Project description:Development and progression of myxomatous mitral valve disease (MMVD) in domestic dogs is unpredictable and pathobiology still unclear. The American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) perceived that mayor improvement in management of diseased dogs would be timely diagnosis, especially detection of transition from MMVD stage B1 into B2. Thus, in this study we compared by tandem mass tag (TMT) protocol and mass spectrometry (MS) acquired quantitative proteome profiles of serum collected from healthy (control) (N=12) and dogs diagnosed with different stages of naturally occurring MMVD: B1 (N=13), B2 (N=12) and C (N=13). Prior to proteomic analysis dogs were distinguished into experimental categories based on echocardiography results. Serum biochemistry and concentrations of three cardiac biomarkers (galectin-3, suppression of tumorigenicity 2 and asymmetric dimethylarginine) were performed to obtain better characterization of healthy/control group and MMVD cases.
Project description:Selective breeding of domestic dogs has generated diverse breeds often optimized for performing specialized tasks. Despite the heritability of breed-typical behavioral traits, identification of causal loci has proven challenging due to the complexity of canine population structure. We overcome longstanding difficulties in identifying genetic drivers of canine behavior by developing an innovative framework for understanding relationships between breeds and the behaviors that define them utilizing genetic data for over 4,000 domestic, semi-feral and wild canids and behavioral survey data for over 46,000 dogs. We identify ten major canine genetic lineages and their behavioral correlates and show that breed diversification is predominantly driven by non-coding regulatory variation. We determine that lineage-associated genes converge in neurodevelopmental co-expression networks, identifying a sheepdog-associated enrichment for interrelated axon guidance functions. This work presents a scaffold for canine diversification that positions the domestic dog as an unparalleled system for revealing the genetic origins of behavioral diversity.
Project description:Lyme borreliosis (LB) is a common infection of domestic dogs in areas where there is enzootic transmission of the agent Borrelia burgdorferi. Immunodiagnostic assays for canine antibodies to B. burgdorferi are usually based on whole-cell preparations as substrate and, consequently, interpretation of results is confounded by antibody cross-reactivity between borrelial antigens and those of other bacterial species. To more broadly characterize the antibody responses to B. burgdorferi infection and to assess the diversity in those responses between individual dogs, we examined sera from 32 adult, colony-bred beagle dogs that were experimentally infected with B. burgdorferi through tick bites and compared those on a protein microarray with sera from uninfected dogs in their antibody reactivities to various recombinant chromosome- and plasmid-encoded B. burgdorferi proteins, including 24 of the serotype-defining OspC proteins of North America. The profiles of immunogenic proteins for the dogs were largely similar to those for humans and natural reservoir rodents. These included the decorin-binding protein DbpB, BBA36, BBA57, BBA64, fibronectin-binding protein BBK32, VlsE, FlaB and other flagellar structural proteins, Erp proteins, Bdr proteins, and all of the OspC proteins. In addition, the canine sera bound to the presumptive lipoproteins BBB14 and BB0844, which infrequently elicited antibodies in humans or rodents. Although the beagle, like most other domestic dog breeds, has a small effective population size and features extensive linkage disequilibrium, the group of animals here demonstrated diversity in antibody responses by measures of antibody levels and specificities for conserved proteins, like DbpB, and polymorphic ones, like OspC.
Project description:Lyme borreliosis (LB) is a common infection of domestic dogs in areas where there is enzootic transmission of the agent Borrelia burgdorferi. Immunodiagnostic assays for canine antibodies to B. burgdorferi are usually based on whole-cell preparations as substrate and, consequently, interpretation of results is confounded by antibody cross-reactivity between borrelial antigens and those of other bacterial species. To more broadly characterize the antibody responses to B. burgdorferi infection and to assess the diversity in those responses between individual dogs, we examined sera from 32 adult, colony-bred beagle dogs that were experimentally infected with B. burgdorferi through tick bites and compared those on a protein microarray with sera from uninfected dogs in their antibody reactivities to various recombinant chromosome- and plasmid-encoded B. burgdorferi proteins, including 24 of the serotype-defining OspC proteins of North America. The profiles of immunogenic proteins for the dogs were largely similar to those for humans and natural reservoir rodents. These included the decorin-binding protein DbpB, BBA36, BBA57, BBA64, fibronectin-binding protein BBK32, VlsE, FlaB and other flagellar structural proteins, Erp proteins, Bdr proteins, and all of the OspC proteins. In addition, the canine sera bound to the presumptive lipoproteins BBB14 and BB0844, which infrequently elicited antibodies in humans or rodents. Although the beagle, like most other domestic dog breeds, has a small effective population size and features extensive linkage disequilibrium, the group of animals here demonstrated diversity in antibody responses by measures of antibody levels and specificities for conserved proteins, like DbpB, and polymorphic ones, like OspC.
Project description:Transcriptional characteristics of genes in the midgut of domestic silkworms after 24 h exposure to phoxim through whole-genome oligonucleotide microarray. Transcription profiling experiments, phoxim-treated midgut (samples) were analyzed. Dual-channel experiments, with test samples labeled by Cy5 and control samples labeled by Cy3. Three Biological replicate. No dye-swaps.
Project description:Chemical signals are essential for communication between living organisms. Dogs possess two sensory organs enabling chemical communication; the main olfactory system and the vomeronasal organ (VNO). Besides, contact chemoreception is also pertinent, by which non-volatile molecules, including but not limited to proteins, are recognized as chemical signals. However, non-volatile chemical signals have been sparsely studied in dogs. Therefore, we aimed to examine the urinary proteins of female domestic dogs during estrus and anestrus phases to detect and identify such non-volatile chemical signals.
Project description:Transcriptional profiling of dog muscle tissue comparing control dogs. tested, genomewide, for genes differentially expressed in muscle between the escapers and the affected dogs. Using Agilent mRNA SurePrint Canine arrays, we compared muscle gene expression of the two escapers, four affected, and four normal dogs at age 2 years.
Project description:Gastrointestinal (GI) mucus is continuously secreted and lines the entire length of the GI tract. Essential for health, it keeps the noxious luminal content away from the epithelium and propels forward the digesta. The aim of our study was to characterize the composition and structures of mucus throughout the various GI segments in dog. Mucus from the stomach, small intestine (duodenum, jejunum, ileum), and large intestine (cecum, proximal and distal colon) was collected from 5 dogs. pH and water content of GI mucus and digesta were analyzed. Composition of all GI-tract segments from a domestic and a laboratory dog was determined by label-free global proteomics. A colonic-focussed composition analysis with TMT-labelled proteomics was used on jenunal and proximal and distal colonic mucus samples from 3 laboratory and 1 domestic dog. Finally, the composition of jejunal and colonic mucus samples of 3 laboratory and 1 domestic dog was evaluated with lipidomics and metabolomics. Structural properties were investigated using cryoSEM and rheology. The proteome was similar across the different GI segments. The highest abundant secreted gel-forming mucin in the gastric mucus was mucin 5AC, whether mucin 2 had highest abundance in the intestinal mucus. Lipid and metabolite abundance was generally higher in the jejunal mucus than the colonic mucus. In conclusion, the mucus is a highly viscous and hydrated material. The proteins, lipids and metabolites were similar throughout the GI tract, although abundances depended on location. These data provide an important baseline for future studies on human and canine intestinal diseases and the dog model in drug absorption.