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.
Klohonatz KM, Coleman SJ, Islas-Trejo AD, Medrano JF, Hess AM, Kalbfleisch T, Thomas MG, Bouma GJ, Bruemmer JE.Equine maternal recognition of pregnancy (MRP) is a process whose signal remains unknown. During MRP the conceptus and endometrium communicate to attenuate prostaglandin F (PGF) secretion, sparing the corpus luteum and maintaining progesterone production. Recognition of a mobile conceptus by the endometrium is critical by days 14-16 post-ovulation (PO), when endometrium produces PGF, initiating luteolysis. The objective of this study was to evaluate endometrial gene expression changes based upon pregnancy status via RNA sequencing. This experiment utilized a cross-over design with each mare se...
Pechacek D, Hwangbo M, Moreland R, Liu M, Ramsey J. 4s is a Gram-negative bacterium found in the equine intestinal ecosystem alongside diverse other coliform bacteria and bacteriophages. This announcement describes the complete genome of the T7-like 4s podophage Penshu1. From its 39,263-bp genome, 54 protein-encoding genes and a 179-bp terminal repeat were predicted.
Hatam-Nahavandi K, Ahmadpour E, Carmena D, Spotin A, Bangoura B, Xiao L.Cryptosporidium spp. are causative agents of gastrointestinal diseases in a wide variety of vertebrate hosts. Mortality resulting from the disease is low in livestock, although severe cryptosporidiosis has been associated with fatality in young animals. Methods: The goal of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to review the prevalence and molecular data on Cryptosporidium infections in selected terrestrial domestic and wild ungulates of the families Bovidae (bison, buffalo, cattle, goat, impala, mouflon sheep, sheep, yak), Cervidae (red deer, roe deer, white-tailed deer), Camelidae (al...
Scholtzek AD, Hanke D, Walther B, Eichhorn I, Stöckle SD, Klein KS, Gehlen H, Lübke-Becker A, Schwarz S, Feßler AT.The detection of borderline oxacillin-resistant (BORSA) represents a challenge to both, veterinary and human laboratories. Between 2015 and 2017, 19 equine with elevated minimal inhibitory concentrations for oxacillin were detected in routine diagnostics. The aim of this study was to characterize these isolates to identify factors possibly associated with the BORSA phenotype. All were subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility testing and whole genome sequencing (WGS). A quantifiable β-lactamase activity assay was performed for a representative subset of 13 isolates. The WGS data analysis o...
Alpoim-Moreira J, Fernandes C, Rebordão MR, Amaral A, Pinto-Bravo P, Bliebernicht M, Skarzynski DJ, Ferreira-Dias G.Inflammation and fibroproliferative diseases may be modulated by epigenetic changes. Therefore, we suggest that epigenetic mechanisms could be involved in equine endometrosis pathogenesis. DNA methylation is one of the methods to evaluate epigenetics, through the transcription of methyltransferases (DNMT1, DNMT3A, DNMT3B). The correlation between DNMTs and collagen (COL) transcripts was assessed for the different Kenney and Doig's (Current Therapy in Theriogenology. Philadelphia: WB Saunders; 1986) endometrium categories. Endometrial biopsies were randomly collected from cyclic mares. Histolog...
Poirier M, Smith OE, Therrien J, Rigoglio NN, Miglino MA, Silva LA, Meirelles FV, Smith LC.Cell reprogramming by somatic cell nuclear transfer and in induced pluripotent stem cells is associated with epigenetic modifications that are often incompatible with embryonic development and differentiation. For instance, aberrant DNA methylation patterns of the differentially methylated region and biallelic expression of H19-/IGF2-imprinted gene locus have been associated with abnormal growth of fetuses and placenta in several mammalian species. However, cloned horses are born with normal sizes and with no apparent placental anomalies, suggesting that H19/IGF2 imprinting may be epigenetical...
