scholarly journals The First Report of Genetic Polymorphisms of the Equine SPRN Gene in Outbred Horses, Jeju and Halla Horses

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 2574
Author(s):  
Sae-Young Won ◽  
Yong-Chan Kim ◽  
Kyoungtag Do ◽  
Byung-Hoon Jeong

Prion disease is a fatal infectious disease caused by the accumulation of pathogenic prion protein (PrPSc) in several mammals. However, to date, prion disease has not been reported in horses. The Sho protein encoded by the shadow of the prion protein gene (SPRN) plays an essential role in the pathomechanism of prion diseases. To date, the only genetic study of the equine SPRN gene has been reported in the inbred horse, Thoroughbred horse. We first discovered four SPRN single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 141 Jeju and 88 Halla horses by direct DNA sequencing. In addition, we found that the genotype, allele and haplotype frequencies of these SNPs of Jeju horses were significantly different from those of Halla and Thoroughbred horses, this latter breed is also included in this study. Furthermore, we observed that the minimum free energy and mRNA secondary structure were significantly different according to haplotypes of equine SPRN polymorphisms by the RNAsnp program. Finally, we compared the SNPs in the coding sequence (CDS) of the SPRN gene between horses and prion disease-susceptible species. Notably, prion disease-susceptible animals had polymorphisms that cause amino acid changes in the open reading frame (ORF) of the SPRN gene, while these polymorphisms were not found in horses.

Genes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 518
Author(s):  
Sae-Young Won ◽  
Yong-Chan Kim ◽  
Kyoungtag Do ◽  
Byung-Hoon Jeong

Prion disease is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder caused by a deleterious prion protein (PrPSc). However, prion disease has not been reported in horses during outbreaks of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) in various animals in the UK. In previous studies, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the prion protein gene (PRNP) have been significantly associated with susceptibility to prion disease, and strong linkage disequilibrium (LD) between PRNP and prion-like protein gene (PRND) SNPs has been identified in prion disease-susceptible species. On the other hand, weak LD values have been reported in dogs, a prion disease-resistant species. In this study, we investigated SNPs in the PRND gene and measured the LD values between the PRNP and PRND SNPs and the impact of a nonsynonymous SNP found in the horse PRND gene. To identify SNPs in the PRND gene, we performed direct sequencing of the PRND gene. In addition, to assess whether the weak LD value between the PRNP and PRND SNPs is a characteristic of prion disease-resistant animals, we measured the LD value between the PRNP and PRND SNPs using D’ and r2 values. Furthermore, we evaluated the impact of a nonsynonymous SNP in the Doppel protein with PolyPhen-2, PROVEAN, and PANTHER. We observed two novel SNPs, c.331G > A (A111T) and c.411G > C. The genotype and allele frequencies of the c.331G > A (A111T) and c.411G > C SNPs were significantly different between Jeju, Halla, and Thoroughbred horses. In addition, we found a total of three haplotypes: GG, AG, and GC. The GG haplotype was the most frequently observed in Jeju and Halla horses. Furthermore, the impact of A111T on the Doppel protein was predicted to be benign by PolyPhen-2, PROVEAN, and PANTHER. Interestingly, a weak LD value between the PRNP and PRND SNPs was found in the horse, a prion disease-resistant animal. To the best of our knowledge, these results suggest that a weak LD value could be one feature of prion disease-resistant animals.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 1404 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sae-Young Won ◽  
Yong-Chan Kim ◽  
Kiwon Kim ◽  
An-Dang Kim ◽  
Byung-Hoon Jeong

Prion disease has displayed large infection host ranges among several species; however, dogs have not been reported to be infected and are considered prion disease-resistant animals. Case-controlled studies in several species, including humans and cattle, indicated a potent association of prion protein gene (PRNP) polymorphisms in the progression of prion disease. Thus, because of the proximal location and similar structure of the PRNP gene among the prion gene family, the prion-like protein gene (PRND) was noted as a novel candidate gene that contributes to prion disease susceptibility. Several case-controlled studies have confirmed the relationship of the PRND gene with prion disease vulnerability, and strong genetic linkage disequilibrium blocks were identified in prion-susceptible species between the PRNP and PRND genes. However, to date, polymorphisms of the dog PRND gene have not been reported, and the genetic linkage between the PRNP and PRND genes has not been examined thus far. Here, we first investigated dog PRND polymorphisms in 207 dog DNA samples using direct DNA sequencing. A total of four novel single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), including one nonsynonymous SNP (c.149G>A, R50H), were identified in this study. We also found two major haplotypes among the four novel SNPs. In addition, we compared the genotype and allele frequencies of the c.149G>A (R50H) SNP and found significantly different distributions among eight dog breeds. Furthermore, we annotated the c.149G>A (R50H) SNP of the dog PRND gene using in silico tools, PolyPhen-2, PROVEAN, and PANTHER. Finally, we examined linkage disequilibrium between the PRNP and PRND genes in dogs. Interestingly, we did not find a strong genetic linkage between these two genes. To the best of our knowledge, this was the first genetic study of the PRND gene in a prion disease-resistant animal, a dog.


