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- Title
A Gene Catalogue of the Euchromatic Male-Specific Region of the Horse Y Chromosome: Comparison with Human and Other Mammals.
- Authors
Paria, Nandina; Raudsepp, Terje; Wilkerson, Alison J. Pearks; O'Brien, Patricia C. M.; Ferguson-Smith, Malcom A.; Love, Charles C.; Arnold, Carolyn; Rakestraw, Peter; Murphy, William J.; Chowdhary, Bhanu P.
- Abstract
Studies of the Y chromosome in primates, rodents and carnivores provide compelling evidence that the male specific region of Y (MSY) contains functional genes, many of which have specialized roles in spermatogenesis and male-fertility. Little similarity, however, has been found between the gene content and sequence of MSY in different species. This hinders the discovery of species-specific male fertility genes and limits our understanding about MSY evolution in mammals. Here, a detailed MSY gene catalogue was developed for the horse - an odd-toed ungulate. Using direct cDNA selection from horse testis, and sequence analysis of Y-specific BAC clones, 37 horse MSY genes/transcripts were identified. The genes were mapped to the MSY BAC contig map, characterized for copy number, analyzed for transcriptional profiles by RT-PCR, examined for the presence of ORFs, and compared to other mammalian orthologs. We demonstrate that the horse MSY harbors 20 X-degenerate genes with known orthologs in other eutherian species. The remaining 17 genes are acquired or novel and have so far been identified only in the horse or donkey Y chromosomes. Notably, 3 transcripts were found in the heterochromatic part of the Y. We show that despite substantial differences between the sequence, gene content and organization of horse and other mammalian Y chromosomes, the functions of MSY genes are predominantly related to testis and spermatogenesis. Altogether, 10 multicopy genes with testis-specific expression were identified in the horse MSY, and considered likely candidate genes for stallion fertility. The findings establish an important foundation for the study of Ylinked genetic factors governing fertility in stallions, and improve our knowledge about the evolutionary processes that have shaped Y chromosomes in different mammalian lineages.
- Subjects
EUCHROMATIN; Y chromosome; HORSES; PRIMATE genetics; RODENTS; CARNIVOROUS animals; SPERMATOGENESIS; ANTISENSE DNA; REVERSE transcriptase polymerase chain reaction
- Publication
PLoS ONE, 2011, Vol 6, Issue 7, p1
- ISSN
1932-6203
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0021374