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.
Hortensius RA, Harley BA.The design of biomaterials for regenerative medicine can require biomolecular cues such as growth factors to induce a desired cell activity. Signal molecules are often incorporated into the biomaterial in either freely-diffusible or covalently-bound forms. However, biomolecular environments in vivo are often complex and dynamic. Notably, glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), linear polysaccharides found in the extracellular matrix, are involved in transient sequestration of growth factors via charge interactions. Biomaterials mimicking this phenomenon may offer the potential to amplify local biomolecular...
Kaname Y, Celma CCP, Kanai Y, Roy P.African horse sickness virus (AHSV) is an insect-vectored emerging pathogen of equine species. AHSV (nine serotypes) is a member of the genus Orbivirus, with a morphology and coding strategy similar to that of the type member, bluetongue virus. However, these viruses are distinct at the genetic level, in the proteins they encode and in their pathobiology. AHSV infection of horses is highly virulent with a mortality rate of up to 90 %. AHSV is transmitted by Culicoides, a common European insect, and has the potential to emerge in Europe from endemic countries of Africa. As a result, a safe an...
Altamura G, Corteggio A, Nasir L, Yuan ZQ, Roperto F, Borzacchiello G.Equine sarcoids are skin tumours of fibroblastic origin affecting equids worldwide. Bovine papillomavirus type-1 (BPV-1) and, less commonly, type-2 are recognized as etiological factors of sarcoids. The transforming activity of BPV is related to the functions of its major oncoprotein E5 which binds to the platelet-derived growth factor β receptor (PDGFβR) causing its phosphorylation and activation. In this study, we demonstrate, by coimmunoprecipitation and immunoblotting, that in equine sarcoid derived cell lines PDGFβR is phosphorylated and binds downstream molecules related to Ras-mitoge...
Tewari D, Del Piero F, Cieply S, Feria W, Acland H.Equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) strains with a single point mutation at the 2254 nucleotide position with a G2254 constitution within the DNA polymerase gene are associated strongly with equine myeloencephalopathies. Infections with non-neuropathogenic EHV-1 strains without the G2254 nucleotide but with an A2254 nucleotide are associated less frequently with equine neurologic disease. A retrospective study utilizing DNA extracted from formalin fixed paraffin embedded tissues was conducted with real time PCR and pyrosequencing, to determine the infecting EHV-1 strains. Infection with EHV-1 A2254 a...
Mahmoud HY, Andoh K, Hattori S, Terada Y, Noguchi K, Shimoda H, Maeda K.In this study, we attempted to express twelve glycoproteins of equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) in 293T cells and to characterize these using monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) and horse sera against EHV-1. Expression of glycoprotein B (gB), gC, gD, gG, gI and gp2 was recognized by immunoblot analysis using horse sera, but that of gE, gH, gK, gL, gM and gN was not. Four MAbs recognized gB, four recognized gC and one recognized gp2. Two MAbs against gB cross-reacted with EHV-4. Interestingly, coexpression of gE and gI and gM and gN enhanced their antigenicity. Furthermore, immunoblot analysis of gp2 show...
Vázquez-Boland JA, Giguère S, Hapeshi A, MacArthur I, Anastasi E, Valero-Rello A.Rhodococcus equi is a soil-dwelling pathogenic actinomycete that causes pulmonary and extrapulmonary pyogranulomatous infections in a variety of animal species and people. Young foals are particularly susceptible and develop a life-threatening pneumonic disease that is endemic at many horse-breeding farms worldwide. R. equi is a facultative intracellular parasite of macrophages that replicates within a modified phagocytic vacuole. Its pathogenicity depends on a virulence plasmid that promotes intracellular survival by preventing phagosome-lysosome fusion. Species-specific tropism of R. equi fo...
Irvine KL, Hopkins LJ, Gangloff M, Bryant CE.TLR2 recognises bacterial lipopeptides and lipoteichoic acid, and forms heterodimers with TLR1 or TLR6. TLR2 is relatively well characterised in mice and humans, with published crystal structures of human TLR2/1/Pam3CSK4 and murine TLR2/6/Pam2CSK4. Equine TLR4 is activated by a different panel of ligands to human and murine TLR4, but less is known about species differences at TLR2. We therefore cloned equine TLR2, TLR1 and TLR6, which showed over 80% sequence identity with these receptors from other mammals, and performed a structure-function analysis. TLR2/1 and TLR2/6 from both horses and hu...