Tyrrell JD, Qurollo BA, Tornquist SJ, Schlaich KG, Kelsey J, Chandrashekar R, Breitschwerdt EB.Certain vector-borne organisms serve as etiological agents of equine disease. After previously identifying a new Ehrlichia species in horses from Mérida, we aimed to determine the infection frequency and screen for a wide range of vector-borne organisms from 93 tick-exposed, Ehrlichia seropositive horses in this region. PCR assays were performed to identify infection by organisms within the following genera: Anaplasma, Babesia, Bartonella, Ehrlichia, Leishmania, Mycoplasma, Neorickettsia, Rickettsia and Theileria. Overall, 90/93 horses (96.8%) were infected with one or more vector-borne organ...
Poelaert KCK, Van Cleemput J, Laval K, Xie J, Favoreel HW, Nauwynck HJ.The ancestral equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV1), closely related to human herpes viruses, exploits leukocytes to reach its target organs, accordingly evading the immune surveillance system. Circulating EHV1 strains can be divided into abortigenic/neurovirulent, causing reproductive/neurological disorders. Neurovirulent EHV1 more efficiently recruits monocytic CD172a cells to the upper respiratory tract (URT), while abortigenic EHV1 tempers monocyte migration. Whether similar results could be expected for T lymphocytes is not known. Therefore, we questioned whether differences in T cell recruitment c...
Dang W, Shang S, Zhang X, Yu Y, Irwin DM, Wang Z, Zhang S.Previous studies investigating donkey parentage and genetic diversity used horse-specific multiplex systems. However, several mis-allele and null-allele issues were found with some of the horse primers when used in donkeys. In 2017, the International Society for Animal Genetics (ISAG) recommended 13 dinucleotide short tandem repeats (STRs) (AHT4, ASB23, HMS2, HMS3, HMS6, HMS7, HMS18, HTG7, HTG10, TKY297, TKY312, TKY337 and TKY343) as a core panel that should be used to identify individuals and to test for parentage in donkeys. To date, no single multiplex STR typing system containing all 13 do...
León B, Jiménez C, González R, Ramirez-Carvajal L.The first complete coding sequence of the Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus IE, isolated from a Costa Rican mare with severe encephalitis, was confirmed by histological and viral whole-genome analyses. The isolated virus grouped in the Pacific cluster.
Lindenberg F, Krych L, Fielden J, Kot W, Frøkiær H, van Galen G, Nielsen DS, Hansen AK.Billions of bacteria inhabit the gastrointestinal tract. Immune-microbial cross talk is responsible for immunological homeostasis, and symbiotic microbial species induce regulatory immunity, which helps to control the inflammation levels. In this study we aimed to identify species within the equine intestinal microbiota with the potential to induce regulatory immunity. These could be future targets for preventing or treating low-grade chronic inflammation occurring as a result of intestinal microbial changes and disruption of the homeostasis. 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing was performed on ...
Denham J, Stevenson K, Denham MM.Telomeres are genetically conserved repetitive terminal DNA that protect against genomic instability and shorten with ageing. Here, we reveal the leukocyte telomere length of Equus caballus by measuring terminal restriction fragments (TRFs) using Southern Blot analysis in a cohort of 43 Thoroughbred horses (age: 24 h-25 years). Heterogeneous TRFs were observed in each animal and large inter-animal variation in mean TRF was observed (range: 10.5-18.7 kbp). Mean TRFs were inversely correlated with age (r = -0.47). The estimated yearly rate of telomere attrition was 134 bp. Horses shoul...
Lawson AL, Pittaway CE, Sparrow RM, Balkwill EC, Coles GC, Tilley A, Wilson AD.Anoplocephala perfoliata is the commonest equine tapeworm, the adult parasites are attached in groups close to the ileocaecal valve causing marked inflammatory pathology. This work aimed to characterize the nature of the in vivo mucosal immune response to A perfoliata, and to investigate the role of A perfoliata excretory-secretory components in modulating in vitro immune responses. Real-time PCR detected elevation of IL13 and TGFβ transcription in early-stage A perfoliata infection. In late-stage infection, IL-13, IL4 and Ifn transcripts were reduced while the regulatory cytokines, TGFβ...
