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.
Broothaers K, Angel-Velez D, Molto FLG, Hedia M, Coster T, Govaere J, Soom AV, Menten B, Smits K.In 2022, a repeatable protocol for in vitro fertilization (IVF) using fresh semen was established in horses. This facilitated successful capacitation of equine semen allowing to explore novel applications. Objective: We aimed to extend this technique to IVF with frozen-thawed semen and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), and determine the outcome parameters such as blastocyst production and euploidy rates. Methods: A total of 221 oocytes were subjected to either IVF with frozen-thawed semen, ICSI with frozen-thawed semen incubated under capacitating conditions (ICSI cap) or control ICSI w...
da Silva GM, Navas C, Carvalho MB, Sampaio Y, Rocha MN, Gomes-Silva A, de Matos Guedes HL, Cunha L, Castilho LR, da Silva JL, Felicori LF.Horse immunoglobulins have been utilized for over a century in serotherapy to treat venomous animal bites and various other conditions. However, molecular-level information about these immunoglobulins remains limited, particularly regarding immunoglobulin lambda light chains (Igλ), which constitute over 90 % of circulating antibodies. Despite the sequencing of the equine genome, the International ImMunoGeneTics information system (IMGT) has not yet annotated Igλ in its database, restricting the analysis of the horse antibody repertoire. In this study, we analyzed the equine Igλ repertoire...
DI Stefano DA, Coccoluto L, Panina-Bordignon P, Brambilla E, Ruffini F, Murtaj V, Orlando F, Colombo M, Frigerio C, DI Bona A, Recupero D, Morroni M....Bone grafting is a surgical procedure that involves the use of bone tissue or bone substitutes to repair damaged bone. In dentistry and maxillofacial surgery, bone graft substitutes from various sources are commonly used. Given their critical role in clinical outcomes, it is essential to thoroughly investigate the biological and mechanical properties of these materials. Methods: In this in vitro study, we evaluated the biological properties of two equine-derived bone graft substitutes in comparison to β-tricalcium phosphate. The materials included one equine-derived graft containing hydrolyze...
Stefaniuk-Szmukier M, Błaszczak A, Długosz B, Musiał A, Ropka-Molik K.The Silesian horse is a heavy warmblood breed developed in Polish Silesia through the covering of local mares by East Frisian and Oldenburg stallions. Because of its historical significance and genetic heritage, the breed is part of a conservation programme in Poland. One of the genetic disorders of concern in warmblood horses is fragile foal syndrome (FFS), an autosomal recessive disease caused by a mutation in the gene (c.2032G>A). Affected foals either perish in late pregnancy or are born with severe connective tissue abnormalities, leading to early death. As carriers do not exhibit sympto...
: isolates from humans and horses of the equine-associated clonal complexes (CCs) CC1 and CC1660 were comparatively investigated for their genomic relationships. : A total of 91 isolates (64 human, 27 equine) were subjected to whole-genome sequencing (WGS), sequence analysis, and antimicrobial susceptibility testing. : WGS confirmed 75 CC1 and 16 CC1660 isolates, comprising nine sequence types (STs) in CC1 and four STs in CC1660. Ten types were present in CC1 and five in CC1660. In the gene of three CC1 isolates, a 285 bp deletion was detected, and a nucleotide deletion causing a premature...
Zhang Y, Zheng J, Zhang H, Lin Y, Wang Y, Ma Z, Wei J, Zhou B, Zhong D.Getah virus (GETV), Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), West Nile virus (WNV), and African horse sickness virus (AHSV) are mosquito-borne viruses threatening the health of racehorses. However, the systematic surveillance of these viruses among Shanghai racehorses remains lacking. Therefore, molecular and serological surveillance was conducted for these viruses in racehorses and mosquitoes at horse farms in Shanghai, China, during 2022 to assess their prevalence. Among 11,140 mosquitoes collected from seven farms across four districts, and were identified as the dominant species. RT-qPCR detec...
Esdaile E, Houston K, Till BJ, Sutton RB, Scurrell E, Ling M, Hartley C, Bellone RR.Although several inherited ocular disorders have been extensively studied in horses, few reports of equine ectopia lentis exist and no genetic investigations have been reported. Ectopia lentis in humans and other species is reported to be caused by trauma, genetic variants, and systemic diseases. The most commonly reported genetic causes are dominant alleles in FBN1. Here we examined a 3-day old Oldenburg x Thoroughbred colt due to concerns over bilateral ocular anomalies and hypothesized that either a recessively inherited allele or a dominant de novo allele was the genetic cause. Examination...
