Analyze Diet
PLoS genetics2015; 11(4); e1005122; doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1005122

SERPINB11 frameshift variant associated with novel hoof specific phenotype in Connemara ponies.

Abstract: Horses belong to the order Perissodactyla and bear the majority of their weight on their third toe; therefore, tremendous force is applied to each hoof. An inherited disease characterized by a phenotype restricted to the dorsal hoof wall was identified in the Connemara pony. Hoof wall separation disease (HWSD) manifests clinically as separation of the dorsal hoof wall along the weight-bearing surface of the hoof during the first year of life. Parents of affected ponies appeared clinically normal, suggesting an autosomal recessive mode of inheritance. A case-control allelic genome wide association analysis was performed (ncases = 15, ncontrols = 24). Population stratification (λ = 1.48) was successfully improved by removing outliers (ncontrols = 7) identified on a multidimensional scaling plot. A genome-wide significant association was detected on chromosome 8 (praw = 1.37x10-10, pgenome = 1.92x10-5). A homozygous region identified in affected ponies spanned from 79,936,024-81,676,900 bp and contained a family of 13 annotated SERPINB genes. Whole genome next-generation sequencing at 6x coverage of two cases and two controls revealed 9,758 SNVs and 1,230 indels within the ~1.7-Mb haplotype, of which 17 and 5, respectively, segregated with the disease and were located within or adjacent to genes. Additional genotyping of these 22 putative functional variants in 369 Connemara ponies (ncases = 23, ncontrols = 346) and 169 horses of other breeds revealed segregation of three putative variants adjacent or within four SERPIN genes. Two of the variants were non-coding and one was an insertion within SERPINB11 that introduced a frameshift resulting in a premature stop codon. Evaluation of mRNA levels at the proximal hoof capsule (ncases = 4, ncontrols = 4) revealed that SERPINB11 expression was significantly reduced in affected ponies (p<0.001). Carrier frequency was estimated at 14.8%. This study describes the first genetic variant associated with a hoof wall specific phenotype and suggests a role of SERPINB11 in maintaining hoof wall structure.
Publication Date: 2015-04-13 PubMed ID: 25875171PubMed Central: PMC4395385DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1005122Google Scholar: Lookup
The Equine Research Bank provides access to a large database of publicly available scientific literature. Inclusion in the Research Bank does not imply endorsement of study methods or findings by Mad Barn.
  • Journal Article
  • Research Support
  • Non-U.S. Gov't

Summary

This research summary has been generated with artificial intelligence and may contain errors and omissions. Refer to the original study to confirm details provided. Submit correction.

The research paper discusses an inherited disease in Connemara ponies called Hoof Wall Separation Disease (HWSD) which affects the hoof wall. The researchers identified a genetic variant in the SERPINB11 gene associated with this disease.

Hoof Wall Separation Disease

  • The paper reports on a disease identified in Connemara ponies called HWSD. This disease shows itself during a pony’s first year of life, manifesting as a separation of the dorsal hoof wall, the area that bears most of the weight in the ponies’ limbs.
  • Despite the seriousness of this disease, the parents of the affected ponies showed no signs of it, leading the researchers to suspect that the disease followed an autosomal recessive pattern of inheritance.

Genetic Study

  • A genomic study was conducted to understand the underlying cause of HWSD. Genome-wide association analysis was performed using 15 cases and 24 controls.
  • Population stratification was improved by removing statistical outliers, resulting in an association being identified on chromosome 8.
  • A region in chromosome 8, spanning approximately 1.7 million base pairs, was found to be homozygous (containing two copies of the same allele for a single gene) in affected ponies. This region contained a group of 13 SERPINB genes.

Whole Genome Sequencing

  • Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) of the whole genome was performed on two cases and two controls. This identified over 10,000 single-nucleotide variants (SNVs) and insertion or deletion mutations (indels) within the haplotype (a group of genes inherited from a single parent) associated with the disease.
  • A total of 17 SNVs and 5 indels were found to segregate (be inherited) with the disease and were located within or adjacent to genes.

SERPINB11 Gene

  • Among the genetic variants identified, an insertion mutation in the SERPINB11 gene was discovered that introduced a frameshift mutation, effectively create a premature stop codon in the genetic sequence.
  • It was found that expression of SERPINB11 was significantly reduced in affected ponies, while the frequency of the carrier variant for the disease was estimated at 14.8% among Connemara ponies.
  • The study concludes that this is the first time a variant in the SERPINB11 gene has been associated with a hoof wall-specific phenotype, hinting at a role of the gene in maintaining hoof wall structure.

