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.
Equine rabies is a sporadic but highly fatal zoonotic disease. The disease persists in wildlife populations throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, and other parts of the world. It remains a threat to all domestic species, including the horse. This article reports recent advances in the molecular virology of the rabies virus and its pathogenesis, and it also reviews the history, clinical signs, diagnostic tests, vaccination protocols, and postexposure management recommendations for the equine species.
The goal of this work was the development of suitable (real-time) RT-PCR techniques for fast and sensitive diagnosis of EAV and for molecular-epidemiological characterisation of viral strains, as an alternative to virus isolation. To this purpose two conventional RT-PCR methods and one real-time RT-PCR were adapted to detect the broadest possible spectrum of viral strains. Several dilutions with Bucyrus strain showed a 100-fold higher sensitivity of real-time RT-PCR and heminested RT-PCR compared to simple RT-PCR. Making use of 11 cell culture supernatants of different EAV isolates and 7 semen...
Equine arteritis virus (EAV) is the causative agent of equine viral arteritis (EVA), a respiratory and reproductive disease of equids. There has been significant recent progress in understanding the molecular biology of EAV and the pathogenesis of its infection in horses. In particular, the use of contemporary genomic techniques, along with the development and reverse genetic manipulation of infectious cDNA clones of several strains of EAV, has generated significant novel information regarding the basic molecular biology of the virus. Therefore, the objective of this review is to summarize cur...
Fan X, Li W, Oros J, Plung JS, Plante JA, Basu H, Nagappan-Chettiar S, Boeckers JM, Tjang LV, Mann CJ, Brusic V, Buck TK, Varnum H, Yang P....After decades of inactivity throughout the Americas, western equine encephalitis virus (WEEV) recently re-emerged in South America, causing a large-scale outbreak in humans and horses. WEEV binds protocadherin 10 (PCDH10) as a receptor; however, nonpathogenic strains no longer bind human or equine PCDH10 but retain the ability to bind avian receptors. Highly virulent WEEV strains can also bind the very low-density lipoprotein receptor (VLDLR) and apolipoprotein E receptor 2 (ApoER2) as alternative receptors. Here, by determining cryo-electron microscopy structures of WEEV strains isolated from...
Zu H, Sun R, Li J, Guo X, Wang M, Guo W, Wang X.Strangles, a highly contagious disease caused by subspecies (), significantly impacts horse populations worldwide, with Iceland as the only exception. This disease poses serious threats to equine health and results in considerable economic losses. Consequently, the accurate, sensitive, and rapid detection of from clinical samples is essential for early warning and effective disease management. This study introduces a novel detection method that integrates recombinase-aided amplification (RAA) with CRISPR/Cas12a technologies. We specifically designed RAA primers and CRISPR RNA to target the ...
Martin G, Tyson GH, Guag J, Strain E, Ceric O.Klebsiella spp. is an important human and animal pathogen, and it is commonly found with resistance to clinically important antimicrobials worldwide. The main goals of this study were to determine the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance genes in our study population and to assess the relatedness between Klebsiella spp. isolated from humans and animals. Isolates were collected in 2019 and 2020 from various animal hosts that presented to veterinary hospitals in the U.S. that participate in the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine Veterinary Laboratory Investigation and Response Network's anti...
Belhout C, Wang F, Rossano A, Collaud A, Fernandez JE, Marchionatti E, Keller JE, Overesch G, Kaessmeyer S, Schwendener S, Perreten V.Nine Gram-positive, non-motile, facultatively anaerobic cocci, designated EM39Eᵀ, JEK85, 18KM676, 21M1142, 18KM445, 18KM444, 18KM245, 18KM583 and 21KM1573, were isolated from diverse animal material, including horse and pig skin, bovine mastitis milk and feline urine from a urinary tract infection. Phylogenomic analysis based on amino-acid alignment obtained from translated whole-genome sequences; digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH); 16S rRNA, , , and gene comparison; and MALDI-TOF MS spectral profiles placed the strains within the clade. They were closely related to CCM 7100ᵀ, CCM 7...