Narouei M, Rahimi H, Kafshdouzan K.Infections caused by and , as zoonotic diseases, pose a serious threat to the health of humans and animals. To date, there is limited information regarding these diseases in horses. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of and in the serum of racehorses in Iran (Golestan province). 350 blood samples were collected from racehorses in four regions of Golestan province, and demographic data (sex, age, and sampling location) were recorded. The collected serum samples were examined by PCR to identify the genomes of and . The results showed that 3.4 % (P < 0.05, 95 % CI: 1.97 % - 5.9 %) of...
Mota RA, Silito IS, Martins MP, Oliveira PRF, Melo RPB, Vieira da Silva V, Jorge FR, Martins TF, Labruna MB.Tick-borne diseases are among the most widespread vector-borne infections, including zoonoses caused by bacterial and protozoal microorganisms. This study consisted of a serosurvey for Rickettsia spp. in 270 horses from 11 farms in the coastal region of Pernambuco, Brazil. Through the indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) based on antigens of five Rickettsia species, 164 (60.7%) horses were seroreactive to Rickettsia spp., with seroreactivity among farms ranging from 10 to 100%. Through molecular analysis, all 270 horse blood DNA samples tested negative by PCR assays targeting Anaplasmatacea...
Blomström AL, Hansen S, Riihimäki M.Papillomaviruses (PVs) are small, non-enveloped viruses with double-stranded circular DNA genomes that infect a wide range of hosts, including mammals, birds, reptiles, and fish. While human papillomaviruses are extensively studied, recent advancements in high-throughput sequencing techniques have increased the detection and genetic characterization of PVs from various animal species. Here, we describe the identification and whole-genome characterization of a divergent equine papillomavirus (EcPV) detected through a viral metagenomic investigation of a horse in Denmark exhibiting neurological ...
Salinas-Varas C, Espinosa G, Muñoz-Caro T, Conejeros I, Gärtner U, Fey K, Arnhold S, Taubert A, Hermosilla C.Neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) are thin and long web-like structures composed of DNA and antimicrobial proteins released by activated polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN) as part of the innate immune response. Adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) represent an accessible, abundant and minimal invasive source of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), with high regenerative potential, immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory properties. Although recognized immunomodulatory properties of ADSCs, their interaction with PMN and their role on NET formation remains poorly characterized. The present study aimed...
Bourebaba N, Domagała J, Bourebaba L.Equine metabolic syndrome (EMS) is associated with chronic low-grade inflammation, disruptions in mitochondrial dynamics and function, and an increased risk of developing laminitis. Recent research has highlighted that reduced levels of sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) in the bloodstream are linked to higher susceptibility to obesity, insulin resistance, and diabetes, potentially contributing to broader metabolic imbalances. This study aimed to evaluate whether exogenously administered SHBG could protect adipose-derived stem cells from horses affected by EMS (EqASC) against mitochondrial dy...
Zanilabdin M, Ilgekbayeva G, Otarbayev B, Nissanova R, Mussayeva G, Takai S, Suzuki Y, Kakuda T, Kurman S, Kassymov Y, Valiyeva B. is a facultative intracellular pathogen causing bronchopneumonia in foals; data from Central Asia are limited. We conducted a cross-sectional serological and molecular survey in horses from three regions of Kazakhstan (Kyzylorda, Almaty, Akmola). Unassigned: Sera from 312 animals (272 adults, 40 foals) on 20 farms were tested by indirect ELISA. Selected clinical samples underwent culture, PCR, and 16S rRNA sequencing. Unassigned: Overall seroprevalence was 8.3% (26/312; 95% CI 5.8-11.9). Positivity among foals was 25.0% (10/40; 95% CI 14.2-40.2) versus 5.9% (16/272; 95% CI 3.7-9.3) in adults,...