Deshiere A, Berthet N, Lecouturier F, Gaudaire D, Hans A.Equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) is responsible of acute disease episodes characterized by fever, anemia, thrombocytopenia and anorexia in equids. The high mutation rate in EIAV genome limited the number of full genome sequences availability. In the present study, we used the SureSelect target enrichment system with Illumina Next Generation Sequencing to characterize the proviral DNA of Equine Infectious Anemia Virus (EIAV) from asymptomatic horses. This approach allows a direct sequencing of the EIAV whole genome without cloning or amplification steps and we could obtain for the first ti...
Stefaniuk-Szmukier M, Szmatoła T, Łątka J, Długosz B, Ropka-Molik K.Horse musculature has been shaped through evolution by environmental and human factors, which has resulted in several extraordinary adaptations to physical effort. Skeletal muscle plasticity results from the response to mechanical stimulation causing hypertrophy, where sarcomeres increase the muscle's cross-sectional area under the influence of contractile forces. The aim of the present study was the evaluation of transcript abundance of the telethonin () gene, which is a part of the sarcomere macromolecular mechanosensory complex in the gluteus medius muscle, and the whole blood of Arabian ho...
Grant DM, Macedo A, Toms D, Klein C.Preimplantation equine embryos synthesize and secrete fibrinogen, which is a peculiar finding as fibrinogen synthesis almost exclusively occurs in the liver. This study investigated the hypothesis that conceptus-derived fibrinogen mediates cell adhesion during fixation. On day 21 of pregnancy, five integrin subunits, including ITGA5, ITGB1, ITGAV, and ITGB1, displayed significantly higher transcript abundance than on day 16 of pregnancy. Endometrial epithelial cells adhered to fibrinogen in an integrin-dependent manner in an in vitro cell adhesion assay. Bilaminar trophoblast and allantochorio...
Li XY, Pape T, Zhang D.Species of Gasterophilus Leach are obligate parasites in domestic and wild equids and responsible for cosmopolitan gasterophilosis. Although with only eight species known so far, they have received considerable attention because of their significant veterinary and economic importance. Surprisingly, we found that G. flavipes (Olivier) is a valid species based on morphological characters from male, female and the egg, after spending half a century as a synonym of G. haemorrhoidalis (Linnaeus). In the present study, G. flavipes, G. haemorrhoidalis and G. inermis (Brauer), which are the three clos...
Matczuk AK, Chodaczek G, Ugorski M.Equine arteritis virus (EAV) is a prototype member of the Arterivirus family, comprising important pathogens of domestic animals. Minor glycoproteins of Arteriviruses are responsible for virus entry and cellular tropism. The experimental methods for studying minor Arterivirus proteins are limited because of the lack of antibodies and nested open reading frames (ORFs). In this study, we generated recombinant EAV with separated ORFs 3 and 4, and Gp3 carrying HA-tag (Gp3-HA). The recombinant viruses were stable on passaging and replicated in titers similar to the wild-type EAV. Gp3-HA was incorpo...
Issouf M, Vargas A, Boivin R, Lavoie JP.Airway wall remodeling, including hyperplasia and hypertrophy of smooth muscle (ASM) cells leading to an increased smooth muscle mass, is considered central to asthma. However, molecular pathways responsible for ASM remodeling remain poorly understood. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have emerged as key regulators of inflammatory and repair processes affecting the lungs and can downregulate protein expression by inhibiting target mRNA translation. We therefore hypothesized that miRNAs are involved in ASM remodeling in asthma by modulating ASM proliferation. We have analyzed the expression of miRNAs in bron...