Daly JM, Elton D.The calculation of p(epitope) values, a sequence-based measure of antigenic distance between strains, was developed for human influenza. The potential to apply the p(epitope) value to equine influenza vaccine strain selection was assessed. There was a negative correlation between p(epitope) value and vaccine efficacy for pairs of vaccine and challenge strains used in cross-protection studies in ponies that just reached statistical significance (p=0.046) only if one pair of viruses was excluded from the analysis. Thus the p(epitope) value has potential to provide additional data to consider in ...
Nemoto M, Kizaki K, Yamamoto Y, Oonuma T, Hashizume K.In vitro cell studies might be a useful tool for studying tendon pathology, but no suitable in vitro models exist for tendon disorders. The purpose of this study was to confirm whether cell scratch culture using tendon-derived fibroblasts can provide a suitable in vitro tendon disorder model. Extracellular matrix components were examined immunohistochemically in tendon tissue, and then their related gene expression levels were analyzed by conventional reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and/or quantitative real-time RT-PCR in tissues and cells. Collagen type I (Col I), col...
Na W, Kang B, Kim HI, Hong M, Park SJ, Jeoung HY, An DJ, Moon H, Kim JK, Song D.Equine influenza virus (EIV) causes a highly contagious respiratory disease in equids, with confirmed outbreaks in Europe, America, North Africa, and Asia. Although China, Mongolia, and Japan have reported equine influenza outbreaks, Korea has not. Since 2011, we have conducted a routine surveillance programme to detect EIV at domestic stud farms, and isolated H3N8 EIV from horses showing respiratory disease symptoms. Here, we characterized the genetic and biological properties of this novel Korean H3N8 EIV isolate. This H3N8 EIV isolate belongs to the Florida sublineage clade 1 of the America...
Pelkonen S, Lindahl SB, Suomala P, Karhukorpi J, Vuorinen S, Koivula I, Väisänen T, Pentikäinen J, Autio T, Tuuminen T.Streptococcus equi subspecies zooepidemicus (S. zooepidemicus) is a zoonotic pathogen for persons in contact with horses. In horses, S. zooepidemicus is an opportunistic pathogen, but human infections associated with S. zooepidemicus are often severe. Within 6 months in 2011, 3 unrelated cases of severe, disseminated S. zooepidemicus infection occurred in men working with horses in eastern Finland. To clarify the pathogen's epidemiology, we describe the clinical features of the infection in 3 patients and compare the S. zooepidemicus isolates from the human cases with S. zooepidemicus isolates...
Dzięgiel B, Adaszek L, Winiarczyk M, García-Bocanegra I, Carbonero A, Dębiak P, Winiarczyk S.The aim of this study was to conduct a comparative analysis of the 16S rRNA gene fragment nucleotide sequences for Anaplasma phagocytophilum strains detected in the blood of horses from various parts of Europe. The study comprised 234 horses that had had contact with ticks. Using PCR, the genetic material of A. phagocytophilum was identified in the blood of 42 animals. The sequences of the 16S RNA gene amplicons that were obtained from our A. phagocytophilum isolates had 100 % similarity with each other and 96.4-100 % similarity with Anaplasma spp. sequences selected from those available i...
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...
Craigo JK, Ezzelarab C, Cook SJ, Chong L, Horohov D, Issel CJ, Montelaro RC.Lentiviral envelope (Env) antigenic variation and associated immune evasion present major obstacles to vaccine development. The concept that Env is a critical determinant for vaccine efficacy is well accepted, however defined correlates of protection associated with Env variation have yet to be determined. We reported an attenuated equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) vaccine study that directly examined the effect of lentiviral Env sequence variation on vaccine efficacy. The study identified a significant, inverse, linear correlation between vaccine efficacy and increasing divergence of the ...
Gao X, Jiang CG, Wang XF, Lin YZ, Ma J, Han XE, Zhao LP, Shen RX, Xiang WH, Zhou JH.The contribution of S2 accessory gene of equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) to the virulence of pathogenic strains was investigated in the present study by reverse mutation of all four consensus S2 mutation sites in an attenuated EIAV proviral strain, FDDV3-8, to the corresponding sequences of a highly pathogenic strain DV117. The S2 reverse-mutated recombinant strain FDDVS2r1-2-3-4 replicated with similar kinetics to FDDV3-8 in cultivated target cells. In contrast to the results of other studies of EIAV with dysfunctional S2, reverse mutation of S2 only transiently and moderately increased...