Tasnim Y, Rahman MK, Awosile B.We aimed to determine the genetic relatedness among β-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli isolated from soil, lake water, and feces of geese, pigs, dogs, cattle, coyotes, wild hogs, and horses at one health interface in West Texas. Results: Previously isolated 56 β-lactamase-producing E. coli isolates from the feces of geese, pigs, horses, coyotes, dogs, cattle, and wild hogs, and soil and lake water from different locations in West Texas were analyzed for genetic relatedness using whole-genome sequencing, core genome multilocus sequence typing, and phylogenetic single-nucleotide polymorphi...
Yue L, Tang W, Li C, Yue X, He X, Zaitsev AM, Zhang M, Kalaschnikov VV, Li J, Wang Q.This study used data-independent acquisition (DIA) proteomics to analyze the changing protein content of mare's milk (n = 3) throughout the entire lactation period (days 1-120), with samples taken at seven different times. Principal component analysis (PCA) revealed that the protein composition of colostrum on day 1 differed markedly from that of later lactation stages. Colostrum-specific proteins such as IgG, IgM, IgE, AGPAT1, NPVF and CAMK2G were associated with rapid energy supply, neurodevelopment and immune defense. In contrast, mature milk was enriched in proteins involved in sustained...
Songsungthong W, Pornthanakasem W, Leartsakulpanich U, Srijuntongsiri G.The ability to accurately and rapidly identify causative agents of infectious diseases facilitates precise treatment, improves clinical outcomes, and augments epidemiology studies. For many veterinary and zoonotic pathogens, however, simple molecular tests for species identification are not available. causes severe diseases, such as sleepy foal disease, septicemia, and meningitis in horses and pigs. can also cause severe diseases in humans bitten by infected animals. Existing identification methods are biochemical tests, 16S rRNA gene amplification followed by DNA sequencing, and MALDI-TOF ...
Buyens ARM, van Staden V, Theron J.African horse sickness, caused by African horse sickness virus (AHSV) that is transmitted by midges of the Culicoides genus, leads to rapid mortality among horses. Proteases in the saliva of Culicoides midges cleave the VP2 outer capsid protein, resulting in infectious sub-virus particles that have increased infectivity for the Culicoides vector insect and Culicoides-derived cells (KC cells). The AHSV VP7 protein has an arginine-glycine-aspartate (RGD) motif, but the functional relevance of this protein and motif in facilitating binding to insect cells is unknown. To investigate, core-like par...
Wang R, Ren W, Liu S, Li Z, Li L, Ma S, Yao X, Meng J, Zeng Y, Wang J.This study aimed to assess the anti-inflammatory properties of mare milk by analyzing immune markers in mice following gavage of mare milk. Metagenomic sequencing was employed to examine variations in the composition and functional profiles of the intestinal microbiota across different experimental groups. Bacterial diversity, abundance, and functional annotations of gut microbiota were evaluated for each group. The results show that, compared to the control group, the mare milk group exhibited a significant decrease in the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-6 levels and a significant increase in se...
de Mello Zanim M, Rodriguez MC, Martins FDC, Camargos MF, Headley SA.West Nile fever is a zoonotic arboviral disease caused by the West Nile Virus (WNV), responsible for deaths in humans, mammals, and birds with associated neurological manifestations. All previous investigations of WNV from Brazil were based primarily on serological and molecular analyses and in humans, equids, and birds in the northern and southeastern regions of the country. This study describes the pathological and molecular findings observed in a mule, from the state of Paraná, southern Brazil, that died during an outbreak involving equids with clinical manifestations of a neurological dis...
Ma S, Luo T, Zheng Y, Wang Y, Yu J, Qu H, Liu B, Wang T, Wu C, Zhu Y, Bai X, Wang Z, Li J.Endometritis is a major cause of infertility in intensively farmed donkeys. Streptococcus equi subsp. zooepidemicus (SEZ) is a predominant pathogen that readily forms biofilms in equine endometritis, conferring resistance to conventional treatments. Objective: This study aimed to characterize the biofilm dynamics of SEZ isolates obtained from donkeys and to evaluate potential anti-biofilm strategies with different drug combinations. Methods: Uterine lavage samples were collected from 30 Dezhou Black donkeys with clinical endometritis. Bacterial cultures were performed on blood agar and MacConk...
