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Pimenta J, Domingos A, Santos P, Marques CC, Cantante C, Santos A, Barbas JP, Baptista MC, Horta AEM, Viegas A, Mesquita P, Gonçalves J, Fontes CA, Prates JAM, Pereira RMLN. Is prnt a pseudogene? Identification of ram Prt in testis and ejaculated spermatozoa. PLoS One 2012; 7:e42957. [PMID: 22937002 PMCID: PMC3427297 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0042957] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2012] [Accepted: 07/16/2012] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
A hallmark of prion diseases or transmissible spongiform encephalopaties is the conversion of the cellular prion protein (PrP(C)), expressed by the prion gene (prnp), into an abnormally folded isoform (PrP(Sc)) with amyloid-like features that causes scrapie in sheep among other diseases. prnp together with prnd (which encodes a prion-like protein designated as Doppel), and prnt (that encodes the prion protein testis specific--Prt) with sprn (shadow of prion protein gene, that encodes Shadoo or Sho) genes, constitute the "prion gene complex". Whereas a role for prnd in the proper functioning of male reproductive system has been confirmed, the function of prnt, a recently discovered prion family gene, comprises a conundrum leading to the assumption that ruminant prnt is a pseudogene with no protein expression. The main objective of the present study was to identify Prt localization in the ram reproductive system and simultaneously to elucidate if ovine prnt gene is transcribed into protein-coding RNA. Moreover, as Prt is a prnp-related protein, the amyloid propensity was also tested for ovine and caprine Prt. Recombinant Prt was used to immunize BALB/c mice, and the anti-Prt polyclonal antibody (APPA) immune response was evaluated by ELISA and Western Blot. When tested by indirect immunofluorescence, APPA showed high avidity to the ram sperm head apical ridge subdomain, before and after induced capacitation, but did not show the same behavior against goat spermatozoa, suggesting high antibody specificity against ovine-Prt. Prt was also found in the testis when assayed by immunohistochemistry during ram spermatogenesis, where spermatogonia, spermatocytes, spermatids and spermatozoa, stained positive. These observations strongly suggest ovine prnt to be a translated protein-coding gene, pointing to a role for Prt protein in the ram reproductive physiology. Besides, caprine Prt appears to exhibit a higher amyloid propensity than ovine Prt, mostly associated with its phenylalanine residue.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jorge Pimenta
- Unidade de Recursos Genéticos, Reprodução e Melhoramento Animal, Instituto Nacional dos Recursos Biológicos (INRB) L-INIA Santarém, Quinta da Fonte Boa, Vale de Santarém, Portugal
- CIISA, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária (FMV), Universidade Técnica de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Ana Domingos
- IHMT-CMDT – Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, Centro de Malária e Doenças Tropicais, Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Pedro Santos
- Hospital Universitário de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
| | - Carla C. Marques
- Unidade de Recursos Genéticos, Reprodução e Melhoramento Animal, Instituto Nacional dos Recursos Biológicos (INRB) L-INIA Santarém, Quinta da Fonte Boa, Vale de Santarém, Portugal
| | - Cátia Cantante
- Unidade de Retrovírus e Infecções Associadas (URIA), ADEIM-Centro de Patogénese Molecular/Instituto de Medicina Molecular (IMM), Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Ana Santos
- Unidade de Retrovírus e Infecções Associadas (URIA), ADEIM-Centro de Patogénese Molecular/Instituto de Medicina Molecular (IMM), Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
| | - João P. Barbas
- Unidade de Recursos Genéticos, Reprodução e Melhoramento Animal, Instituto Nacional dos Recursos Biológicos (INRB) L-INIA Santarém, Quinta da Fonte Boa, Vale de Santarém, Portugal
| | - Maria C. Baptista
- Unidade de Recursos Genéticos, Reprodução e Melhoramento Animal, Instituto Nacional dos Recursos Biológicos (INRB) L-INIA Santarém, Quinta da Fonte Boa, Vale de Santarém, Portugal
| | - António E. M. Horta
- Unidade de Recursos Genéticos, Reprodução e Melhoramento Animal, Instituto Nacional dos Recursos Biológicos (INRB) L-INIA Santarém, Quinta da Fonte Boa, Vale de Santarém, Portugal
| | - Aldino Viegas
- REQUIMTE/CQFB Departamento de Química, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Caparica, Portugal
| | - Patrícia Mesquita
- Unidade de Recursos Genéticos, Reprodução e Melhoramento Animal, Instituto Nacional dos Recursos Biológicos (INRB) L-INIA Santarém, Quinta da Fonte Boa, Vale de Santarém, Portugal
| | - João Gonçalves