González-Fernández L, Macías-García B, Loux SC, Varner DD, Hinrichs K.Protein tyrosine phosphorylation (PY) is a hallmark of sperm capacitation. In stallion sperm, calcium inhibits PY at pH 7.8). These results show for the first time a role for calcium/calmodulin-dependent kinases in PRKA-dependent sperm PY; a non-PRKA-dependent pathway regulating sperm PY; and the apparent involvement of the FAK family of protein tyrosine kinases downstream in both pathways.
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...
Velineni S, Timoney JF.Streptococcus zooepidemicus of Lancefield group C is a highly variable tonsillar and mucosal commensal that usually is associated with opportunistic infections of the respiratory tract of vertebrate hosts. More-virulent clones have caused epizootics of severe respiratory disease in dogs and horses. The virulence factors of these strains are poorly understood. The antiphagocytic protein SeM is a major virulence factor and protective antigen of Streptococcus equi, a clonal biovar of an ancestral S. zooepidemicus strain. Although the genome of S. zooepidemicus strain H70, an equine isolate, conta...
Moloney E, Kavanagh KS, Buckley TC, Cooney JC.Streptococcus equi ssp. equi is the causative agent of 'Strangles' in horses. This is a debilitating condition leading to economic loss, yard closures and cancellation of equestrian events. There are multiple genotypes of S. equi ssp. equi which can cause disease, but to date there has been no systematic study of strains which are prevalent in Ireland. This study identified and classified Streptococcus equi ssp. equi strains isolated from within the Irish equine industry. Results: Two hundred veterinary isolates were subjected to SLST (single locus sequence typing) based on an internal sequenc...
Zylicz-Stachula A, Zolnierkiewicz O, Jasiecki J, Skowron PM.Genomics and metagenomics are currently leading research areas, with DNA sequences accumulating at an exponential rate. Although enormous advances in DNA sequencing technologies are taking place, progress is frequently limited by factors such as genomic contig assembly and generation of representative libraries. A number of DNA fragmentation methods, such as hydrodynamic sharing, sonication or DNase I fragmentation, have various drawbacks, including DNA damage, poor fragmentation control, irreproducibility and non-overlapping DNA segment representation. Improvements in these limited DNA scissi...
Donnelly KS, Giuliano EA, Sharma A, Tandon A, Rodier JT, Mohan RR.To explore (i) the potential of polyethylenimine (PEI) nanoparticles as a vector for delivering genes into equine corneal fibroblasts (ECFs) using green fluorescent protein (GFP) marker gene, (ii) whether PEI nanoparticle-mediated decorin (DCN) gene therapy could be used to inhibit fibrosis in the equine cornea using an in vitro model. Methods: Polyethylenimine-DNA nanoparticles were prepared at nitrogen-to-phosphate (N-P) ratio of 15 by mixing 22 kDa linear PEI and a plasmid encoding either GFP or DCN. ECFs were generated from donor corneas as previously described. Initially, GFP was introduc...
Demyda-Peyrás S, Membrillo A, Bugno-Poniewierska M, Pawlina K, Anaya G, Moreno-Millán M.Chromosomal abnormalities associated to sex chromosomes are reported as a problem more common than believed to be in horses. Most of them remain undiagnosed due to the complexity of the horse karyotype and the lack of interest of breeders and veterinarians in this type of diagnosis. Approximately 10 years ago, the Spanish Purebred Breeders Association implemented a DNA paternity test to evaluate the pedigree of every newborn foal. All candidates who showed abnormal or uncertain results are routinely submitted to cytogenetical analysis to evaluate the presence of chromosomal abnormalities. We s...
Futas J, Horin P.Natural killer (NK) cells have important functions in immunity. NK recognition in mammals can be mediated through killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR) and/or killer cell lectin-like Ly49 receptors. Genes encoding highly variable NK cell receptors (NKR) represent rapidly evolving genomic regions. No single conservative model of NKR genes was observed in mammals. Single-copy low polymorphic NKR genes present in one mammalian species may expand into highly polymorphic multigene families in other species. In contrast to other non-rodent mammals, multiple Ly49-like genes appear to exist ...
Klein C, Troedsson MH, Rutllant J.The process of water movement in the excurrent duct system of the male reproductive tract is pivotal for establishment of male fertility. The objective was to elucidate expression of aquaporin (AQP) water channels in the stallion reproductive tract. Real-time RT-PCR detected expression of AQP0-5 and AQP7-11 in testis, epididymis, and ductus deferens of mature stallions. There were two main expression patterns: (1) higher expression in testis than in epididymis and ductus deferens (AQP0, -4, -5, -8, -10, and -11); and (2) lower expression in testis than in epididymis and ductus deferens (AQP1, ...