Dorey-Robinson DLW, Locker N, Steinbach F, Choudhury B.Equine infectious anaemia virus (EIAV) is a retrovirus with worldwide distribution which is notifiable to the OIE. Despite its importance to the equine industry, most information regarding its biology have been obtained using only two strains (EIAV and EIAV ) from the USA and China, respectively. Recently full genome sequences from Ireland, Italy and Japan have been published; however, this is still not representative of the number of EIAV outbreaks experienced globally each year. The limited availability of published sequences makes design of a universal EIAV PCR difficult, hence diagnosis is...
Carossino M, Dini P, Kalbfleisch TS, Loynachan AT, Canisso IF, Cook RF, Timoney PJ, Balasuriya UBR.Equine arteritis virus (EAV) has the unique ability to establish long-term persistent infection in the reproductive tract of stallions and be sexually transmitted. Previous studies showed that long-term persistent infection is associated with a specific allele of the CXCL16 gene (CXCL16S) and that persistence is maintained despite the presence of local inflammatory and humoral and mucosal antibody responses. Here, we performed transcriptomic analysis of the ampullae, the primary site of EAV persistence in long-term EAV carrier stallions, to understand the molecular signatures of viral persiste...
Boos GS, Nobach D, Failing K, Eickmann M, Herden C.A suitable RNA extraction protocol was established to gain high quality RNA from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues to perform reliable molecular assays either applicable for using FFPE tissue archives or tissues with harsh formalin-fixation. Eighteen FFPE samples from the central nervous system of horses, stored up to 11 years, were used as archive cases. To test the influence of the fixation period, brain, liver, kidney, and skeletal muscle tissue fragments from another horse, were treated either with water or tris-acetate-EDTA buffer after fixation under different timepoints with 10...
Ali A, Khan MA, Zahid H, Yaseen PM, Qayash Khan M, Nawab J, Ur Rehman Z, Ateeq M, Khan S, Ibrahim M.Although ticks prevalent in various agro-systems of Pakistan are associated with economic losses, information is still missing about the tick's diversity, hosts they infest, seasonal dynamics and molecular phylogeny of in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Pakistan. This study for the first time enlisted ticks infesting diverse hosts including humans in various regions of KP. A total of 8,641 ticks were collected across the northern, southern and central regions of KP and were morpho-taxonomically categorized into six genera comprising 17 species, ( = 3,584, 42%), ( = 2,253, 27%) ( = 1,342, 16%), ( =...
Knych HK, Baden RW, Gretler SR, McKemie DS.Despite their widespread popularity as sport and companion animals and published and anecdotal reports of vast difference in drug disposition and pharmacokinetics between individuals, studies describing equine drug metabolism are limited. It has been theorized that similar to humans, members of the CYP2D family in horses may be polymorphic in nature leading to differences in metabolism of substrates. This study aims to build on the limited current knowledge regarding P450 mediated metabolism in horses by describing the metabolism of the polymorphic CYP2D6 probe drug codeine in vitro. Codeine, ...
Gulmez C, Atakisi O.It was aimed to investigate the effects of kumiss a fermented mare horse beverage on the sirtuin deacetylases in the oxidative stress which had been induced by 1,2-dimethyl hydrazine (DMH). Forty BALB/C male mice were divided into four groups as control, kumiss (2 × 10 cfu/mL), DMH (20 mg/kg), and kumiss + DMH (2 × 10 cfu/mL + 20 mg/kg). At the end of 20-week regimen, SIRT2, SIRT3 protein expressions by western blotting, immunolocalizations, and inhibitory anti-oxidant activity analysis in liver, colon, and kidney tissues were performed. SIRT2 and SIRT3 expressions in DMH g...
Pusterla N, Bowers J, Barnum S, Hall JA.The objective of this study was to detect Streptococcus equi subspecies equi (S. equi) (Lactobacillales: Streptococcaceae) using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) in flies collected from a farm with a documented outbreak of strangles. A total of 1856 face flies [Musca autumnalis (Diptera: Muscidae)] were collected using conventional fly traps. The flies were processed for nucleic acid purification and tested for the presence of S. equi by qPCR. A total of 10/1856 flies (0.54%) tested qPCR-positive for S. equi. The results may implicate the presence of face flies as a risk factor...