Abbas G, Nielsen MK, E-Hage C, Ghafar A, Beveridge I, Bauquier J, Beasley A, Wilkes EJA, Carrigan P, Cudmore L, Jacobson C, Hughes KJ, Jabbar A.Over the past 25 years, significant progress has been made in understanding and managing equine gastrointestinal parasites in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly in Australia and New Zealand. This review synthesises current knowledge of the epidemiology, diagnostic methods, anthelmintic resistance (AR), and control strategies for major equine intestinal parasites, including cyathostomins, Parascaris spp., Anoplocephala perfoliata, and Strongyloides westeri. Recent studies highlight substantial regional variation in parasite prevalence, egg shedding and cyathostomin population composition, sh...
Peralta AG, Raeisimakiani P, Hayashi K, Mahal LK, Reesink HL.Post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA) is a common sequela to joint injury in both humans and companion animal species such as horses and dogs. Despite the increasing prevalence of osteoarthritis (OA) in humans, investigation of glycosylation changes associated with OA remains in its infancy. Recent advances, such as lectin microarray analysis, now enable detailed glycan profiling in complex biofluids such as synovial fluid. Using lectin microarray technology, this study characterized glycosylation patterns in synovial fluid samples from healthy and OA-affected joints in horses, dogs, and humans...
Boakari Y, El-Sheikh Ali H, Almeida GHDR, Scoggin KE, Fernandes CB, Marchio SP, Troedsson MHT, Carreira ACO.Equine placental dysfunction impairs fetal growth and disrupts pregnancy outcomes. Despite many advances in diagnosis, the molecular pathophysiology of equine placentitis and premature placental separation remains poorly understood. However, the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF-α) pathway is related to placental hypoxia, and its modulation in placental diseases has been shown in other species. Therefore, we hypothesized that in conditions marked by equine placental dysfunction, oxygen deprivation in the chorioallantois membrane triggers the activation of the HIF-α pathway, which is related to m...
Bourebaba L, Panek M, Piedra LCC, Bourebaba N.Fetuin-A (FetA) is a multifactorial glycoprotein primarily synthesized by the liver with additional expression in adipose tissue, the abundance of which is tightly regulated by the FBXW7 E3 ubiquitin ligase. Recently, FetA has been implicated in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance and associated metabolic failures in humans through its potent and selective inhibition of insulin receptor tyrosine kinase activity, however, no studies have yet directly investigated its role in the development and progression of equine obesity. In this investigation, FetA levels were measured in serum, liver, a...
Steensma MJ, Doekes HP, Derks MFL, Ducro BJ.In Friesian horses, withers height is an important trait as a minimum has been set to be eligible to the studbook. Several loci for withers height have been identified in horses. However, withers height has not been studied in the Friesian horse. Therefore, our aim was to identify loci associated with withers height in the Friesian horse population. We performed a genome-wide association study using 70 K SNP data of 2192 Friesian horses. We found ECA1 and ECA9 to be significantly associated with withers height, explaining 19.6% and 3.5% of the phenotypic variance, respectively. In other hors...
Maniego J, Swinburne J, Hincks P, Habershon-Butcher J, Given J, Ryder E.Gene editing and genome manipulation offer great promise for treating diseases in both humans and animals. There is a danger, however, that this technology could be used for other purposes such as performance enhancement. To detect such 'gene doping' events, we evaluated a targeted enrichment panel and next-generation sequencing to assess its reproducibility, sensitivity, and capability of variant detection on a wide variety of samples and biological matrices. The panel was verified against existing data for the myostatin gene, a PCR-based SNP panel, and whole genome sequencing in a subset of ...
Verstraete MH, Kuijpers F, Holl W, Norris J, van Heule M, Martin-Pelaez S, Heard C, Uribe-Salazar J, Armien A, Conley A, De Spiegelaere W....The endometrium is a hormonally responsive tissue that undergoes cyclic remodeling. Although endometrial organoids have been established in several species, detailed characterization remains limited. Here, we assessed the structural and molecular fidelity of equine endometrial organoids across reproductive cycle stages and during extended culture. Organoids were generated from biopsies collected during estrus and diestrus and analyzed using histology, immunohistochemistry, electron microscopy, and bulk- and single-cell RNA sequencing. Organoids formed polarized cystic structures composed of co...
