Gene expression in the medulla following oral infection of cattle with bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

Abstract

The identification of variations in gene expression in response to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) may help to elucidate the mechanisms of neuropathology and prion replication and discover biomarkers for disease. In this study, genes that are differentially expressed in the caudal medulla tissues of animals infected with different doses of PrP(BSE) at 12 and 45 mo post infection were compared using array containing 24,000 oligonucleotide probes. Data analysis identified 966 differentially expressed (DE) genes between control and infected animals. Genes identified in at least two of four experiments (control versus 1-g infected animals at 12 and 45-mo; control versus 100-g infected animals at 12 and 45 mo) were considered to be the genes that may be associated with BSE disease. From the 176 DE genes associated with BSE, 84 had functions described in the Gene Ontology (GO) database. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis of 14 genes revealed that prion infection may cause dysfunction of several different networks, including extracellular matrix (ECM), cell adhesion, neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction, complement and coagulation cascades, MAPK signaling, neurodegenerative disorder, SNARE interactions in vesicular transport, and the transforming growth factor (TGF) beta signaling pathways. The identification of DE genes will contribute to a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms of neuropathology in bovine species. Additional studies on larger number of animals are in progress in our laboratory to investigate the roles of these DE genes in pathogenesis of BSE.

• Authors: Luciane M Almeida, Urmila Basu, Bina Khaniya, Masaaki Taniguchi, John L Williams, Stephen S Moore, Le Luo Guan
• Journal: Journal of toxicology and environmental health. Part A (J Toxicol Environ Health A) Vol. 74 Issue 2-4 Pg. 110-26 ( 2011) ISSN: 1528-7394 [Print] England
• PMID: 21218340 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Calcium-Binding Proteins
• PrPC Proteins

Topics

• Animals
• Biological Transport (genetics)
• Calcium-Binding Proteins (genetics)
• Cattle
• Cell Adhesion (genetics)
• Encephalopathy, Bovine Spongiform (genetics, metabolism)
• Extracellular Matrix (genetics)
• Gene Expression Profiling (veterinary)
• Genes (genetics)
• Male
• Medulla Oblongata (metabolism)
• Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis (veterinary)
• PrPC Proteins (metabolism)
• Protein Binding (genetics)
• Protein Folding
• Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction