Multi-primer target PCR for rapid identification of bovine DRB3 alleles

Comparing Class II MHC DRB3 Diversity in Colombian Simmental and Simbrah Cattle Across Worldwide Bovine Populations

The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) exerts great influence on responses to infectious diseases and vaccination due to its fundamental role in the adaptive immune system. Knowledge about MHC polymorphism distribution among breeds can provide insights into cattle evolution and diversification as well as population-based immune response variability, thus guiding further studies. Colombian Simmental and Simbrah cattle’s BoLA-DRB3 genetic diversity was compared to that of taurine and zebuine breeds worldwide to estimate functional diversity. High allele richness was observed for Simmental and Simbrah cattle; nevertheless, high homozygosity was associated with individual low sequence variability in both the β1 domain and the peptide binding region (PBR), thereby implying reduced MHC-presented peptide repertoire size. There were strong signals of positive selection acting on BoLA-DRB3 in all populations, some of which were poorly structured and displayed common alleles accounting for their high genetic similarity. PBR sequence correlation analysis suggested that, except for a few populations exhibiting some divergence at PBR, global diversity regarding potential MHC-presented peptide repertoire could be similar for the cattle populations analyzed here, which points to the retention of functional diversity in spite of the selective pressures imposed by breeding.

Evaluating the immunogenicity of chemically-synthesised peptides derived from foot-and-mouth disease VP1, VP2 and VP3 proteins as vaccine candidates

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is one of the most contagious veterinary viral diseases known, having economic, social and potentially devastating environmental impacts. The vaccines currently being marketed/sold around the world for disease control and prevention in bovines do not stimulate the production of antibodies having crossed reactions to different serotypes. This means that if an animal becomes infected by a serotype which has not been included in a vaccine then it will develop the disease. Synthetic peptide vaccines represent a safer option and (depending on the design) can stimulate antibodies protecting against different variants. Based on the forgoing, this work was aimed at evaluating FMDV VP1, VP2 and VP3 protein-derived, modified and chemically-synthesised peptides' ability to induce an immune response for developing a vaccine contributing towards controlling the disease. VP1, VP2 and VP3 proteins' conserved regions were selected for this. Peptides from these regions were chemically synthesised; binding assays were then carried out for ascertaining whether they were involved in BHK-21 cell binding. Selected peptides' structure and location were studied. Peptides which did bind were modified and formulated with Montanide ISA 70 adjuvant; 17 animals were immunised twice with the formulation. The animals were genotyped by amplifying the BoLA-DRB3.2 gene. Blood samples were taken from 17 cattle on day 43 post-first immunisation for studying the formulation's immunogenicity. The sera were used in ELISA, immunofluorescence, flow cytometry, immunoadsorption and seroneutralisation assays. The A24 Cruzeiro and O1 Campos virus serotypes were used for these assays. The results revealed that even though protein exposure and 3D structure might be different amongst serotypes, the antibodies so produced could inhibit virus entry to cells, thereby showing the selected peptides' in vitro protection-inducing ability.

Major Histocompatibility Complex Class II (DRB3) Genetic Diversity in Spanish Morucha and Colombian Normande Cattle Compared to Taurine and Zebu Populations

Bovine leukocyte antigens (BoLA) have been used as disease markers and immunological traits in cattle due to their primary role in pathogen recognition by the immune system. A higher MHC allele diversity in a population will allow presenting a broader peptide repertoire. However, loss of overall diversity due to domestication process can decrease a population's peptide repertoire. Within the context of zebu and taurine cattle populations, BoLA-DRB3 genetic diversity in Spanish Morucha and Colombian Normande cattle was analyzed and an approach to estimate functional diversity was performed. Sequence-based typing was used for identifying 29, 23, 27, and 28 alleles in Spanish Morucha, Nariño-, Boyacá-, and Cundinamarca-Normande cattle, respectively. These breeds had remarkably low heterozygosity levels and the Hardy-Weinberg principle revealed significant heterozygote deficiency. F_ST and D_A genetic distance showed that Colombian Normande populations had greater variability than other phenotypically homogeneous breeds, such as Holstein. It was also found that Spanish Morucha cattle were strongly differentiated from other cattle breeds. Spanish Morucha had greater divergence in the peptide-binding region regarding other cattle breeds. However, peptide-binding region covariation indicated that the potential peptide repertoire seemed equivalent among cattle breeds. Despite the genetic divergence observed, the extent of the potential peptide repertoire in the cattle populations studied appears to be similar and thus their pathogen recognition potential should be equivalent, suggesting that functional diversity might persist in the face of bottlenecks imposed by domestication and breeding.

Molecular characterization of MHC II DRB3 gene of swamp- and riverine-type water buffaloes

Objective

Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is a set of molecular proteins on the surface of antigen presenting cells encoded by a large gene family which are important parts of the immune system. This study was conducted to convey information on the genetic characteristics of the MHC II DRB3 gene in riverine and swamp buffaloes.