Vance SJ, McDonald RE, Cooper A, Kennedy MW, Smith BO.Latherin is an intrinsically surfactant protein of ~23 kDa found in the sweat and saliva of horses. Its function is probably to enhance the translocation of sweat water from the skin to the surface of the pelt for evaporative cooling. Its role in saliva may be to enhance the wetting, softening and maceration of the dry, fibrous food for which equines are adapted. Latherin is unusual in its relatively high content of aliphatic amino acids (~25% leucines) that might contribute to its surfactant properties. Latherin is related to the palate, lung, and nasal epithelium carcinoma-associated protein...
Lindahl SB, Aspán A, Båverud V, Paillot R, Pringle J, Rash NL, Söderlund R, Waller AS.Streptococcus equi subsp. zooepidemicus (S. zooepidemicus) is generally considered a commensal and an opportunistic pathogen of the upper airways in horses. Establishing whether certain strains of S. zooepidemicus can cause upper respiratory disease as a host-specific pathogen of horses, and if there are certain genogroups of S. zooepidemicus that are more virulent than others is of major clinical importance. In this study, we describe an outbreak of upper respiratory disease in horses that was associated with S. zooepidemicus. Upper respiratory samples were cultured, analyzed by real-time PCR...
Bera BC, Virmani N, Shanmugasundaram K, Vaid RK, Singh BK, Gulati BR, Anand T, Barua S, Malik P, Singh RK.The neuraminidase (NA) gene sequences of four Indian equine influenza viruses (EIVs) isolated from epizootic in 2008 and 2009 were analyzed. The phylogenetic relationship and selection pressure of NA genes were established in comparison to other EIVs circulating worldwide along with the domains and motifs of the encoded protein to find out the significance of mutational changes. Among Indian isolates, two amino acid (aa) changes each in Mysore/12/08 (Asn67Tyr & Asp396Gly), Gopeshwar/1/09 (Ile49Val & Asp396Gly), and Uttarkashi/1/09 (Ile49Val & Asp396Gly) isolates were observed in re...
Xie J, Liu G, Tian Z, Luo J.Several approaches have been developed for diagnosis of Theileria equi infection in horses and donkeys but all of them have limitations in practice. Due to numerous strengths including easy operation, cheapness and high sensitivity and specificity, LAMP has been already extensively used for surveillance of a number of diseases. We here set up a LAMP assay based on 18S rRNA gene for T. equi diagnosis. The approach was specific enough to differentiate T. equi from other evolutionary-related protozoa. Moreover, it was sensitive enough that LAMP was capable of detecting as much low as 10 copy targ...
Qablan MA, Oborník M, Petrželková KJ, Sloboda M, Shudiefat MF, Hořín P, Lukeš J, Modrý D.Microscopic diagnosis of equine piroplasmoses, caused by Theileria equi and Babesia caballi, is hindered by low parasitaemia during the latent phase of the infections. However, this constraint can be overcome by the application of PCR followed by sequencing. Out of 288 animals examined, the piroplasmid DNA was detected in 78 (27·1%). Multiplex PCR indicated that T. equi (18·8%) was more prevalent than B. caballi (7·3%), while mixed infections were conspicuously absent. Sequences of 69 PCR amplicons obtained by the 'catch-all' PCR were in concordance with those amplified by the multiplex str...
Laatamna AE, Wagnerová P, Sak B, Květoňová D, Aissi M, Rost M, Kváč M.Faecal samples from two horse farms in Algeria keeping Arabian, Thoroughbred, and Barb horses were examined for the presence of Cryptosporidium in 2010-2011. A total of 138 faecal samples (16 from a farm keeping 50 animals and 122 from a farm with 267 horses) were screened for Cryptosporidium spp. infection using molecular tools. DNA was extracted from all samples. Nested PCR was performed to amplify fragments of the SSU rDNA and gp60 genes to determine the presence of Cryptosporidium species and genotypes. Sequence analyses of SSU and gp60 genes revealed four animals positive for the presence...
Hristov P, Yordanov G, Ivanova A, Mitkov I, Sirakova D, Mehandzyiski I, Radoslavov G.It is believed that population structure of mountain horse breeds is preserved from any genetic introgression, because of their geographical isolation and specific semi-wild life style of husbandry. Till date there are no molecular data for the Balkan horses. In this study we try to give information about some autochthonous mountain horse breeds from Bulgaria. A total of 121 horses from three different mountain massifs are presented: Stara Planina (the Balkan mountain), the Rhodopes and Rila-Pirin massif were genotyped according to mitochondrial D-loop region. The results showed huge diversity...