Della Malva A, De Palo P, Lorenzo JM, Maggiolino A, Albenzio M, Marino R.The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of post-mortem aging on tenderness development and proteolysis of myofibrillar proteins in 3 different horse muscles. Warner-Bratzler shear force decreased during aging in all muscles, showing the lowest values in longissimus lumborum (LL) in all sampling points. Myofibril fragmentation index significantly increased in LL and semimembranosus (SM) muscles throughout aging time whereas in semitendinosus (ST) it increased after 14 days of aging. Proteomics analysis revealed the major content of intact myofibrillar proteins with high molecular wei...
Kandemir H, Dukik K, Hagen F, Ilkit M, Gräser Y, de Hoog GS.The anthropophilic dermatophyte Trichophyton tonsurans and its zoophilic counterpart T. equinum are phylogenetically closely related. The barcoding marker rDNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) shows limited variation between these two species. In the current study, we combined molecular approaches with phenotypic data to determine the species boundaries between T. tonsurans (n = 52) and T. equinum (n = 15) strains originating from humans (n = 40), horses (n = 26), and a mouse (n = 1). Culture characteristics and physiology on Trichophyton agar media 1 and 5 were evaluated....
Demircan K, Onder Z, Duzlu O, Yildirim A, Okur M, Ciloglu A, Yetismis G, Inci A.The goal of our study was to investigate the molecular prevalence of Giardia intestinalis in naturally infected horses in Kayseri, Central Anatolia Region in Turkey, to determine the molecular characterization of the obtained isolates and to exhibit the potential role of horses in zoonotic transmission of G. intestinalis. Fecal samples were randomly collected from totally 150 horses with clinically healthy between March and June of 2018. After the genomic DNA extractions, 25 (16.6%) of the 150 fecal samples, were found positive for G. intestinalis by nested PCR analyses of β-giardin gene. P...
Scantlebury CE, Pinchbeck GL, Loughnane P, Aklilu N, Ashine T, Stringer AP, Gordon L, Marshall M, Christley RM, McCarthy AJ.Histoplasma capsulatum var. farciminosum, the causative agent of epizootic lymphangitis (EZL), is endemic in parts of Africa. Diagnosis based on clinical signs and microscopy lacks specificity and is a barrier to further understanding this neglected disease. Here, a nested PCR method targeting the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the rRNA operon was validated for application to equine clinical samples. Twenty-nine horses with signs of EZL from different climatic regions of Ethiopia were clinically examined. Blood samples and aspirates of pus from cutaneous nodules were taken, along ...
Egberink H, Horzinek MC.Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) has morphological, physical and biochemical characteristics similar to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the cause of AIDS in man. However, it is antigenically and genetically distinct from HIV; an antigenic relatedness with equine infectious anaemia virus has been demonstrated. FIV has been molecularly cloned and sequenced. Diagnostic tests are commercially available and attempts at preparing inactivated, subunit and molecularly engineered vaccines are being made in different laboratories. During FIV infection a transient primary illness can be recognized...
Southgate CD, Green MR.Lentivirus Tat proteins comprise a novel class of RNA-binding transcriptional activators that are essential for viral replication. In this study, we performed a series of protein fusion experiments to delineate the minimal protein domains and promoter elements required for Tat action. We show that a 15-amino-acid region of equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) Tat protein, when fused to the GAL4 or LexA DNA binding domain, can activate transcription in appropriate promoter contexts. In the natural human immunodeficiency virus type 1 long terminal repeat, activation by Tat is dependent on multi...
van der Kuyl AC.Information on endogenous retroviruses fixed in the horse (Equus caballus) genome is scarce. The recent availability of a draft sequence of the horse genome enables the detection of such integrated viruses by similarity search. Using translated nucleotide fragments from gamma-, beta-, and delta-retroviral genera for initial searches, a full-length beta-retrovirus genome was retrieved from a horse chromosome 5 contig. The provirus, tentatively named EqERV-beta1 (for the first equine endogenous beta-retrovirus), was 10434 nucleotide (nt) in length with the usual retroviral genome structure of 5'...