Cite This Article

APA
Finno CJ, Stevens C, Young A, Affolter V, Joshi NA, Ramsay S, Bannasch DL. (2015). SERPINB11 frameshift variant associated with novel hoof specific phenotype in Connemara ponies. PLoS Genet, 11(4), e1005122. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1005122

Publication

ISSN: 1553-7404
NlmUniqueID: 101239074
Country: United States
Language: English
Volume: 11
Issue: 4
Pages: e1005122

Researcher Affiliations

Finno, Carrie J
  • Department of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California Davis, Davis, California, United States of America.
Stevens, Carlynn
  • Department of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California Davis, Davis, California, United States of America.
Young, Amy
  • Department of Animal Science, University of California Davis, Davis, California, United States of America.
Affolter, Verena
  • Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California Davis, Davis, California, United States of America.
Joshi, Nikhil A
  • Genome Center Bioinformatics Core, University of California Davis, Davis, California United States of America.
Ramsay, Sheila
  • Institute of Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical Sciences (IVABS) Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand.
Bannasch, Danika L
  • Department of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California Davis, Davis, California, United States of America.

MeSH Terms

  • Animals
  • Frameshift Mutation
  • Hoof and Claw / anatomy & histology
  • Horses / genetics
  • Phenotype
  • Polymorphism, Genetic
  • RNA, Messenger / genetics
  • RNA, Messenger / metabolism
  • Serpins / genetics
  • Serpins / metabolism

Grant Funding

  • K01 OD015134 / NIH HHS
  • L40 TR001136 / NCATS NIH HHS

Conflict of Interest Statement

The Regents of the University of California Davis have applied for a provisional patent application for the testing of this mutation in horses and ponies.