Al-Ebshahy E, Badr Y, El-Ansary RE, Alajmi R, El-Ashram S, Rady A, Elgendy E.The present study investigated the molecular detection and genetic characteristics of equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1) and EHV-4 circulating within Egyptian horse populations during 2019-2022. A total of 79 animals were sampled (54 nasal swabs and 25 aborted fetal tissues). PCR assays revealed that 24 (30.3%) and 7 (8.8%) samples were positive for EHV-1 and EHV-4, respectively. Additionally, 5 (6.3%) samples were concurrently infected with both viruses. Four EHV-1 and three EHV-4 isolates were genetically characterized based on partial sequencing of gB gene. The four EHV-1 strains displayed 100% n...
Austin MMP, Ivey JLZ, Shepherd EA, Myer PR.Starvation in horses presents critical welfare, economic, and management challenges with underlying molecular mechanisms of metabolic modification and recovery left poorly defined. Prolonged caloric deprivation induces significant systemic shifts in carbohydrate, protein, and lipid metabolism, reflected in coordinated changes in tissue-specific gene expression. This review synthesizes current knowledge on equine metabolic responses to starvation, emphasizing pathways found through RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) and real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) studies. Molecular investi...
Barrachina L, Ivanovska A, Eslami Arshaghi T, O'Brien A, Cequier A, Murphy M, Hollinshead F, Rodellar C, Barry F.Regenerative therapies are quickly expanding to application in equine patients because of their importance as sporting and companion animals. Furthermore, aligning with a One Health concept, veterinary medicine offers a unique platform for preclinical studies. While mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) therapies are already used in treating horses, strategies involving induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are poorly developed. iPSCs present great potential for therapy and disease modelling, but their consistent generation in horses requires further investigation into the source of somatic c...
Klass LG, Diekmann I, Andreotti S, Mbedi S, Sparmann S, Schenk T, Anderson HP, Bellaw J, Nielsen MK, Krücken J, von Samson-Himmelstjerna G.Strongyles, especially non-migratory Strongylidae, are the most common equine gut parasites, and typically occur in mixed infections with 10 - 20 species per host. Current knowledge on strongyle species prevalence and within-host tropism is sparse. Herein species composition of mixed strongyle infections of 12 naturally infected untreated young horses, based on strongyle eggs extracted from faeces, cultured third stage larva and luminal worms collected from ventral and dorsal colon was examined. Species were identified using a cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) metabarcoding approach allowing differ...
Kambayashi Y, Bannai H, Nemoto M, Kawanishi N, Niwa H, Tsujimura K.With the revision of the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) Terrestrial Manual on equine rhinopneumonitis in 2024, 3 recommended qPCR primer-probe sets were added for the detection of equid alphaherpesvirus 1 (EqAHV1; formerly equine herpesvirus 1 [EHV1]; family , taxon species ), also known as equine abortion virus. We compared the sensitivity and specificity of the 3 qPCR primer-probe sets to determine the most reliable set. Sets gB1H and gB1P, which target the glycoprotein B () gene of EqAHV1, detected all 10 copies and even lower copy numbers. In contrast, set gC1 (ISO 17025-accre...
Huang Q, Ren W, Shan D, Su Y, Li Z, Li L, Wang R, Ma S, Wang J.This study aimed to compare blood samples from Yili horses with outstanding and average performance in 5000 m races through transcriptome sequencing, identify key differentially expressed genes, lncRNAs, and circRNAs, as well as related enriched pathways, and elucidate their regulatory networks. This study used six healthy four-year-old Yili stallions as subjects, divided into an excellent group (E group, = 3) and an ordinary group (O group, = 3) based on their 5000-m race performance. Blood RNA-Seq technology was used to analyze differentially expressed mRNAs, lncRNAs, and circRNAs. A total...
Beermann A, Hamza E, Reinhard S, Koch C, Oberhänsli T, Unger L.We investigated microRNAs (miRNAs) as potential prognostic biomarkers for equine sarcoid (ES) disease. In a breed-, age-, and sex-matched case-controlled study involving 45 ES-affected and 15 control horses, we assessed the diagnostic, prognostic, and theragnostic value of 3 miRNAs (eca-miR-127, eca-miR-379, eca-miR-432) in horses treated with European mistletoe () extract versus placebo. Whole-blood miRNA concentrations were measured using reverse-transcription quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) at 3 different times. We found that eca-miR-432 expression was lower in ES-affected (median =â...