Hokke CH, Roosenboom MJ, Thomas-Oates JE, Kamerling JP, Vliegenthart JF.The disialylated poly-(N-acetyllactosamine)-containing O-linked oligosaccharide alditols, released by alkaline borohydride treatment of the enzymically N-deglycosylated beta-subunit of equine chorionic gonadotropin, were purified by fast protein liquid chromatography (FPLC) on Mono Q and analysed by fast ion bombardment mass spectrometry (FAB-MS) and 1H-NMR spectroscopy. The identified oligosaccharide alditols have the following structure: [Formula: see text]
Zhang L, Lei Y, Liu X, Wang X, Liu Z, Li D, Zheng P, Zhang L, Chen S, Xie P.Borna disease virus (BDV) is a neurotropic, enveloped, non-segmented, negative-stranded RNA virus that infects a wide variety of vertebrate species from birds to humans across a broad global geographic distribution. Animal symptomatology range from asymptomatic infection to behavioral abnormalities to acute meningoencephalitis. Asymptomatic BDV infection has been shown to be more frequent than conventionally estimated. However, the molecular mechanism(s) underyling asymptomatic BDV infection remain largely unknown. Here, based on real-time quantitative PCR and Western blotting, a total of 18 h...
Cwiklinski K, Merga JY, Lake SL, Hartley C, Matthews JB, Paterson S, Hodgkinson JE.Clade V nematodes comprise several parasitic species that include the cyathostomins, primary helminth pathogens of horses. Next generation transcriptome datasets are available for eight parasitic clade V nematodes, although no equine parasites are included in this group. Here, we report next generation transcriptome sequencing analysis for the common cyathostomin species, Cylicostephanus goldi. A cDNA library was generated from RNA extracted from 17 C. goldi male and female adult parasites. Following sequencing using a 454 GS FLX pyrosequencer, a total of 475,215 sequencing reads were generate...
Murayama JI, Tomita M, Hamada A.The complete amino acid sequence of the major sialoglycoproteins of horse erythrocyte membranes, glycophorin HA, was determined by manual sequencing methods, using tryptic, chymotryptic, and cyanogen bromide fragments. Glycophorin HA is a polypeptide chain of 120 amino acid residues and contains 10 oligosaccharide units attached to the amino-terminal side of the molecule. Its amino terminus is pyroglutamic acid. All of the oligosaccharides are linked O-glycosidically to threonine or serine residues. The amino acid sequence is consistent with the transmembrane orientation of glycophorins. There...
Yu F, Liu B, Chen S, Yi Z, Liu X, Zhu Y, Li J.A 5-year-old Mongolian mare (Equus caballus Linnaeus, 1758) was observed to have corneal opacity and excessive ocular discharge. An ophthalmic examination revealed a moving thread-like cylindrical worm in the anterior chamber of the right eye. The parasite was successfully removed surgically. The worm was observed under light microscopy and confirmed as Setaria digitata by 12S rRNA gene amplification and sequencing. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated similarity with Setaria digitata in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) GenBank database isolated from other Asian countries...
Lee EJ, Raudsepp T, Kata SR, Adelson D, Womack JE, Skow LC, Chowdhary BP.Comparative genomics has served as a backbone for the rapid development of gene maps in domesticated animals. The integration of this approach with radiation hybrid (RH) analysis provides one of the most direct ways to obtain physically ordered comparative maps across evolutionarily diverged species. We herein report the development of a detailed RH and comparative map for horse chromosome 17 (ECA17). With markers distributed at an average interval of every 1.4 Mb, the map is currently the most informative among the equine chromosomes. It comprises 75 markers (56 genes and 19 microsatellites),...
Shinjyo S, Abe H, Masuda M.The carbohydrate composition of horse spleen ferritin was studied. 1 mol of the apoferritin, the protein moiety of ferritin, contains 25 mol of hexose, 3 mol of hexosamine and 10 mol of fucose. Same carbohydrate composition was detected in the apoferritin from iron rich ferritins. These results indicate that horse spleen ferritin is composed of non-identical subunits as regards its carbohydrate composition.
Bugno M, Jablonska Z, Tischner M, Klukowska-Rötzler J, Pienkowska-Schelling A, Schelling C, Slota E.The aim of our study was to diagnose aneuploidy in equine spermatozoa by multicolour fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) technique using specific molecular probes for equine sex chromosomes and autosome pair four (EGFR probe) labeled by different fluorochromes. These were applied on decondensed spermatozoa of four stallions. In total, more than 8800 sperm cells were examined. The total frequency of aberrant cells was 0.496%: aneuploidy of XX (0.135%), YY (0.023%), XY (0.102%), diploidy (0.057%), lack of sex chromosome (0.18%). In one stallion the ratio of normal X- and Y-bearing cells wa...