References

This article includes 47 references
  1. Hamrick MW. Development and evolution of the mammalian limb: adaptive diversification of nails, hooves, and claws.. Evol Dev 3: 355–363.
    pubmed: 11710767
  2. Hodson E, Clayton HM, Lanovaz JL. The forelimb in walking horses: 1. Kinematics and ground reaction forces.. Equine Vet J 32: 287–294.
    pubmed: 10952376
  3. Freire-Maia N. Ectodermal dysplasias.. Hum Hered 21: 309–312.
    pubmed: 5139249
  4. Kiuru M, Kurban M, Itoh M, Petukhova L, Shimomura Y. Hereditary leukonychia, or porcelain nails, resulting from mutations in PLCD1.. Am J Hum Genet 88: 839–844.
    doi: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2011.05.014pmc: PMC3113240pubmed: 21665001google scholar: lookup
  5. Bergmann C, Senderek J, Anhuf D, Thiel CT, Ekici AB. Mutations in the gene encoding the Wnt-signaling component R-spondin 4 (RSPO4) cause autosomal recessive anonychia.. Am J Hum Genet 79: 1105–1109.
    pmc: PMC1698700pubmed: 17186469
  6. Sato-Matsumura KC, Yasukawa K, Tomita Y, Shimizu H. Toenail dystrophy with COL7A1 glycine substitution mutations segregates as an autosomal dominant trait in 2 families with dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa.. Arch Dermatol 138: 269–271.
    pubmed: 11843659
  7. Frojmark AS, Schuster J, Sobol M, Entesarian M, Kilander MB. Mutations in Frizzled 6 cause isolated autosomal-recessive nail dysplasia.. Am J Hum Genet 88: 852–860.
    doi: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2011.05.013pmc: PMC3113248pubmed: 21665003google scholar: lookup
  8. Hamm H, Karl S, Brocker EB. Isolated congenital nail dysplasia: a new autosomal dominant condition.. Arch Dermatol 136: 1239–1243.
    pubmed: 11030770
  9. Askew DJ, Cataltepe S, Kumar V, Edwards C, Pace SM. SERPINB11 is a new noninhibitory intracellular serpin. Common single nucleotide polymorphisms in the scaffold impair conformational change.. J Biol Chem 282: 24948–24960.
    pubmed: 17562709
  10. Heit C, Jackson BC, McAndrews M, Wright MW, Thompson DC. Update of the human and mouse SERPIN gene superfamily.. Hum Genomics 7: 22.
    doi: 10.1186/1479-7364-7-22pmc: PMC3880077pubmed: 24172014google scholar: lookup
  11. Cripps PJ, Eustace RA. Radiological measurements from the feet of normal horses with relevance to laminitis.. Equine Vet J 31: 427–432.
    pubmed: 10505960
  12. Karolchik D, Barber GP, Casper J, Clawson H, Cline MS. The UCSC Genome Browser database: 2014 update.. Nucleic Acids Res 42: D764–770.
    doi: 10.1093/nar/gkt1168pmc: PMC3964947pubmed: 24270787google scholar: lookup
  13. Doan R, Cohen ND, Sawyer J, Ghaffari N, Johnson CD. Whole-genome sequencing and genetic variant analysis of a Quarter Horse mare.. BMC Genomics 13: 78.
    doi: 10.1186/1471-2164-13-78pmc: PMC3309927pubmed: 22340285google scholar: lookup
  14. . Breed Standard.. .
  15. Priestley GC. An introduction to the skin and its diseases. In: Priestley GC, editors. Molecular Aspects of Dermatology. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons; 1993. p.1–17.
  16. Carter RA, Shekk V, de Laat MA, Pollitt CC, Galantino-Homer HL. Novel keratins identified by quantitative proteomic analysis as the major cytoskeletal proteins of equine (Equus caballus) hoof lamellar tissue.. J Anim Sci 88: 3843–3855.
    doi: 10.2527/jas.2010-2964pubmed: 20622188google scholar: lookup
  17. Reilly JD, Cottress DF, Martin RJ, Cí·¯ord D. Tubule density in equine hoof horn.. Biomimetics 4: 23–36.
  18. Thomason JJ, Biewener AA, Bertram JEA. Surface strin on the equine hoof wall in vivo: implications for the material design and functional morphology of the wall.. J Exper Biol 166: 145–165.
  19. Dyhre-Poulsen P, Smedegaard HH, Roed J, Korsgaard E. Equine hoof function investigated by pressure transducers inside the hoof and accelerometers mounted on the first phalanx.. Equine Vet J 26: 362–366.
    pubmed: 7988538
  20. Shendure J. Next-generation human genetics.. Genome Biol 12: 408.
    doi: 10.1186/gb-2011-12-9-408pmc: PMC3308046pubmed: 21920048google scholar: lookup
  21. Maher B. ENCODE: The human encyclopaedia.. Nature 489: 46–48.
    pubmed: 22962707
  22. Silverman GA, Bird PI, Carrell RW, Church FC, Coughlin PB. The serpins are an expanding superfamily of structurally similar but functionally diverse proteins. Evolution, mechanism of inhibition, novel functions, and a revised nomenclature.. J Biol Chem 276: 33293–33296.
    pubmed: 11435447
  23. Remold-O'Donnell E. The ovalbumin family of serpin proteins.. FEBS Lett 315: 105–108.
    pubmed: 8417965
  24. Scott FL, Eyre HJ, Lioumi M, Ragoussis J, Irving JA. Human ovalbumin serpin evolution: phylogenic analysis, gene organization, and identification of new PI8-related genes suggest that two interchromosomal and several intrachromosomal duplications generated the gene clusters at 18q21-q23 and 6p25.. Genomics 62: 490–499.