Materials and Methods

Characterization of MHC II DRB3 gene was carried out using polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based assay. Thirty-milliliter milk samples were collected from 10 swamp-type and 10 riverine-type buffaloes. RNA from milk samples were extracted using Trizol and then followed by reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR).

Results

The phylogenetic analysis with 1,000 bootstrap replications clearly showed complex parsimony in MHC II DRB3 gene between 10 riverine- and 10 swamp-type but also confirmed that the samples are similar to Bubalus bubalis. Aligned sequences of the 20 water buffaloes were compared with three other ruminants (Bos taurus, Ovis aries, and Capra hircus) and non-ruminant (Sus scrofa) that serve as an outgroup. MHC sequences from GenBank show that there was an average of 705 identical pairs, with 22 transitional pairs and 30 transversional pairs with a ratio of 0.7.

Conclusion

Based on the molecular data, the current study conforms to other works of literature that this gene is highly polymorphic which can be due to its function in the immune responsiveness and disease resistance. Further study on the immunological response of MHC II DRB3 to infection may elucidate its underlying function and role in the protection against specific disease of animals.

BoLA-DRB3 gene polymorphism and FMD resistance or susceptibility in Wanbei cattle

For the further characterization of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV)-induced foot-and-mouth disease, we investigated the association between polymorphism of BoLA-DRB3 gene and FMD resistance/susceptibility of Wanbei cattle challenged with FMDV. One hundred cattle were challenged with FMDV and exon 2 of BoLA-DRB3 genes was amplified by hemi-nested polymerase chain reaction from asymptomatic animals and from animals with FMD. PCR products were characterized by the RFLP technique using restriction enzymes Hae III. The results revealed extensive polymorphisms, 6 RFLP patterns were identified. By analyzing alleles and genotypic frequencies between healthy and infection with FMD cattle, we found that allele Hae III A was associated with susceptibility to FMD in Wanbei cattle (P < 0.05), whereas Hae III C was associated with resistance to FMD (P < 0.01) and may have a strong protective effect against FMD. Hae IIICC and Hae III BC genotype were associated with resistance to FMD (P < 0.01). By contrast, Hae III AA genotype was associated with susceptibility to FMD (P < 0.01). Sequence analysis show that 89 amino acids were translated in exon 2 of BoLA-DRB3 and 13.70 % of nucleotide mutated, which resulted in 14.61 % of amino acid change. One PKC, one Tyr and one CAMP phosphorylation were increased; the hydrophobicity and secondary structure of proteins produced change after amino acid substitution. These results revealed that Wanbei cattle had the ability of resistance to disease by mutation which result changes of the protein structure to perform the regulation of the cell using different signaling pathways in the long process of choice evolution.

Short Communication: Associations of BoLA alleles DRB3.2*16 and DRB3.2*23 with health-related traits in Holstein bulls

Sharma, B. S., Verschoor, C. P. and Karrow, N. A. 2011. Short communication:Associations of BoLA alleles DRB3.2*16 and DRB3.2*23 with health-related traits in Holstein bulls. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 91: 597–600. The relationships between bovine leukocyte antigen (BoLA) DRB3.2 alleles and health and fertility traits were investigated. A group of 548 Canadian and American Holstein bulls was genotyped for the presence of DRB3.2*16 and DRB3.2*23 alleles using the multi-primer target polymerase chain reaction technique. The traits of interest included somatic cell score (SCS), lactation persistency, daughter fertility (DF), and herd life (HL). Higher frequencies were observed for alleles DRB3.2*16 and DRB3.2*23 in this bull population compared with previous reports. In a comparison-wise level, some significant contrasts were detected; however, no association was detected between the DRB3.2 alleles and SCS. Allele DRB3.2*16 had a favorable effect on HL compared with allele DRB3.2*23. On the other hand, these two alleles had a favorable influence on DF, additionally, individuals carrying both of these two alleles performed better than the individuals carrying either allele. Further investigation is warranted to examine the effects of these alleles on HL and reproduction performance.

Polymorphism of exon 2 of BoLA-DRB3 gene and its relationship with somatic cell score in Beijing Holstein cows

In the present study, the exon 2 and 3' end sequence of intron 1 of BoLA-DRB3 gene of 211 Beijing Holstein cows was amplified and a uniform fragment of 284 bp was obtained. The genetic polymorphism was investigated by PCR-RFLP using two restriction endonucleases HaeIII and BstYI. Seven genotypes were detected by digesting the PCR products with HaeIII. The frequency of AA, AB, AC, AD, BB, BC and BF genotypes was 0.4638, 0.0193, 0.0193, 0.3478, 0.0290, 0.0386 and 0.0822, respectively. Three genotypes were found by digesting the PCR products with BstYI. The frequency of AA, AB and BB genotypes was 0.0569, 0.2844 and 0.6587, respectively. The relationship between the polymorphisms in exon 2 of BoLA-DRB3 gene and somatic cell score (SCS) in Beijing Holstein cows was analyzed by least squares linear model. No significant difference was detected among least squares means of SCS for seven HaeIII-RFLP genotypes (P > 0.05). As for BstYI-RFLP analysis, least squares mean of SCS for AA was significantly lower than that for AB (P < 0.05) or BB (P < 0.05), and no significant difference was detected between AB and BB genotypes (P > 0.05). BstYI AA was the most favorable genotype and BstYI BB was the most unfavorable genotype for mastitis resistance. The information found in the present study is very important for improving mastitis resistance in dairy cattle by marker assisted selection.