Locke MM, Ruth LS, Millon LV, Penedo MC, Murray JD, Bowling AT.The colour locus historically referred to as C in the horse is linked to microsatellites markers on horse chromosome 21. Preliminary results demonstrated linkage of Ccr, thought to be the cream dilution variant of the C locus, to HTG10. An analysis of horse chromosome 21 using additional families confirmed and established a group of markers linked to Ccr. This work also improved the resolution of previously reported linkage maps for this chromosome. Linkage analysis unambiguously produced the map order: SGCV16-(19.1 cM)-HTG10-(3.8 cM)-LEX60/COR73-(1.3 cM)-COR68-(4.5 cM)- Ccr-(11.9 cM)-LEX31. C...
Matsuda G, Maita T, Braunitzer G, Schrank B.The sequence analysis of the slow migrating component of the hemoglobins of horse was repeated with the automatic methode in the sequenator and the sequence of the beta-chains completed. In the alpha-chains the positions of alpha63 and alpha65 (Gly, Ala) and alpha82 and alpha85 (amides) were changed and the remaining 40 sequences of the beta-chains are reported. According to these data and biological contributions of other authors, the biological aspects of the primary structure and the polymorphism of the hemoglobins of the horse are discussed.
Vitari GLV, Costa RL, Abreu APM, Peckle M, Silva CB, Paulino PG, Pires MS, Massard CL, Santos HA.Equine piroplasmosis stands out among the diseases that affect Equidae in Brazil and the world. It is caused by the protozoa Theileria equi and Babesia caballi. The objective of the present study was to carry out the molecular characterization of T. equi using equine blood samples collected in the 5 geographic regions of Brazil. Samples from all over the country were tested for the presence of T. equi by real-time PCR. The 18S rRNA sequences (∼1,600 bp) obtained from 23 samples taken from naturally infected horses were characterized by sequencing and analyzed to identify the genotypes and th...
Ainsworth DM, Appleton JA, Eicker SW, Luce R, Julia Flaminio M, Antczak DF.The effect of strenuous exercise on the mRNA concentrations of interleukin-12p35 subunit (IL-12p35), interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) and interleukin-4 (IL-4) in equine pulmonary and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) was investigated. We hypothesized that strenuous exercise would suppress the expression of IL-12p35, IFN-gamma and augment the expression of IL-4. Eleven horses were randomly divided into two groups, a stall-confined control group (n=5) and an exercise-conditioned treatment group (n=6). Bronchoalveolar and PBMCs were obtained from horses in the treatment group prior to the co...
Mir IA, Kumar B, Taku A, Faridi F, Bhat MA, Baba NA, Maqbool T.Present study was undertaken to study the prevalence of β-haemolytic streptococci in equine of northern temperate region of Jammu and Kashmir, India. One hundred and forty one samples were collected in duplicate from nasopharyngeal tract of diseased (53) and apparently healthy equine (88) for isolation and direct PCR. A total of 77 isolates of streptococci were recovered from 141 samples with an overall prevalence rate of 54.60%. Out of these 77 isolates, 52 were from diseased and 25 from apparently healthy animals. Of the 77 isolates, 4 were identified as Streptococcus equi subsp. equi, 56 a...
Nemoto M, Kizaki K, Yamamoto Y, Oonuma T, Hashizume K.In vitro cell studies might be a useful tool for studying tendon pathology, but no suitable in vitro models exist for tendon disorders. The purpose of this study was to confirm whether cell scratch culture using tendon-derived fibroblasts can provide a suitable in vitro tendon disorder model. Extracellular matrix components were examined immunohistochemically in tendon tissue, and then their related gene expression levels were analyzed by conventional reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and/or quantitative real-time RT-PCR in tissues and cells. Collagen type I (Col I), col...
Libardoni F, Vielmo A, Farias L, Matter LB, Pötter L, Spilki FR, de Vargas AC.Strangles is the main upper respiratory tract disease of horses. There are currently no studies on the changes in alleles of the M protein gene (seM) in Brazilian isolates of Streptococcus equi ssp. equi (S. equi). This study aimed to analyze and differentiate molecularly S. equi isolates from equine clinical specimens from southern Brazil, between 1994 and 2010. seM alleles were analyzed in 47 isolates of S. equi obtained from clinical cases of strangles (15 Thoroughbred horses, 29 Crioulo breed horses and three Brasileiro de Hipismo--BH). seM alleles characterization was performed by compari...
