Comparative genomic identification and expression profiling of a novel β-defensin gene cluster in the equine reproductive tract
Gillian P. Johnson A , Andrew T. Lloyd B , Cliona O’Farrelly C , Kieran G. Meade D and Sean Fair A E
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Department of Life Sciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland.
B Department of Science and Health, Carlow Institute of Technology, Kilkenny Road, Carlow, Ireland.
C Comparative Immunology Group, School of Biochemistry and Immunology, Trinity BioSciences Institute, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Dublin, Ireland.
D Animal and Bioscience Research Department, Animal and Grassland Research and Innovation Centre, Teagasc, Grange, Dunsany, Meath, Ireland.
E Corresponding author. Email: sean.fair@ul.ie
Reproduction, Fertility and Development 28(10) 1499-1508 https://doi.org/10.1071/RD14345
Submitted: 16 September 2014 Accepted: 7 February 2015 Published: 30 April 2015
Abstract
β-defensins are small cationic proteins with potent immunoregulatory and antimicrobial activity. The number of genes encoding these peptides varies significantly between and within species but they have not been extensively characterised in the horse. Here, we describe a systematic search of the Equus caballus genome that identified a cluster of novel β-defensin genes on Chromosome 22, which is homologous to a cluster on bovine Chromosome 13. Close genomic matches were found for orthologs of 13 of the bovine genes, which were named equine β-defensins (eBD) 115, eBD116, eBD117, eBD119, eBD120, eBD122a, eBD123, eBD124, eBD125, eBD126, eBD127, eBD129 and eBD132. As expression of the homologous cluster in cattle was limited to the reproductive tract, tissue sections were obtained from the testis, caput, corpus and cauda epididymis and the vas deferens of three stallions and from the ovary, oviduct, uterine horn, uterus, cervix and vagina of three mares. Using a quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction approach, each of the novel β-defensin genes showed distinct region-specific patterns of expression. Preferential expression in the caput epididymis of these novel defensins in the stallion and in the oviduct in the mare suggests a possible role in immunoprotection of the equine reproductive tract or in fertility.
Additional keywords: antimicrobial peptide, equine genome, epididymis, fertility, mare, stallion, oviduct.
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