Ghosh S, Qu Z, Das PJ, Fang E, Juras R, Cothran EG, McDonell S, Kenney DG, Lear TL, Adelson DL, Chowdhary BP, Raudsepp T.We constructed a 400K WG tiling oligoarray for the horse and applied it for the discovery of copy number variations (CNVs) in 38 normal horses of 16 diverse breeds, and the Przewalski horse. Probes on the array represented 18,763 autosomal and X-linked genes, and intergenic, sub-telomeric and chrY sequences. We identified 258 CNV regions (CNVRs) across all autosomes, chrX and chrUn, but not in chrY. CNVs comprised 1.3% of the horse genome with chr12 being most enriched. American Miniature horses had the highest and American Quarter Horses the lowest number of CNVs in relation to Thoroughbred r...
Tirosh-Levy S, Gottlieb Y, Fry LM, Knowles DP, Steinman A.Equine piroplasmosis (EP), caused by the hemoparasites , , and , is an important tick-borne disease of equines that is prevalent in most parts of the world. Infection may affect animal welfare and has economic impacts related to limitations in horse transport between endemic and non-endemic regions, reduced performance of sport horses and treatment costs. Here, we analyzed the epidemiological, serological, and molecular diagnostic data published in the last 20 years, and all DNA sequences submitted to GenBank database, to describe the current global prevalence of these parasites. We demonstrat...
Peffers M, Liu X, Clegg P.Age is an important factor in the development of osteoarthritis. Microarray studies provide insight into cartilage aging but do not reveal the full transcriptomic phenotype of chondrocytes such as small noncoding RNAs, pseudogenes, and microRNAs. RNA-Seq is a powerful technique for the interrogation of large numbers of transcripts including nonprotein coding RNAs. The aim of the study was to characterise molecular mechanisms associated with age-related changes in gene signatures. Methods: RNA for gene expression analysis using RNA-Seq and real-time PCR analysis was isolated from macroscopicall...
The Journal of hereditySeptember 1, 1991
Volume 82, Issue 5 369-377 doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.jhered.a111106
Wichman HA, Payne CT, Ryder OA, Hamilton MJ, Maltbie M, Baker RJ.We describe a molecular model for rapid chromosomal evolution that proposes tandemly repeated DNA sequences as a driving force. A prediction of this model is that when extensive rearrangements of euchromatin have been facilitated by heterochromatin, genomes will be characterized by tandemly repeated sequences that have actively changed chromosomal fields by intragenomic movement. Alternatively, it is proposed that in conservative chromosomal lineage each class of tandemly repeated sequences will be restricted to a specific chromosomal field. To provide baseline data to test this model we exami...
Ezashi T, Yuan Y, Roberts RM.This review deals with the latest advances in the study of embryonic stem cells (ESC) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) from domesticated species, with a focus on pigs, cattle, sheep, goats, horses, cats, and dogs. Whereas the derivation of fully pluripotent ESC from these species has proved slow, reprogramming of somatic cells to iPSC has been more straightforward. However, most of these iPSC depend on the continued expression of the introduced transgenes, a major drawback to their utility. The persistent failure in generating ESC and the dependency of iPSC on ectopic genes probably s...
Meijer WG, Prescott JF.Rhodococcus equi is an important cause of subacute or chronic abscessating bronchopneumonia of foals up to 3-5 months of age. It shares the lipid-rich cell wall envelope characteristic of the mycolata, including Mycobacterium tuberculosis, as well as the ability of pathogenic members of this group to survive within macrophages. The possession of a large virulence plasmid in isolates recovered from pneumonic foals is crucial for virulence. The plasmid contains an 27 kb pathogenicity island (PI) that encodes seven related virulence-associated proteins (Vaps), including the immunodominant surface...
Walther B, Monecke S, Ruscher C, Friedrich AW, Ehricht R, Slickers P, Soba A, Wleklinski CG, Wieler LH, Lübke-Becker A.Despite the increasing importance of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in veterinary medicine, knowledge about the epidemiology of the pathogen in horses is still poor. The phylogenetic relationship of strains of human and equine origins has been addressed before, usually by analyzing results of common standard classification methods for MRSA. This work intends to go beyond the baseline of typing procedures in order to comparatively characterize equine and human MRSA strains with similar phylogenetic backgrounds. In addition to multilocus sequence typing, pulsed-field gel elec...