Analysis of relationship between bovine lymphocyte antigen DRB3.2 alleles, somatic cell count and milk traits in Iranian Holstein population

The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is a gene complex closely linked to the vertebrate immune system due to its importance in antigen recognition and immune response to pathogens. To improve our understanding of the MHC and disease resistance in dairy cattle, we gathered 5119 test day records of somatic cell count (SCC) and performance traits of 262 Holstein dairy cows to determine whether the DRB region of the MHC contains alleles that are associated with elevated SCC, milk yield, protein and fat percent of milk. To this purpose, genotyping of animals for DRB3 gene was investigated by polymerase chain reaction-based restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) assay. A two-step PCR was carried out so as to amplify a 284 base-pair fragment of exon 2 of the target gene. Second PCR products were treated with three restriction endonuclease enzymes RsaI, BstYI and HaeIII. Twenty-eight BoLA-DRB3 alleles were identified including one novel allele (*40). The results in general are in good accordance with allele frequencies of Holstein cattle populations reported by previous studies. Analyses of associations were modeled based on repeated measurement anova and generalized logistic linear methods for production traits and SCC data, respectively. The results of this study showed a significant relationship between the elevated SCC reflecting an increased probability of occurrence to subclinical mastitis and DRB3.2 allele *8 (p < 0.03). The results also revealed significant positive relationships of alleles*22 (p < 0.01) and allele*11 (p < 0.05) with milk fat percent as well as of alleles*24 (p < 0.03) and *22 (p < 0.05) with protein percent. The present study failed to find any association between milk yield and tested alleles. Because of the lack of consistency among results of similar studies, we suggest further investigations to determine the precise nature of these associations with the high polymorphic bovine MHC region to be performed based on haplotypes.

PCR based RFLP genotyping of bovine lymphocyte antigen DRB3.2 in Iranian Holstein population

Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) class II locus DRB3 was investigated by PCR based restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) assay. A total of 262 Holstein cows participating in the national recording system were sampled from 10 herds. A two-step polymerase chain reaction was carried out in order to amplify a 284 base-pair fragment of exon 2 of the target gene. Second PCR products were treated with three restriction endonucleas enzymes RsaI, BstYI and HaeIII. Digested fragments were analyzed by polyacrylamid gel electrophoresis. Twenty-eight BoLA-DRB3 alleles were identified. Identified alleles are: BoLA-DRB3.2 *3, *6, *7, *8, *9, *10, *11, *12, *13, *14, *15, *16,20, *21, *22, *23, *24, *25, *26, *27, *28, *32, *36, *37, *40, *51, *iaa and *ibb. The BoLA-DRB3.2*40 allele that was observed in this study has not been reported previously. The calculated frequencies were as follows: 2.29, 1.34, 0.19, 14.5, 0.38, 3.05, 12.21, 1.34, 2.29, 1.34, 2.48, 9.16, 0.95, 0.77, 6.68, 9.16, 17.94, 1.15, 0.57, 1.15, 0.95, 0.57, 0.38, 1.91, 0.38, 5.73, 0.19 and 0.95% respectively. The six most frequently observed alleles (BoLA-DRB3.2 *8, *11, *16, *22, *23 and *24) accounted for 69.65% of the alleles in these 10 herds. The results of this study confirm the allelic distribution of six most frequent alleles in Holstein population's worldwide.

Establishment of a sequence-based typing system for BoLA-DRB3 exon 2

A rapid, high-resolution sequence-based typing (SBT) system for BoLA-DRB3 exon 2 was developed. Amplification of the entire exon was achieved by a fully nested PCR with locus-specific primers and sequencing was performed directly on the PCR product. Heterozygous sequence data were obtained by automated sequence analysis of both alleles. Forward and reverse sequence data were assembled to improve identification of all heterozygous positions. Specific software (Haplofinder, Roslin Institute Software, Roslin, UK) was designed for allele assignment. Fifty-four females from a Holstein-Charolais resource herd cross, their 12 sires and five unrelated Holstein animals were used to establish the method. In parallel, these animals were typed by DRB3 polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) to confirm the results. Polymerase chain reaction-RFLP analysis defined 15 known types in the 71 animals, while SBT of the same animals showed 19 known alleles. Subsequently, 72 more animals from the same resource herd were typed by the established SBT method without PCR-RFLP typing. This SBT strategy and the Haplofinder software can be applied to the analysis of any polymorphic locus for which suitable locus-specific primers and allelic sequences are available.