Collins MD, Rodriguez Jovita M, Lawson PA, Falsen E, Foster G.Two strains of an unknown Gram-positive, catalase-negative, facultatively anaerobic coccus originating from the reproductive tract of horses were characterized by phenotypic and molecular taxonomic methods. Comparative 16S rRNA gene sequencing studies demonstrated that the two strains constitute a new subline within the lactic-acid group of bacteria, close to, but distinct from, Abiotrophia defectiva, Globicatella sanguinis and close relatives. The unknown bacterium was readily distinguished from other described Gram-positive, catalase-negative cocci by biochemical tests and electrophoretic an...
Jasiński T, Zdrojkowski Ł, Ferreira-Dias G, Kautz E, Juszczuk-Kubiak E, Domino M.Endometrosis is a frequently occurring disease decreasing mares' fertility. Thus, it is an important disease of the endometrium associated with epithelial and stromal cell alterations, endometrium gland degeneration and periglandular fibrosis. Multiple degenerative changes are found in uterine mucosa, the endometrium. However, their pathogenesis is not well known. It is thought that nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB), a cell metabolism regulator, and its activation pathways take part in it. The transcription of the profibrotic pathway genes of the NF-κB in fibrotic endometria differed between the fo...
Socoloski SNG, de Castro BG, Cordeiro MD, da Fonseca AH, Cepeda MB, Nicolino RR, Lopes LB.Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto is the main etiological agent of Lyme disease (LD) in the USA. In Brazil, it is believed that a similar spirochete is the causal agent of the Baggio-Yoshinari syndrome (BYS), a zoonosis also transmitted by ticks, whose clinical manifestations are similar to those of LD. Despite the epidemiological importance, there are no studies reporting the presence and the prevalence of B. burgdorferi among horses in Mato Grosso State. The aim of this study was to detect and measure the frequency of IgG antibodies anti-B. burgdorferi American strain G39/40 in horses in th...
Chopineau M, Martinat N, Galet C, Guillou F, Combarnous Y.Horse LH/CG (eLH/CG) and donkey LH/CG (dkLH/CG) are strictly LH-specific in their respective homologous species. However, both bind to the FSH receptors from non-equid species, whereas the zebra hormone (zbLH/CG) does not. The FSH/LH ratio of eLH/CG and of the alphadkbetae hybrid is about tenfold higher than that of dkLH/CG and of the alphaebetadk hybrid, showing that the betae subunit contains the structural features responsible for the high FSH activity of eLH/CG. Only six amino acid positions (51, 94, 95, 102, 103 and 106) are unique to the betae subunit when compared with the betadk and be...
Habibi G, Esmaeilnia K, Hablolvarid MH, Afshari A, Zamen M, Bozorgi S.Equine piroplasmosis (EP) is the cause of persistent tick-borne infection with no symptoms, but the most important problem of EP is due to the persistent carrier state. Carrier animals to Babesia (Theileria) equi (Laveran 1901) and B. caballi (Nuttall, 1910) infestation could be identified by extremely sensitive PCR-based method. The purpose of this study was to identify the causative agents of equine piroplasmosis based on molecular and microscopic assays in equids from Kurdistan Province, Iran. Methods: Thirty one horse and mule blood samples were used with history of living in Kurdistan Pro...
Perrucci S, Buggiani C, Sgorbini M, Cerchiai I, Otranto D, Traversa D.Cryptosporidium infection was molecularly investigated in mares and in their neonatal foals for which the occurrence of foal heat diarrhoea was also assessed. Thirty-seven mare/foal pairs were included in the study. All foals were born in the same stud farm during 2006-2008 breeding seasons. Two faecal samples, one prior to and one after delivery were collected from each mare, whereas three faecal samples were taken from each foal, i.e. at 8, 10 and 12 days of age. All samples (74 from mares and 111 from foals) were divided into two aliquots, one of which was examined for the presence of Crypt...
Hurtado C, Torres R, Pérez-Macchi S, Sagredo K, Uberti B, de Souza Zanatto DC, Machado RZ, André MR, Bittencourt P, Müller A.Anaplasma phagocytophilum is the causative agent of equine granulocytic anaplasmosis (EGA). This study aimed to perform serological and molecular surveys of A. phagocytophilum in thoroughbred horses from racecourses in Chile. Additionally, hematological findings related to A. phagocytophilum molecular positivity were addressed, and phylogenetic analysis of selected positive samples was performed. Complete blood count and msp2 gene real-time PCR were performed in 457 thoroughbred horses from three racecourses located in three different cities of Chile (Santiago, Viña del Mar and Concepción). ...