Raudsepp T, Lear TL, Chowdhary BP.The X chromosomes of the extant equids, in general, share morphology and banding pattern similarities. However, the donkey X is, in part, an exception because of significantly different centromeric index and variant banding patterns in the pericentromeric region. To verify the underlying molecular basis of this difference, twelve equine BAC clones were FISH mapped to donkey (EAS) and Hartmann's mountain zebra (EZH) metaphase spreads. Loci from the terminal region of Xp and distal to terminal regions of the Xq showed the same order and relative position in all three species, implying cross-spec...
Schoster A, Staempfli HR, Arroyo LG, Reid-Smith RJ, Janecko N, Shewen PE, Weese JS.Point prevalence studies have reported carriage rates of enteric pathogens in healthy horses, but longitudinal data are lacking. Commensal E. coli is an indicator organism to evaluate antimicrobial resistance of enteric bacteria, yet there are limited data for horses. The objectives of this study were to investigate and molecularly characterize isolates of Clostridium difficile, Clostridium perfringens and Salmonella, collected sequentially over a one year period, and to determine the antibiotic susceptibility profile for E. coli. Fecal samples were collected monthly from 25 adult horses for o...
Handing KB, Shabalin IG, Szlachta K, Majorek KA, Minor W.Serum albumin (SA) is the main transporter of drugs in mammalian blood plasma. Here, we report the first crystal structure of equine serum albumin (ESA) in complex with antihistamine drug cetirizine at a resolution of 2.1Å. Cetirizine is bound in two sites--a novel drug binding site (CBS1) and the fatty acid binding site 6 (CBS2). Both sites differ from those that have been proposed in multiple reports based on equilibrium dialysis and fluorescence studies for mammalian albumins as cetirizine binding sites. We show that the residues forming the binding pockets in ESA are highly conserved in h...
Tozaki T, Ohnuma A, Iwai S, Kikuchi M, Ishige T, Kakoi H, Hirota K, Kusano K, Nagata S.Gene doping is banned in human sports, horseracing, and equestrian sports. One possible form of gene doping is to administer exogenous genes, called transgenes. Several transgene detection methods based on quantitative PCR have been developed. In this study, we investigated the robustness of digital PCR and real-time PCR in transgene detection using primers and probes that matched (P-true) or incompletely matched (P-false) the template DNA. Fluorescence intensity was significantly reduced when substituted probes were used compared to that using the matched probe in both digital and real-time P...
Tang X, Sayre LM, Tochtrop GP.Cytochrome c is a key mitochondrial respiratory protein that is particularly susceptible to modification during oxidative stress. The nature of this susceptibility is linked to the mitochondrial membrane being rich in esterified linoleic acid, which predisposes this organelle to the formation of lipid peroxidation products such as 4-hydroxy-2-(E)-nonenal (4-HNE). To better understand the nature of cytochrome c modification by 4-HNE, we initiated an in vitro study utilizing a combination of MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, LC-ESI-MS/MS and isotope labeling to monitor 4-HNE modification of cytochrom...
Malik P, Bálint A, Dán A, Pálfi V.Equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) can be classified into distinct groups by single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in their genomes. Only a few of these can be associated with a special attribute of the virus. Differences in the ORF30 region can determine the neuropathogenic potential, while by substitutions in the ORF68 region several strain groups can be made. In previous studies no connection was found between the neuropathogenic potential and the SNPs in ORF68, but the occurrence of members of distinct groups in different outbreaks can facilitate epidemiological investigations because the geogr...
