» Articles » PMID: 28674231

Molecular Characterization and Expression of the GDF9 Gene in New Zealand White Rabbits

Overview
Journal J Genet
Specialty Genetics
Date 2017 Jul 5
PMID 28674231
Citations 1
Authors
Affiliations
Soon will be listed here.
Abstract

Growth differentiation factor 9 (GDF9) has been shown to be involved in regulating follicular development and reproduction in many mammalian species. However, related information about the effect of the GDF9 gene on reproductive traits of New Zealand white rabbits was rarely reported. In this study, rabbits were distributed into two groups (poor and prolific offspring productions) and cloning and quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) were employed to characterize the rabbit GDF9 gene. By cloning, 2515-bp genomic DNA and 1359-bp cDNA sequences were obtained. Comparing the two cDNA sequences, three potential mutation sites (C.539C>T,C.562G>C and C.718C>G) in exon 2 of the GDF9 gene were found, and the corresponding amino acids changed (P.183T>M, P.188E>Q and P.240L>V). The qPCR results revealed that GDF9 was not tissue-specific, but rather expressed in all collected tissues. The expression level of the GDF9 gene was highest in the ovary, and was significantly increased (P< 0.05) compared with the other tissues. The liver had the second highest expression, and the heart and spleen had the least expression in New Zealand white rabbits. In the prolific group, the expression quantity of the GDF9 gene significantly increased (P < 0.05) in the heart, spleen, ovary, liver and uterus (P < 0.01) than the other groups. The amino acid sequence identities of human, sheep, goat, mouse, cattle, pig, cat, donkey, Nancy Ma's night monkey and olive baboon were 72, 68, 69, 66, 69, 71, 67, 73, 75 and 73%, respectively. Bioinformatics analysis was executed, and a random coil was determined to be the primary secondary structure.

Citing Articles

Transcriptome analysis of differentially expressed genes in rabbits' ovaries by digital gene-expression profiling.

Huang T, Wang Y, Xue M, Feng X, Sun C, Wang A Genes Genomics. 2018; 40(7):687-700.

PMID: 29934810 DOI: 10.1007/s13258-018-0651-y.

References
1.
Guo Q, Gao Z, Zhao L, He J, Dong C . Expression of growth differentiation factor 9 (GDF9), ALK5, and claudin-11 in adult alpaca testis. Acta Histochem. 2012; 115(1):16-21. DOI: 10.1016/j.acthis.2012.02.007. View

2.
Chu M, Yang J, Feng T, Cao G, Fang L, Di R . GDF9 as a candidate gene for prolificacy of Small Tail Han sheep. Mol Biol Rep. 2010; 38(8):5199-204. DOI: 10.1007/s11033-010-0670-5. View

3.
Barzegari A, Atashpaz S, Ghabili K, Nemati Z, Rustaei M, Azarbaijani R . Polymorphisms in GDF9 and BMP15 associated with fertility and ovulation rate in Moghani and Ghezel sheep in Iran. Reprod Domest Anim. 2009; 45(4):666-9. DOI: 10.1111/j.1439-0531.2008.01327.x. View

4.
McPherron A, Lee S . GDF-3 and GDF-9: two new members of the transforming growth factor-beta superfamily containing a novel pattern of cysteines. J Biol Chem. 1993; 268(5):3444-9. View

5.
Liu L, Ge W . Growth differentiation factor 9 and its spatiotemporal expression and regulation in the zebrafish ovary. Biol Reprod. 2006; 76(2):294-302. DOI: 10.1095/biolreprod.106.054668. View