Identification and Expression Analyses of Equine Endogenous Retroviruses in Horses

• Published in: Molecules and cells Vol. 40; no. 10; pp. 796 - 804
• Main Authors: Gim, Jeong-An, Kim, Heui-Soo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Korean Society for Molecular and Cellular Biology 01.10.2017; 한국분자세포생물학회
• Subjects: Animals; Endogenous Retroviruses - genetics; Endogenous Retroviruses - isolation & purification; Gene Expression Regulation, Viral; Horses - genetics; Horses - virology; Open Reading Frames; Phylogeny; 생물학; quantitative real-time RT-PCR; Jeju horse; EqERV; pol gene; thoroughbred horse
• ISSN: 1016-8478; 0219-1032
• DOI: 10.14348/molcells.2017.0141

Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) have been integrated into vertebrate genomes and have momentously affected host organisms. Horses ( ) have been domesticated and selected for elite racing ability over centuries. ERVs played an important role in the evolutionary diversification of the horse genome. In the present study, we identified six equine ERV families (EqERVs-E1, I1, M2, P1, S1, and Y4), their full-length viral open reading frames (ORFs), and elucidated their phylogenetic relationships. The divergence time of EqERV families assuming an evolutionary rate of 0.2%/Myr indicated that EqERV-S3 (75.4 million years ago; mya) on chromosome 10 is an old EqERV family and EqERV-P5 (1.2 Mya) on chromosome 12 is a young member. During the evolutionary diversification of horses, the EqERV-I family diverged 1.7 Mya to 38.7 Mya. Reverse transcription quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) amplification of EqERV genes showed greater expression in the cerebellum of the Jeju horse than the Thoroughbred horse. These results could contribute further dynamic studies for horse genome in relation to EqERV gene function.