Pouran B, Arbabi V, Zadpoor AA, Weinans H.The metabolic function of cartilage primarily depends on transport of solutes through diffusion mechanism. In the current study, we use contrast enhanced micro-computed tomography to determine equilibrium concentration of solutes through different cartilage zones and solute flux in the cartilage, using osteochondral plugs from equine femoral condyles. Diffusion experiments were performed with two solutes of different charge and approximately equal molecular weight, namely iodixanol (neutral) and ioxaglate (charge=-1) in order to isolate the effects of solute's charge on diffusion. Furthermore,...
Allen GP, O'Callaghan DJ, Randall CC.Infection of cells with equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) or type 3 (EHV-3) resulted in the induction of a DNA polymerase activity distinguishable from host cell DNA polymerases by its high salt requirement for maximal activity. By column chromatography on DEAE-cellulose, DNA-cellulose, phosphocellulose, and hydroxyapatite, the EHV-1-induced polymerase was purified 500-fold with 1–2% recovery of total activity from the nuclei of infected hamster livers. The final enzyme preparation was homogeneous as judged by electrophoresis in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels. Calculations based ...
Murray SJ, Santangelo KS, Bertone AL.To evaluate early cellular influences of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)12 and BMP2 on equine superficial digital flexor tenocytes (SDFTNs) and equine bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMDMSCs). Methods: 9 adult clinically normal horses. Methods: BMDMSCs and SDFTNs were cultured in monolayer, either untreated or transduced with adenovirus encoding green fluorescent protein, adenovirus encoding BMP12, or adenovirus encoding BMP2. Cytomorphologic, cytochemical, immunocytochemical, and reverse transcriptase-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) analyses were performed on days 3 and 6. Genetic pro...
McGorum BC, Dixon PM, Halliwell RE, Irving P.A comparison was made of the cellular and molecular components of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) harvested from the left and right diaphragmatic lobes, the accessory lobe of the right lung and the apical lobe of the left lung, of seven control horses and six horses with symptomatic chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Neither control nor symptomatic COPD affected horses showed significant regional differences in BALF recovery volumes, total and differential BALF cell counts, albumen adjusted total and absolute BALF cell counts, total and absolute pulmonary epithelial lining fluid...
Ramos-Vara JA, Frank CB, DuSold D, Miller MA.The immunoreactivity of PNL2, Melan A, and protein gene product (PGP) 9.5 was compared with that of S100 protein in 50 formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded equine melanocytic neoplasms. PNL2, PGP 9.5, and S100 protein were detected in all 50 neoplasms; none expressed Melan A. PNL2 was not expressed in 62 nonmelanocytic tumors (equine sarcoids, schwannomas, carcinomas, sarcomas, endocrine tumors, sex-cord stromal tumors, germ cell tumors, and leukocytic tumors) or in normal tissues other than epidermis. In summary, antibody PNL2 is a sensitive marker of equine melanocytic neoplasms and is more spe...
Norcross NL, Coggins L.The spleens of horses infected with equine infectious anemia contain an antigen that is useful for a diagnostic immunodiffusion test. This antigen was extracted from the spleen by homogenization of the tissue, centrifugation, and precipitation from the supernatant fluid at 50% saturation with (NH(4))(2)SO(4). The antigen was purified by subjecting it to two cycles of electrophoresis in a continuous free-flow electrophoresis cell and finally filtering through a column of Sephadex G-200 gel. The antigen was found to be a small protein with a molecular weight of 27,500 and sedimentation coefficie...
Pountney DL, Fundel SM, Faller P, Birchler NE, Hunziker P, Vasák M.Human neuronal growth inhibitory factor (GIF) impairs the survival of cultured neurons and is deficient in the brains of Alzheimer's disease victims. We have isolated and sequenced analogous proteins from bovine and equine brain. By comparing their primary structures with those of human, mouse and rat GIFs, a consensus GIF sequence was obtained. Although this exhibits ca. 65% similarity with primary structures of mammalian metallothioneins (MTs), some significant differences are expected in the content of helix and turn secondary structures. In contrast to MTs, which usually bind 7 Zn(II) ions...