- Unidade de Retrovírus e Infecções Associadas (URIA), ADEIM-Centro de Patogénese Molecular/Instituto de Medicina Molecular (IMM), Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Carlos A. Fontes
- CIISA, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária (FMV), Universidade Técnica de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
| | - José A. M. Prates
- CIISA, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária (FMV), Universidade Técnica de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Rosa M. L. N. Pereira
- Unidade de Recursos Genéticos, Reprodução e Melhoramento Animal, Instituto Nacional dos Recursos Biológicos (INRB) L-INIA Santarém, Quinta da Fonte Boa, Vale de Santarém, Portugal
- Escola Universitária Vasco da Gama, Coimbra, Portugal
- * E-mail:
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Rodríguez-Martínez AB, Alfonso-Sánchez MA, Peña JA, Sánchez-Valle R, Zerr I, Capellari S, Calero M, Zarranz JJ, de Pancorbo MM. Molecular evidence of founder effects of fatal familial insomnia through SNP haplotypes around the D178N mutation. Neurogenetics 2008; 9:109-18. [PMID: 18347820 DOI: 10.1007/s10048-008-0120-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2007] [Accepted: 02/05/2008] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
This work presents a detailed investigation of the genomic region surrounding the PRNP gene in a sample of patients diagnosed with fatal familial insomnia (FFI) from several European countries, notably Spain. The main focus of the study was to explore the origins of the chromosomes carrying the D178N mutation by designing a single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) haplotype around the PRNP gene. Haplotypes were constructed by genotyping six SNPs (rs2756271, rs13040327, rs6037932, rs13045348, rs6116474, and rs6116475) in 25 FFI patients from all over Spain. To augment the geographical scope of our study, 13 further FFI cases from Germany (9) and Italy (4) were also examined. Genotyping of SNPs in conjunction with the analysis of genealogical data for a group of FFI patients revealed the existence of two distinct haplotypes potentially associated with the D178N mutation. Of them, GCATTA-M proved to be the common haplotype of Spanish patients, whereas ACATTA-M was typical of the German cases. It is interesting to note that both haplotypes were identified in the Italian samples: GCATTA-M in a family from the Tuscany region and ACATTA-M in a family from the Veneto region. Our findings suggest the occurrence of two independent D178N-129M mutational events in Europe, preserved and transmitted from one generation to the next until nowadays. Likewise, results based on the analysis of SNP data indicate that previous hypotheses postulating that the D178N mutation had independent origins for each family and that its global distribution was determined by recurrent mutational events must be regarded with caution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana B Rodríguez-Martínez
- Departamento de Zoología y Biología Celular, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad del País Vasco, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Alava, Spain
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Geldermann H, Bartenschlager H, Preuss S, Melchinger-Wild E, Herzog K, Zerr I. Polymorphic microsatellite sites in the PRNP region point to excess of homozygotes in Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease patients. Gene 2006; 382:66-70. [PMID: 16889908 DOI: 10.1016/j.gene.2006.06.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2006] [Revised: 05/31/2006] [Accepted: 06/05/2006] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
Polymorphic microsatellite sites within 148 kb of the human prion gene complex, including the genes PRNP, PRND and PRNT, were analysed together with the Codon129 variants regarding 50 CJD (Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease) patients and 46 non-diseased control persons. Three of the sites (MM03, MM04, Codon129) differed significantly (P<0.05) for their allele frequencies between the two groups--the predominant allele being always more frequent in the CJD group. Deviations from Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium were mainly obtained in the CJD group--in all cases with a reduction of the observed heterozygosity. The sites MM03, MM04 and Codon129 were also analysed for their haplotypes. The predominant homozygous haplotype combination was more frequently observed in the CJD group (0.875) than in the non-diseased group (0.38). Thus the different polymorphic sites indicate that high CJD disposition is associated with homozygosity in the PRNP gene.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hermann Geldermann
- Department of Animal Breeding and Biotechnology, University of Hohenheim, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany.