Gray WL, Baumann RP, Robertson AT, Caughman GB, O'Callaghan DJ, Staczek J.The regulation of equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) transcription was examined in infected rabbit kidney cells using metabolic inhibitors. In order to map EHV-1 immediate early, early, and late transcripts, viral RNA was 32P-labeled in vivo and hybridized to EHV-1 DNA restriction fragments immobilized on nitrocellulose filters. Immediate early viral RNA was mapped to one region of the viral genome within the inverted repeat DNA sequences (map units 0.78-0.83 and 0.95-1.0). Northern blot hybridization analysis using a 32P-labeled cloned DNA probe from this region identified a single immediate e...
Endimiani A, Hujer KM, Hujer AM, Bertschy I, Rossano A, Koch C, Gerber V, Francey T, Bonomo RA, Perreten V.We investigated whether Acinetobacter baumannii isolates of veterinary origin shared common molecular characteristics with those described in humans. Methods: Nineteen A. baumannii isolates collected in pets and horses were analysed. Clonality was studied using repetitive extragenic palindromic PCR (rep-PCR) and multilocus sequence typing (MLST). PCR and DNA sequencing for various β-lactamase, aminoglycoside-modifying enzyme, gyrA and parC, ISAba1 and IS1133, adeR and adeS of the AdeABC efflux pump, carO porin and class 1/2/3 integron genes were performed. Results: Two main clones [A (n =â€...
Rivas F, Zahid OK, Reesink HL, Peal BT, Nixon AJ, DeAngelis PL, Skardal A, Rahbar E, Hall AR.Hyaluronan (or hyaluronic acid, HA) is a ubiquitous molecule that plays critical roles in numerous physiological functions in vivo, including tissue hydration, inflammation, and joint lubrication. Both the abundance and size distribution of HA in biological fluids are recognized as robust indicators of various pathologies and disease progressions. However, such analyses remain challenging because conventional methods are not sufficiently sensitive, have limited dynamic range, and/or are only semi-quantitative. Here we demonstrate label-free detection and molecular weight discrimination of HA w...
Druart X, Rickard JP, Mactier S, Kohnke PL, Kershaw-Young CM, Bathgate R, Gibb Z, Crossett B, Tsikis G, Labas V, Harichaux G, Grupen CG, de Graaf SP.Seminal plasma contains a large protein component which has been implicated in the function, transit and survival of spermatozoa within the female reproductive tract. However, the identity of the majority of these proteins remains unknown and a direct comparison between the major domestic mammalian species has yet to be made. As such, the present study characterized and compared the seminal plasma proteomes of cattle, horse, sheep, pig, goat, camel and alpaca. GeLC-MS/MS and shotgun proteomic analysis by 2D-LC-MS/MS identified a total of 302 proteins in the seminal plasma of the chosen mammali...
Julliand V, de Vaux A, Millet L, Fonty G.Detection and quantification of cellulolytic bacteria with oligonucleotide probes showed that Ruminococcus flavefaciens was the predominant species in the pony and donkey cecum. Fibrobacter succinogenes and Ruminococcus albus were present at low levels. Four isolates, morphologically resembling R. flavefaciens, differed from ruminal strains by their carbohydrate utilization and their end products of cellobiose fermentation.
Brooks SA, Gabreski N, Miller D, Brisbin A, Brown HE, Streeter C, Mezey J, Cook D, Antczak DF.Lavender Foal Syndrome (LFS) is a lethal inherited disease of horses with a suspected autosomal recessive mode of inheritance. LFS has been primarily diagnosed in a subgroup of the Arabian breed, the Egyptian Arabian horse. The condition is characterized by multiple neurological abnormalities and a dilute coat color. Candidate genes based on comparative phenotypes in mice and humans include the ras-associated protein RAB27a (RAB27A) and myosin Va (MYO5A). Here we report mapping of the locus responsible for LFS using a small set of 36 horses segregating for LFS. These horses were genotyped usin...
da Silveira JC, Carnevale EM, Winger QA, Bouma GJ.Ovarian follicle growth and maturation requires extensive communication between follicular somatic cells and oocytes. Recently, intercellular cell communication was described involving cell-secreted vesicles called exosomes (50-150Â nm), which contain miRNAs and protein, and have been identified in ovarian follicular fluid. The goal of this study was to identify a possible role of exosomes in follicle maturation. Methods: Follicle contents were collected from mares at mid-estrous (~35Â mm, before induction of follicular maturation) and pre-ovulatory follicles (30-34Â h after induction of folli...
