in northern Germany. Sixteen of 25 pregnant mares that had received regular vaccination using an inactivated vaccine aborted and two gave birth to weak non-viable foals in a span of three months, with 89% of cases occurring within 40 days after the initial abortion case. Virological examinations revealed the presence of EHV-1 in all cases of abortion and serological follow-up in mares confirmed recent infection. Molecular studies identified a neuropathogenic variant (Pol/ORF30 A2254 to G2254) ...
Goetting-Minesky MP, Makova KD.In mammals, males undergo a greater number of germline cell divisions compared with females. Thus, the male germline accumulates more DNA replication errors, which result in male mutation bias-a higher mutation rate for males than for females. The phenomenon of male mutation bias has been investigated mostly for rodents and primates, however, it has not been studied in detail for other mammalian orders. Here we sequenced and analyzed five introns of three genes (DBX/DBY, UTX/UTY, and ZFX/ZFY) homologous between X and Y chromosomes in several species of perissodactyls (horses and rhinos) and of...
Scior T, Alexander C, Zaehringer U.There is literature evidence gathered throughout the last two decades reflecting unexpected species differences concerning the immune response to lipid IVa which provides the opportunity to gain more detailed insight by the molecular modeling approach described in this study. Lipid IVa is a tetra-acylated precursor of lipid A in the biosynthesis of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in Gram-negative bacteria. Lipid A of the prototypic E. coli-type is a hexa-acylated structure that acts as an agonist in all tested mammalian species by innate immunorecognition via the Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)/myeloid d...
Ishida N, Oyunsuren T, Mashima S, Mukoyama H, Saitou N.The noncoding region between tRNAPro and the large conserved sequence block is the most variable region in the mammalian mitochondrial DNA D-loop region. This variable region (ca. 270 bp) of four species of Equus, including Mongolian and Japanese native domestic horses as well as Przewalskii's (or Mongolian) wild horse, were sequenced. These data were compared with our recently published Thoroughbred horse mitochondrial DNA sequences. The evolutionary rate of this region among the four species of Equus was estimated to be 2-4 x 10(-8) per site per year. Phylogenetic trees of Equus species demo...
Marklund S, Ellegren H, Eriksson S, Sandberg K, Andersson L.Ten (TG)n positive clones, isolated from an equine genomic library and sequenced, contained 12-19 uninterrupted TG repeats. Primers for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were synthesized and nine of these (TG)n loci (HTG7-15) were successfully amplified and utilized in this study together with five previously reported equine microsatellite loci (HTG2-6). The PCR products were analysed by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis followed by automated laser fluorescence detection or autoradiography. All microsatellites showed polymorphism and stable Mendelian inheritance. Differences in microsatellite v...
Swinburne JE, Boursnell M, Hill G, Pettitt L, Allen T, Chowdhary B, Hasegawa T, Kurosawa M, Leeb T, Mashima S, Mickelson JR, Raudsepp T, Tozaki T....A genetic linkage map of the horse consisting of 742 markers, which comprises a single linkage group for each of the autosomes and the X chromosome, is presented. The map has been generated from two three-generation full-sibling reference families, sired by the same stallion, in which there are 61 individuals in the F2 generation. Each linkage group has been assigned to a chromosome and oriented with reference to markers mapped by fluorescence in situ hybridization. The average interval between markers is 3.7 cM and the linkage groups collectively span 2772 cM. The 742 markers comprise 734 mic...