    pubmed: 10644448
  25. Benarafa C, Remold-O'Donnell E. The ovalbumin serpins revisited: perspective from the chicken genome of clade B serpin evolution in vertebrates.. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 102: 11367–11372.
    pmc: PMC1183561pubmed: 16055559
  26. Grosenbaugh DA, Hood DM. Keratin and associated proteins of the equine hoof wall.. Am J Vet Res 53: 1859–1863.
    pubmed: 1280927
  27. Wang Y, Guo Q, Casey A, Lin C, Chen F. A new tool for conditional gene manipulation in a subset of keratin-expressing epithelia.. Genesis 50: 899–907.
    doi: 10.1002/dvg.22046pmc: PMC3681952pubmed: 22764128google scholar: lookup
  28. Pletscher-Frankild S, Palleja A, Tsafou K, Binder JX, Jensen LJ. DISEASES: Text mining and data integration of disease-gene associations.. Methods .
    pubmed: 25484339
  29. Voight BF, Kudaravalli S, Wen X, Pritchard JK. A map of recent positive selection in the human genome.. PLoS Biol 4: e72.
    pmc: PMC1382018pubmed: 16494531
  30. Becker J, Semler O, Gilissen C, Li Y, Bolz HJ. Exome sequencing identifies truncating mutations in human SERPINF1 in autosomal-recessive osteogenesis imperfecta.. Am J Hum Genet 88: 362–371.
    doi: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2011.01.015pmc: PMC3059418pubmed: 21353196google scholar: lookup
  31. Christiansen HE, Schwarze U, Pyott SM, AlSwaid A, Al Balwi M. Homozygosity for a missense mutation in SERPINH1, which encodes the collagen chaperone protein HSP47, results in severe recessive osteogenesis imperfecta.. Am J Hum Genet 86: 389–398.
    doi: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2010.01.034pmc: PMC2833387pubmed: 20188343google scholar: lookup
  32. Drogemuller C, Becker D, Brunner A, Haase B, Kircher P. A missense mutation in the SERPINH1 gene in Dachshunds with osteogenesis imperfecta.. PLoS Genet 5: e1000579.
  33. Bogaert L, Van Poucke M, De Baere C, Peelman L, Gasthuys F. Selection of a set of reliable reference genes for quantitative real-time PCR in normal equine skin and in equine sarcoids.. BMC Biotechnol 6: 24.
    pmc: PMC1484482pubmed: 16643647
  34. Wickham H. ggplot2: elegant graphics for data analysis. New York: Springer.
  35. Team RDC. R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing; Vienna, Austria.
  36. nhttp://www.bioconductor.org/packages/release/bioc/html/qrqc.html.
  37. nhttps://github.com/ucdavis-bioinformatics/scythe.
  38. Joshi NA FJ. Sickle: A sliding-window, adaptive, quality-based trimming tool for FastQ files (Version 1.20) [Software].. .
  39. Li H, Durbin R. Fast and accurate short read alignment with Burrows–Wheeler transform.. Bioinformatics 25: 1754–1760.
  40. McKenna A, Hanna M, Banks E, Sivachenko A, Cibulskis K, Kernytsky A, Garimella K, Altshuler D, Gabriel S, Daly M, DePristo MA. The Genome Analysis Toolkit: a MapReduce framework for analyzing next-generation DNA sequencing data.. Genome Research 20: 1297–1303.
    doi: 10.1101/gr.107524.110pmc: PMC2928508pubmed: 20644199google scholar: lookup
  41. Auwera GA, Carneiro MO, Hartl C, Poplin R, del Angel G, Levy-Moonshine A. From FastQ Data to High-Confidence Variant Calls: The Genome Analysis Toolkit Best Practices Pipeline.. Current Protocols in Bioinformatics 11–10.
    pmc: PMC4243306pubmed: 25431634
  42. DePristo MA, Banks E, Poplin R, Garimella KV, Maguire JR, Hartl C. A framework for variation discovery and genotyping using next-generation DNA sequencing data.. Nature Genetics 43: 491–498.
    doi: 10.1038/ng.806pmc: PMC3083463pubmed: 21478889google scholar: lookup
  43. Cingolani P, PA, Wang le L, Coon M, Nguyen T. A program for annotating and predicting the effects of single nucleotide polymorphisms, SnpEff: SNPs in the genome of Drosophila melanogaster strain w1118; iso-2; iso-3.. Fly 6: 80–92.
    doi: 10.4161/fly.19695pmc: PMC3679285pubmed: 22728672google scholar: lookup
  44. Untergasser A, Cutcutache I, Koressaar T, Ye J, Faircloth BC. Primer3—new capabilities and interfaces.. Nucleic Acids Res 40: e115.
    pmc: PMC3424584pubmed: 22730293
  45. Fintl C, Pearson GT, Mayhew IG, Stewart Lowden C, Hopwood PA. Comparative analysis of c-kit gene expression and c-Kit immunoreactivity in horses with and without obstructive intestinal disease.. Vet J 186: 64–69.
    doi: 10.1016/j.tvjl.2009.07.015pubmed: 19716327google scholar: lookup
  46. Zhang YW, Davis EG, Bai J. Determination of internal control for gene expression studies in equine tissues and cell culture using quantitative RT-PCR.. Vet Immunol Immunopathol 130: 114–119.
    doi: 10.1016/j.vetimm.2009.01.012pubmed: 19269038google scholar: lookup
  47. Pfaffl MW, Horgan GW, Dempfle L. Relative expression software tool (REST) for group-wise comparison and statistical analysis of relative expression results in real-time PCR.. Nucleic Acids Res 30: e36.
    pmc: PMC113859pubmed: 11972351