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Choi SH, Kim IC, Kim DS, Kim DW, Chae SH, Choi HH, Choi I, Yeo JS, Song MN, Park HS. Comparative genomic organization of the human and bovine PRNP locus. Genomics 2006; 87:598-607. [PMID: 16460908 DOI: 10.1016/j.ygeno.2005.12.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2005] [Revised: 12/19/2005] [Accepted: 12/20/2005] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
We sequenced a 208-kb BAC clone spanning the bovine prion protein (PRNP) locus, and compared the genomic structure with that of human. As a result, we determined the precise breakpoint between the two syntenic genomes, located on the 5' UTR of the PRNP gene, and discovered two highly repetitive sequences near the breakpoint. Further analysis demonstrated that the genomic structure of three genes, PRNP, PRND, and RASSF2, within the syntenic region of the bovine genome is highly conserved in order and orientation. The PRNT locus was not found in bovine but is conserved in several primates, including human. Moreover, we confirmed that the bovine RASSF2 is composed of 10 exons, as is the human gene, showing some difference from a previous report. Our findings may provide useful clues for understanding the evolutional process in the PRNP locus and also the mechanism that allows TSE from cattle to infect humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sang-Haeng Choi
- Genome Research Center, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, 52, Oun-dong, Yusong-gu, Daejeon 305-333, Korea
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Rodríguez-Martínez AB, Barreau C, Coupry I, Yagüe J, Sánchez-Valle R, Galdós-Alcelay L, Ibáñez A, Digón A, Fernández-Manchola I, Goizet C, Castro A, Cuevas N, Alvarez-Alvarez M, de Pancorbo MM, Arveiler B, Zarranz JJ. Ancestral origins of the prion protein gene D178N mutation in the Basque Country. Hum Genet 2005; 117:61-9. [PMID: 15806397 DOI: 10.1007/s00439-005-1277-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2004] [Accepted: 12/21/2004] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Fatal familial insomnia (FFI) and familial Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (fCJD) are familial prion diseases with autosomal dominant inheritance of the D178N mutation. FFI has been reported in at least 27 pedigrees around the world. Twelve apparently unrelated FFI and fCJD pedigrees with the characteristic D178N mutation have been reported in the Prion Diseases Registry of the Basque Country since 1993. The high incidence of familial prion diseases in this region may reflect a unique ancestral origin of the chromosome carrying this mutation. In order to investigate this putative founder effect, we developed "happy typing", a new approach to the happy mapping method, which consists of the physical isolation of large haploid genomic DNA fragments and their analysis by the Polymerase Chain Reaction in order to perform haplotypic analysis instead of pedigree analysis. Six novel microsatellite markers, located in a 150-kb genomic segment flanking the PRNP gene were characterized for typing haploid DNA fragments of 285 kb in size. A common haplotype was found in patients from the Basque region, strongly suggesting a founder effect. We propose that "happy typing" constitutes an efficient method for determining disease-associated haplotypes, since the analysis of a single affected individual per pedigree should provide sufficient evidence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana B Rodríguez-Martínez
- Unidad de Genómica: Banco de ADN y Genotipado, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad del País Vasco, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
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