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Title: IDENTIFICATION OF POLYMORPHISMS IN NON-CODING REGIONS OF THE OVINE PRNP GENE

Author
item Green, Benedict - Ben
item Clawson, Michael - Mike
item Heaton, Michael - Mike
item Chitko-Mckown, Carol
item Fox, James
item Laegreid, William

Submitted to: Research Workers in Animal Diseases Conference Proceedings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/1/2004
Publication Date: 11/1/2004
Citation: Green, B.T., Clawson, M.L., Heaton, M.P., Chitko Mckown, C.G., Fox, J.M., Laegreid, W.W. 2004. Identification of polymorphisms in non-coding regions of the ovine PRNP gene [abstract]. Research Workers in Animal Diseases Conference. p. 90.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Sequence polymorphisms within the coding sequence of the Ovis aries prion gene (PRNP) are associated with susceptibility or resistance to the neurodegenerative disease scrapie. However, polymorphisms in the non-coding regions are incompletely characterized. When the ovine PRNP genomic sequence is queried against the NCBI BLAST database, 78 ovine sequences with 98% or greater identity are retrieved, and over 90% of these sequences align with the coding region of exon 3. This finding indicates a paucity of data on sequence variation elsewhere in the PRNP gene. Consequently, we sequenced four, 1000 bp regions of the PRNP gene targeting exon 1, exon 2, intron 2 and the 3' untranslated region of exon 3. Methods: Primer sequences were designed from the GenBank reference sequence U67922 and used to amplify DNA from animals in the MARC Sheep Diversity Panel version 1.1. This panel consists of DNA from 90 individuals representative of 9 breeds: MARC Composite III, Dorper, Dorset, Finnsheep, Katahdin, Suffolk, Texel, Rambouillet, and Romanov. Results/Discussion: Twenty nine SNPs and one insertion/deletion were identified in the non-coding regions of the ovine PRNP gene. Two SNPs were identified immediately 5' of exon 1. One SNP each was identified in the non-coding exons 1 and 2. Twelve SNPs were identified in introns 1 and 2, and thirteen SNPs were observed in the 3' untranslated region of exon 3. This study has documented additional sequence variation in a limited scan of the non-coding regions of the ovine PRNP gene.