2019 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 174-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Min-Ju Jeong ◽  
Byung-Hoon Jeong

Prion diseases are fatal neurodegenerative diseases characterised by the accumulation of an abnormal prion protein isoform (PrPSc), which is converted from the normal prion protein (PrPC). Prion diseases have been reported in an extensive number of species but not in horses up to now; therefore, horses are known to be a species resistant to prion diseases. The prion-like protein gene (PRND) is closely located downstream of the prion protein gene (PRNP) and the prion-like protein (Doppel) is a homologue with PrP. Previous studies have shown that an association between prion diseases and polymorphisms of the PRND gene is reported in the main hosts of prion diseases. Hence, we examined the genetic variations of the PRND gene in Thoroughbred horses. Interestingly, polymorphisms of the PRND gene were not detected. In addition, we conducted a comparative analysis of the amino acid sequences of the PRND gene to identify the differences between horses and other species. The amino acid sequence of the horse PRND gene showed the highest identity to that of sheep (83.7%), followed by that of goats, cattle and humans. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first genetic study of the PRND gene in horses.


2018 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 624-628
Author(s):  
Caroline P. Andrade ◽  
José D. Barbosa Neto ◽  
David Driemeier

ABSTRACT: Scrapie is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) that affects sheep and goats and results from accumulation of the abnormal isoform of a prion protein in the central nervous system. Resistance or susceptibility to the disease is dependent on several factors, including the strain of infecting agent, the degree of exposure, and the presence of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the prion protein gene. The most important polymorphisms are present in codons 136, 154, and 171. SNPs have also been identified in other codons, such as 118, 127, 141, 142, and 143. The objective of this study was to investigate the genotypic profile of Santa Ines (n=94) and Dorset (n=69) sheep and identify polymorphisms in the prion protein gene using real-time PCR techniques and sequencing. We analyzed SNPs in 10 different codons (127, 136, 138, 140, 141, 142, 143, 154, 171, and 172) in Santa Ines sheep. Classification of the flock into risk groups associated with scrapie revealed that approximately 68% of the Santa Ines herd was considered at moderate risk (group 3), and the most frequent haplotype was ARQ/ARQ (47.8%). For Dorset sheep, 42% of the herd was considered at moderate risk (group 3), 40% at low risk (group 2), and 12% at very low risk (group 1). These findings improve our understanding of the genotype breed and further highlight the importance of genotyping and identification of polymorphisms in Brazilian herds to assess their effects on potential infections upon exposure to the sheep prion.


2005 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 324-326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liping Meng ◽  
Deming Zhao ◽  
Hongxiang Liu ◽  
Jianmin Yang ◽  
Zhangyong Ning

Author(s):  
James A. Mastrianni ◽  
Joshuae G. Gallardo

Prion diseases are transmissible fatal neurodegenerative disorders resulting from the accumulation of misfolded prion protein. Although primarily sporadic diseases, 5% to 10% result from a mutation of the prion protein gene (PRNP), and less than 1% occur from exposure to prions. The current family of prion diseases includes Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker disease (GSS), fatal insomnia (FI), variant CJD (vCJD), and variably protease-sensitive prionopathy (VPSPr). Kuru is a disease of historical interest that was transmitted through cannibalistic rituals. Iatrogenic CJD (iCJD) is the result of secondary transmission of prion disease from contaminated biologicals.


BMC Genomics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yong-Chan Kim ◽  
Sae-Young Won ◽  
Byung-Hoon Jeong

Abstract Background Prion diseases are zoonotic diseases with a broad infection spectrum among mammalian hosts and are caused by the misfolded prion protein (PrPSc) derived from the normal prion protein (PrPC), which encodes the prion protein gene (PRNP). Currently, although several prion disease-resistant animals have been reported, a high dose of prion agent inoculation triggers prion disease infection in these disease-resistant animals. However, in chickens, natural prion disease-infected cases have not been reported, and experimental challenges with prion agents have failed to cause infection. Unlike other prion disease-resistant animals, chickens have shown perfect resistance to prion disease thus far. Thus, investigation of the chicken PRNP gene could improve for understanding the mechanism of perfect prion-disease resistance. Here, we investigated the genetic characteristics of the open reading frame (ORF) of the chicken PRNP gene in a large sampling of various chicken breeds. Results We found only tandem repeat deletion polymorphisms of the chicken PRNP ORF in the 4 chicken breeds including 106 Dekalb White, 100 Ross, 98 Ogolgye and 100 Korean native chickens. In addition, the distribution of chicken insertion/deletion polymorphisms was significantly different among the 4 chicken breeds. Finally, we found significant differences in the number of PRNP SNPs between prion disease-susceptible species and prion disease-resistant species. Notably, chickens lack SNPs in the ORF of the prion protein. Conclusion In this study, we found that the absence of SNPs in the chicken PRNP ORF is a notable feature of animals with perfect resistant to prion disease.