Weyer CT, Joone C, Lourens CW, Monyai MS, Koekemoer O, Grewar JD, van Schalkwyk A, Majiwa PO, MacLachlan NJ, Guthrie AJ.Blood samples collected as part of routine diagnostic investigations from South African horses with clinical signs suggestive of African horse sickness (AHS) were subjected to analysis with an AHS virus (AHSV) group specific reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (AHSV RT-qPCR) assay and virus isolation (VI) with subsequent serotyping by plaque inhibition (PI) assays using AHSV serotype-specific antisera. Blood samples that tested positive by AHSV RT-qPCR were then selected for analysis using AHSV type specific RT-qPCR (AHSV TS RT-qPCR) assays. The TS RT-qPCR assays were ...
Castro ER, Perez R, Rodriguez S, Bassetti L, Negro R, Vidal R.Equine influenza is one of the major respiratory infectious diseases in horses. In 2018, equine influenza virus (EIV) was confirmed as the cause of outbreaks of respiratory disease in horses in Chile and Argentina. In the same year, for the first time in Uruguay, EIV infection was confirmed by isolation and molecular analysis to be the cause of respiratory disease among hundreds of clinically affected thoroughbred horses in training and racing facilities. The virus was detected in nasopharyngeal swabs by a pan-reactive influenza type A realtime reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (...
Dimsoski P.To describe the development and performance of the new horse genotyping kit. Methods: Highly discriminatory 17-Plex horse genotyping kit was designed by adding the fifth dye to the StockMarks kit for genotyping horses and taking advantage of the new instrument platforms. This was accomplished by using a new set of five fluorescent dyes developed by Applied Biosystems (DS-31), with four of the dyes used to label the forward amplification primers (6-FAM, VIC, NED, and PET) in each primer set. Results: The new equine kit contained five extra loci (ASB17, LEX3, HMS1, CA425, and ASB23) in addition ...
Hackett CH, Flaminio MJ, Fortier LA.A long-term goal of mesenchymal progenitor cell (MPC) research is to identify cell-surface markers to facilitate MPC isolation. One reported MPC feature in humans and other species is lack of CD14 (lipopolysaccharide receptor) expression. The aim of this study was to evaluate CD14 as an MPC sorting marker. Our hypothesis was that cells negatively selected by CD14 expression would enrich MPC colony formation compared with unsorted and CD14-positive fractions. After validation of reagents, bone marrow aspirate was obtained from 12 horses. Fresh and cultured cells were analyzed by flow cytometry ...
Penny J, Harris P, Shakesheff KM, Mobasheri A.Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are multipotent stem cells that can give rise to a range of connective tissue cells including osteoblasts, chondrocytes and adipocytes. MSCs have been isolated from humans and a variety of animal species including rodents, dogs, horses and rabbits. There is currently no consensus on how these cells are identified and characterized. This is partly due to the lack of standardized specific cell surface markers for MSCs. The aim of this review is to examine the literature on equine MSCs and establish whether there is a well-defined phenotype for these cells. Equine MS...
The Journal of heredityFebruary 21, 2008
Volume 99, Issue 2 130-136 doi: 10.1093/jhered/esm115
Rieder S, Hagger C, Obexer-Ruff G, Leeb T, Poncet PA.White markings and spotting patterns in animal species are thought to be a result of the domestication process. They often serve for the identification of individuals but sometimes are accompanied by complex pathological syndromes. In the Swiss Franches-Montagnes horse population, white markings increased vastly in size and occurrence during the past 30 years, although the breeding goal demands a horse with as little depigmented areas as possible. In order to improve selection and avoid more excessive depigmentation on the population level, we estimated population parameters and breeding value...