Ababneh MM, Troedsson MH.Real-time PCR was used to investigate the role of progesterone (P4) and oestradiol (E2) in regulation of endometrial cytosolic, secretory and calcium-independent phospholipase A2 (PLA2G4A, PLA2G2A and PLA2G6, respectively) gene expression. Ovariectomized mares underwent 6 days of E2 pre-treatment followed by 14 days of P4 supplementation. At the start of P4 treatment (Day 1), mares were assigned in a 2 × 2 factorial design to receive either E2 or vehicle starting on Day 11 and endometrial biopsy collection on either Day 14 when P4 concentrations remained high (>4 ng/ml) or Day 16 when P4 conc...
Rihtarič D, Hostnik P, Grom J, Toplak I.A molecular epidemiology study was performed on a selection of 30 rabies-positive brain samples collected between 1994 and 2010 in Slovenia and originating from the red fox (n=19), badger (n=3), cattle (n=3), dog (n=2), cat (n=1), marten (n=1) and horse (n=1). Based on the comparison of 1092 and 672 nucleotide sequences of nucleoprotein (N) and partial glycoprotein (G) gene regions, a low genetic diversity of the circulating strains was detected, but both phylogenetic trees were consistent with the topology where partial nucleoprotein or glycoprotein genes were used. A high sequence identity i...
Martoriati A, Lalmanach AC, Goudet G, Gérard N.A growing body of evidence suggests that the ovary is a site of inflammatory reactions, and thus, ovarian cells could represent sources and targets of the interleukin-1 (IL-1) system. The aim of the present work was to investigate the expression of IL-1alpha, IL-1beta, IL-1ra, IL-1R1, and IL-1R2 genes in equine cumulus cells and oocytes. Moreover, the influence of IL-1beta on in vitro maturation of cumulus-oocytes complexes (COCs) was examined. COCs were collected using ultrasound-guided follicular puncture in vivo. Oocytes and cumulus cells were isolated from preovulatory and subordinate foll...
Liu N, Yu W, Guo X, Chen J, Xia D, Yu J, Li D.Lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs) belonging to the auxiliary activity 9 family (AA9) are widely found in aerobic fungi. These enzymes are O-dependent copper oxidoreductases that catalyze the oxidative cleavage of cellulose. However, studies that have investigated AA9 LPMOs of aerobic fungi in the herbivore gut are scare. To date, whether oxidative cleavage of cellulose occurs in the herbivore gut is unknown. Results: We report for the first time experimental evidence that AA9 LPMOs from aerobic thermophilic fungi catalyze the oxidative cleavage of cellulose present in the horse gut t...
Takai S, Murata N, Kudo R, Narematsu N, Kakuda T, Sasaki Y, Tsubaki S.This report describes the discovery of two new virulence plasmid types from a crossbred foal with Rhodococcus equi pneumonia in Kumamoto died with severe R. equi pneumonia and ulcerative enteritis. R. equi was isolated in large numbers and isolates from the foal were investigated for the presence of virulence-associated 15-17 kDa antigens (VapA) by colony blotting, using the monoclonal antibody 10G5, and by gene coding for VapA by PCR. Plasmid DNAs extracted from the isolates were digested with restriction endonucleases BamHI, EcoRI, EcoT22I, and HindIII. The digestion patterns that resulted d...
Caetano AR, Pomp D, Murray JD, Bowling AT.Polymerase chain reaction primers designed from horse cDNA sequences and from consensus sequences highly conserved in mammalian species were used to amplify markers for synteny mapping 18 equine type I genes. These markers were used to screen a horse-mouse somatic cell hybrid panel (UCDavis SCH). Fourteen primer sets amplified horse-specific fragments, while restriction enzyme digests of PCR products were used to distinguish the fragments amplified from horse and mouse with four primer sets. Synteny assignments were made based on correlation values between each marker tested and other markers ...
MacEachern KE, Smith GL, Nolan AM.Equine endothelial cells were isolated from the pulmonary artery by enzymatic digestion and grown to confluency. The cells were characterised by positive immunofluorescent staining for von Willebrand factor and NADPH-diaphorase staining for nitric oxide synthase. Measurements of endothelins indicated that there were significant release rates from the cells for up to six hours. Measurements of intracellular calcium concentration showed that the application of bradykinin caused a transient increase in calcium concentration with similar characteristics to those observed in other endothelial cell ...