Weaver SC, Hagenbaugh A, Bellew LA, Gousset L, Mallampalli V, Holland JJ, Scott TW.Evolution of viruses in the eastern equine encephalomyelitis (EEE) complex was studied by analyzing RNA sequences and oligonucleotide fingerprints from isolates representing the North and South American antigenic varieties. By using homologous sequences of Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis virus as an outgroup, phylogenetic trees revealed three main EEE virus monophyletic groups. A North American variety group included all isolates from North America and the Caribbean. One South American variety group included isolates from the Amazon basin in Brazil and Peru, while the other included strain...
Bian J, Khaychuk V, Angers RC, Fernández-Borges N, Vidal E, Meyerett-Reid C, Kim S, Calvi CL, Bartz JC, Hoover EA, Agrimi U, Richt JA, Castilla J....Adaptation of prions to new species is thought to reflect the capacity of the host-encoded cellular form of the prion protein (PrP) to selectively propagate optimized prion conformations from larger ensembles generated in the species of origin. Here we describe an alternate replicative process, termed nonadaptive prion amplification (NAPA), in which dominant conformers bypass this requirement during particular interspecies transmissions. To model susceptibility of horses to prions, we produced transgenic (Tg) mice expressing cognate PrP Although disease transmission to only a subset of infecte...
Westhoff D, Kamp G.Evidence is provided that the glycolytic enzyme glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase is covalently linked to the fibrous sheath. The fibrous sheath is a typical structure of mammalian spermatozoa surrounding the axoneme in the principal piece of the flagellum. More than 90% of boar sperm glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase activity is sedimented after cell disintegration by centrifugation. Detergents, different salt concentrations or short term incubation with chymotrypsin do not solubilize the enzyme, whereas digestion with trypsin or elastase does. Short term incubation with trypsin...
Caliari SR, Harley BA.Biomolecular environments encountered in vivo are complex and dynamic, with combinations of biomolecules presented in both freely diffusible (liquid-phase) and sequestered (bound to the extracellular matrix) states. Strategies for integrating multiple biomolecular signals into a biomimetic scaffold provide a platform to simultaneously control multiple cell activities, such as motility, proliferation, phenotype, and regenerative potential. Here we describe an investigation elucidating the influence of the dose and mode of presentation (soluble, sequestered) of five biomolecules (stromal cell-de...
Wiler R, Leber R, Moore BB, VanDyk LF, Perryman LE, Meek K.V(D)J rearrangement is the molecular mechanism by which an almost infinite array of specific immune receptors are generated. Defects in this process result in profound immunodeficiency as is the case in the C.B-17 SCID mouse or in RAG-1 (recombination-activating gene 1) or RAG-2 deficient mice. It has recently become clear that the V(D)J recombinase most likely consists of both lymphoid-specific factors and ubiquitously expressed components of the DNA double-strand break repair pathway. The deficit in SCID mice is in a factor that is required for both of these pathways. In this report, we show...
de la Fuente J, Torina A, Caracappa S, Tumino G, Furlá R, Almazán C, Kocan KM.Although Anaplasma marginale was known to be endemic in Italy, the diversity of Anaplasma spp. from this area have not been characterized. In this study, the prevalence of Anaplasma spp. antibodies in randomly selected farm animals collected on the island of Sicily was determined by use of a MSP5 cELISA for Anaplasma spp. and an immunofluorescence test specific for Anaplasma phagocytophilum. Genetic variation among strains of Anaplasma spp. from animals and ticks was characterized using the A. marginale msp1alpha and the Anaplasma spp. msp4 genes. Eight species of ticks were collected and test...