2012 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-243
Author(s):  
Stanislav Hreško ◽  
Ľudmila Tkáčiková

This study was conducted to investigate the presence of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the coding region of the bovine prion protein (PrP) gene among healthy and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE-) affected cattle in Slovakia. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) followed by DNA sequencing were used to identify SNPs and variations in octapeptide repeats. Altogether three single nucleotide polymorphisms (g234a, c339t and c576t) and variations in the number of octapeptide repeat units (5 or 6) were found in the analysed part of the prion protein gene. All single nucleotide polymorphisms were silent, causing no amino acid changes. Significant differences (P < 0.05) in the genotype distribution of g234a polymorphism were observed when the homozygous genotype with a mutated allele (caa/caa) was compared to the heterozygous genotype -/cag among healthy and BSE-affected cattle. The homozygous genotype caa/caa was characteristic of the group of BSE-affected cattle. Additionally, the homozygous genotype caa/caa was significant for the group of Simmental crossbreeds among healthy cattle. The allele and genotype distribution of the other polymorphisms was not significantly different among groups of healthy and BSE-affected cattle. The possible influence of a silent mutation on expression of the gene is not clearly determined and needs further investigations.


2011 ◽  
Vol 31 (10) ◽  
pp. 893-898 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Pinto de Andrade ◽  
Laura Lopes de Almeida ◽  
Luiza Amaral de Castro ◽  
Juliano Souza Leal ◽  
Sergio Ceroni da Silva ◽  
...  

Scrapie is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy of sheeps and goats, associated with the deposition of a isoform of the prion protein (PrPsc). This isoform presents an altered conformation that leads to aggregation in the host's central nervous and lymphoreticular systems. Predisposition to the prion agent infection can be influenced by specific genotypes related to mutations in amino acids of the PrPsc gene. The most characterized mutations occur at codons 136, 154 and 171, with genotypes VRQ being the most susceptible and ARR the most resistant. In this study we have analyzed polymorphisms in 15 different codons of the PrPsc gene in sheeps from a Suffolk herd from Brazil affected by an outbreak of classical scrapie. Amplicons from the PrPsc gene, encompassing the most relevant altered codons in the protein, were sequenced in order to determine each animal's genotype. We have found polymorphisms at 3 of the 15 analyzed codons (136, 143 and 171). The most variable codon was 171, where all described alleles were identified. A rare polymorphism was found at the 143 codon in 4% of the samples analyzed, which has been described as increasing scrapie resistance in otherwise susceptible animals. No other polymorphisms were detected in the remaining 12 analyzed codons, all of them corresponding to the wild-type prion protein. Regarding the risk degree of developing scrapie, most of the animals (96%) had genotypes corresponding to risk groups 1 to 3 (very low to moderate), with only 4% in the higher risks group. Our data is discussed in relation to preventive measures involving genotyping and positive selection to control the disease.


Genes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
Hyeon-Ho Kim ◽  
Yong-Chan Kim ◽  
Kiwon Kim ◽  
An-Dang Kim ◽  
Byung-Hoon Jeong

Prion diseases are fatal neurodegenerative disorders characterized by vacuolation and gliosis in the brain. Prion diseases have been reported in several mammals, and genetic polymorphisms of the prion protein gene (PRNP) play an essential role in the vulnerability of prion diseases. However, to date, investigations of PRNP polymorphisms are rare in cats, which are the major host of feline spongiform encephalopathy (FSE). Thus, we investigated the genetic polymorphisms of the cat PRNP gene and analyzed the structural characteristics of the PrP of cats compared to those of dog, prion disease-resistant animal. To investigate the genetic variations of the cat PRNP gene in 208 cats, we performed amplicon sequencing and examined the genotype, allele and haplotype frequencies of cat PRNP polymorphisms. We evaluated the influence of cat PRNP polymorphisms using PolyPhen-2, PANTHER, PROVEAN and AMYCO. In addition, we carried out structural analysis of cat PrP according to the allele of nonsynonymous single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) (c.457G > A, Glu153Lys) using Swiss-PdbViewer. Finally, we compared the structural differences between cat and canine PrPs for SNPs associated with prion disease resistance in dogs. We identified a total of 15 polymorphisms, including 14 novel SNPs and one insertion/deletion polymorphism (InDel). Among them, Glu153Lys was predicted to affect the structural stability and amyloid propensity of cat PrP. In addition, asparagine at codon 166 of cat PrP was predicted to have longer hydrogen bond than aspartic acid at codon 163 of canine PrP. Furthermore, substitution to dog-specific amino acids in cat PrP showed an increase in structural stability. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study regarding the structural characteristics of cat PRNP gene.


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