Dataset Information

Novel insights into the bovine polled phenotype and horn ontogenesis in Bovidae.

ABSTRACT: Despite massive research efforts, the molecular etiology of bovine polledness and the developmental pathways involved in horn ontogenesis are still poorly understood. In a recent article, we provided evidence for the existence of at least two different alleles at the Polled locus and identified candidate mutations for each of them. None of these mutations was located in known coding or regulatory regions, thus adding to the complexity of understanding the molecular basis of polledness. We confirm previous results here and exhaustively identify the causative mutation for the Celtic allele (PC) and four candidate mutations for the Friesian allele (PF). We describe a previously unreported eyelash-and-eyelid phenotype associated with regular polledness, and present unique histological and gene expression data on bovine horn bud differentiation in fetuses affected by three different horn defect syndromes, as well as in wild-type controls. We propose the ectopic expression of a lincRNA in PC/p horn buds as a probable cause of horn bud agenesis. In addition, we provide evidence for an involvement of OLIG2, FOXL2 and RXFP2 in horn bud differentiation, and draw a first link between bovine, ovine and caprine Polled loci. Our results represent a first and important step in understanding the genetic pathways and key process involved in horn bud differentiation in Bovidae.

SUBMITTER: Allais-Bonnet A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3661542 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Novel insights into the bovine polled phenotype and horn ontogenesis in Bovidae.

Allais-Bonnet Aurélie A Grohs Cécile C Medugorac Ivica I Krebs Stefan S Djari Anis A Graf Alexander A Fritz Sébastien S Seichter Doris D Baur Aurélia A Russ Ingolf I Bouet Stéphan S Rothammer Sophie S Wahlberg Per P Esquerré Diane D Hoze Chris C Boussaha Mekki M Weiss Bernard B Thépot Dominique D Fouilloux Marie-Noëlle MN Rossignol Marie-Noëlle MN van Marle-Köster Este E Hreiðarsdóttir Gunnfríður Elín GE Barbey Sarah S Dozias Dominique D Cobo Emilie E Reversé Patrick P Catros Olivier O Marchand Jean-Luc JL Soulas Pascal P Roy Pierre P Marquant-Leguienne Brigitte B Le Bourhis Daniel D Clément Laetitia L Salas-Cortes Laura L Venot Eric E Pannetier Maëlle M Phocas Florence F Klopp Christophe C Rocha Dominique D Fouchet Michel M Journaux Laurent L Bernard-Capel Carine C Ponsart Claire C Eggen André A Blum Helmut H Gallard Yves Y Boichard Didier D Pailhoux Eric E Capitan Aurélien A

PloS one 20130522 5

Despite massive research efforts, the molecular etiology of bovine polledness and the developmental pathways involved in horn ontogenesis are still poorly understood. In a recent article, we provided evidence for the existence of at least two different alleles at the Polled locus and identified candidate mutations for each of them. None of these mutations was located in known coding or regulatory regions, thus adding to the complexity of understanding the molecular basis of polledness. We confir ...[more]

PMID: 23717440

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Project description:Developmental mechanisms play an important role in determining the costs, limits, and evolutionary consequences of phenotypic plasticity. One issue central to these claims is the metaphor of developmental “decoupling,” where alternate morphs result from evolutionarily independent developmental pathways. We test this assumption through a microarray study that explores differences in gene expression between alternate morphs relative to differences between sexes, a classic example of developmental decoupling. We then examine whether morph-biased genes are less conserved, relative to morph-shared genes, as predicted if developmental decoupling relaxes pleiotropic constraints on divergence. We focus on the developing horns and brains of two species of horned beetles with spectacular sexual- and morph-dimorphism in the expression of horns and fighting behavior. We find that patterns of gene expression were as divergent between morphs as they were between sexes. However, overall patterns of gene expression were also highly correlated across morphs and sexes. Morph-biased genes were more evolutionarily divergent, suggesting a role of relaxed pleiotropic constraints or relaxed selection. Together these results suggest that alternate morphs are somewhat developmentally decoupled, and that this decoupling has significant evolutionary consequences. However, alternative morphs may not be as developmentally decoupled as sometimes assumed and such hypotheses of development should be revisited and refined. We compared gene expression in three focal epidermal tissues (head, prothorax, legs) relative to a "control" tissue (dorsal abdominal epidermis) without any outgrowths. We also surveyed gene expression in the brain, relative to ganglionic neural tissue. We compared such patterns of gene expression between two male morphs (horned, fighter and hornless, sneaker males) and between males and females. We focused our array analyses (N = 48 arrays) on Onthophagus taurus (the species for which the array was designed), but also ran 19 arrays on thoracic tissue of Onthophagus nigriventris, a species which expresses thoracic horns as adults (O. taurus expresses head horns). Finally, we included a small subset of arrays (N = 4) directly hybridizing head epidermis tissue of O. taurus male morphs to validate our overall estimates of morph-biased expression. For more detail, refer to Snell-Rood et al. 2010, Evolution.

Dataset Information

Novel insights into the bovine polled phenotype and horn ontogenesis in Bovidae.

Publications

Novel insights into the bovine polled phenotype and horn ontogenesis in Bovidae.

Similar Datasets

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