Hayashi M, Yonetamari J, Muto Y, Kinoshita Y, Uchida E, Niwa H, Fujiwara N, Nakaya M, Yamagishi Y, Tanaka K.In this study, five strains of anaerobic, Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacteria were characterized phenotypically, biochemically and genotypically. These strains were clinically isolated from horse specimens in Japan. Phylogenetic trees constructed based on 16S rRNA gene sequence comparisons showed distinct clustering of the five strains with the type strains of closely related species. The genomic DNA G+C content was 46.7 mol%. The major cellular fatty acids identified were C, 3-OH-C and 3-OH-iso-C. Whole-genome comparisons based on average nucleotide identity using blast (ANIb) and digital DNA...
Rymaszewska A, Kubiak K, Dmitryjuk M, Rząd I, Kirczuk L.Ixodes ricinus is a widespread vector of numerous microorganisms pathogenic to humans and animals in Europe. The risk of exposure to tick-borne pathogens (TBPs) has increased in recent years due to climate change, the conversion of natural green areas to recreational areas, and growing human and animal populations, including pets. Using molecular methods, the prevalence, diversity, and co-occurrence of selected tick-borne microorganisms were assessed in questing I. ricinus collected from recreational areas (n = 409), in ticks feeding on horses (n = 135), and in blood samples from red d...
Huang Q, Wen M, Wen L, Li Q, Zeng Y, Wang J, Meng J, Ren W, Yao X.This study aims to elucidate the miRNA regulatory mechanisms during the developmental process of Kazakh horse testes at 1 and 3 years of age. Through miRNA sequencing and bioinformatics analysis of testicular tissues from 1-year-old and 3-year-old horses, a developmentally stage-specific miRNA expression profile was constructed. A total of 1640 miRNAs were identified, among which 437 (380 up-regulated and 57 down-regulated) exhibited significant differential expression between the two age groups, including eca-miR-16, eca-miR-17, eca-miR-103, and eca-miR-199a-5p. Functional enrichment analysis...
Abdulkadir A, Kabir J, Bello M, Olayinka B.Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) represents a worrying example of antimicrobial resistance, and it is essential to acquire new information to monitor the spread and limit it further diffusion. This study aimed to characterise 22 MRSA isolates from horses, dogs, cats, and their human handlers focusing on spa typing. In the analysis of the sequences obtained, the spa type is "unknown" (unidentified) and all the sequences except one had repeats previously not known in all databases potentially indicating new spa-repeats. This could possibly indicate either permanent import of no...
Kovács M, Hegedűs B, Mihók S, Knop R, Szabó C, Posta J.The conservation of genetic diversity in historically structured horse breeds requires fi-ne-scale population genetic evaluation beyond conventional pedigree-based approaches. The present study assessed genetic diversity, population structure, and mare family differentiation in a Lipizzan horse population using 16 ISAG/FAO-recommended microsatellite markers. A total of 172 mares representing 29 mare families were genotyped. All loci were polymorphic, with a mean number of alleles per locus of 6.69 and a mean effective number of alleles of 3.56. The average polymorphism information content (PIC...
Maharana BR, Ganguly A, Malik R, Kumar A, Khanna S, Kumar B, Potliya S, Singh H, Dash A, Sahu S.Equine piroplasmosis, caused by Theileria equi, has been widely studied globally, but genetic diversity research in India remains limited. Analysis of 306 horse blood samples revealed T. equi infection in 10.78% by microscopy and 21.24% by PCR. Universal primers targeting 18S rRNA of T. equi and Babesia caballi were used, followed by species-specific primers generating 435 bp amplicons. Sequenced PCR-positive samples revealed high homology (99.52-100% in India, 95.89-100% globally), with all Indian isolates classified as genotype A. The EMA-1 gene phylogenetic analysis confirmed the insights f...
Ibrahim MA, Noshy MM, Mohamed HRH, Abd El-Gawad MEH.This study combined classical cytogenetics and ISSR molecular markers to characterize genetic diversity in 24 Egyptian Arabian horses. Karyotyping revealed the standard equine chromosome number (2n = 64) with no numerical or structural abnormalities. Chromosome measurements were consistent with ISCN Equine standards: autosomal relative lengths (RL%) followed the expected size hierarchy, biarmed chromosomes displayed metacentric to submetacentric morphology (CI = 37-50%), and recalculated centromeric indices confirmed the presence of measurable p-arms on all acrocentric chromosomes. ISSR an...