Whalley JM, Robertson GR, Davison AJ.The genome of an Australian isolate of equine herpesvirus type 1 (equine abortion virus) has been analysed using the restriction endonucleases EcoRI, BglII and BamHI, and a physical map constructed. Terminal fragments were identified by exonuclease treatments, and linkage of fragments was deduced by a combination of single- and double-digest experiments and cross-blot hybridizations. The genome has a mol. wt. of 100 x 10(6) and is comprised of a short unique region bounded by repetitive sequences, which is present in both orientations in approximately equal amounts in the DNA population, and a...
Koerner J, Nesic D, Romero JD, Brehm W, Mainil-Varlet P, Grogan SP.Fibroblast-like cells isolated from peripheral blood of human, canine, guinea pig, and rat have been demonstrated to possess the capacity to differentiate into several mesenchymal lineages. The aim of this work was to investigate the possibility of isolating pluripotent precursor cells from equine peripheral blood and compare them with equine bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells. Human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) were used as a control for cell multipotency assessment. Venous blood (n = 33) and bone marrow (n = 5) were obtained from adult horses. Mononuclear cells were obtained by Fico...
Maurus R, Overall CM, Bogumil R, Luo Y, Mauk AG, Smith M, Brayer GD.Well-ordered internal amino acids can contribute significantly to the stability of proteins. To investigate the importance of the hydrophobic packing interface between helices G and H in the proximal heme pocket of horse heart myoglobin, the highly conserved amino acid, Leu104, was substituted with asparagine, a polar amino acid of similar size. The Leu104Asn mutant protein and its recombinant wild-type horse heart myoglobin counterpart were expressed from synthetic genes in Escherichia coli. Thermal denaturation of these two recombinant myoglobins, as studied by measurement of circular dichro...
Lichtenstein DL, Rushlow KE, Cook RF, Raabe ML, Swardson CJ, Kociba GJ, Issel CJ, Montelaro RC.As an important enzyme in DNA synthesis, dUTPase is present in a wide variety of organisms and viruses and has been identified as a component of the equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) pol gene. The role of EIAV dUTPase, designated DU, in virus replication in vitro and in vivo was investigated with a recently described infectious molecular clone of EIAV. A deletion mutant that was deficient in dUTPase activity was constructed, and its replication kinetics was examined in fetal equine kidney (FEK) cells and primary equine bone marrow macrophage (EBMM) cells. In FEK cells, which are permissive...
Bakheit MA, Torra D, Palomino LA, Thekisoe OM, Mbati PA, Ongerth J, Karanis P.Three LAMP (loop-mediated isothermal DNA amplification) assays were applied to detect Cryptosporidium species DNA in a total number of 270 fecal samples originating from cattle, sheep and horses in South Africa. DNA was extracted from 0.5 g of fecal material. Results of LAMP detection were compared to those obtained by nested PCR targeting the Cryptosporidium 18 small subunit rRNA (18S) gene. All samples were negative by nested PCR, while up to one-third of samples were positive by LAMP assays. The SAM-1 LAMP assay, shown to detect C. parvum, C. hominis and C. meleagridis, amplified Cryptospor...
Fernandes F, Chen K, Ehrlich LS, Jin J, Chen MH, Medina GN, Symons M, Montelaro R, Donaldson J, Tjandra N, Carter CA.Phosphatidylinositol 4,5-biphosphate [PI(4,5)P(2) ], the predominant phosphoinositide (PI) on the plasma membrane, binds the matrix (MA) protein of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) and equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) with similar affinities in vitro. Interaction with PI(4,5)P(2) is critical for HIV-1 assembly on the plasma membrane. EIAV has been shown to localize in internal compartments; hence, the significance of its interaction with PI(4,5)P(2) is unclear. We therefore investigated the binding in vitro of other PIs to EIAV MA and whether intracellular association with comp...
Ott DE, Coren LV, Sowder RC, Adams J, Nagashima K, Schubert U.Some retroviruses contain monoubiquitinated Gag and do not bud efficiently from cells treated with proteasome inhibitors, suggesting an interaction between the ubiquitin-proteasome system and retrovirus assembly. We examined equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) particles and found that approximately 2% of the p9(Gag) proteins are monoubiquitinated, demonstrating that this Gag protein interacts with an ubiquitinating activity. Different types of proteasome inhibitors were used to determine if proteasome inactivation affects EIAV release from chronically infected cells. Pulse-chase immunoprecip...
