Identical amyloid precursor proteins in two breeds of chickens which differ in susceptibility to develop amyloid arthropathy.
Chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) can suffer from AA amyloidosis featuring the joints as major targets of amyloid accumulation. Analysis of post-mortem recordings from commercial chickens revealed that amyloid arthropathy frequently occurred in brown layer chickens, but never in white layers. The suspected higher susceptibility of brown layers was confirmed experimentally by inducing amyloidosis with an arthropathic and amyloidogenic strain of E. faecalis. Sequence analysis of cDNA coding for SAA, the amyloid precursor protein, revealed that the SAA proteins are identical in both breeds, although some nucleotide differences existed in the untranslated regions of the mRNAs. The chicken SAA gene was found to be a single copy gene which comprises 4 exons. The first of these exons apparently occupies a conserved position and is not translated. Investigation of the affected joints using in situ hybridization demonstrated local SAA gene expression. It is concluded that the likelihood of an E. faecalis induced arthritis to progress to amyloidosis is breed-dependent, but is not a consequence of a more amyloidogenic SAA.
Ovelgönne
J H
JH
Department of Veterinary Pathology, Utrecht University, The Netherlands. hans.ovelgonne@rivm.nl
Landman
W J
WJ
Gruys
E
E
Gielkens
A L
AL
Peeters
B P
BP
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000682:Amyloid / Q000032:analysis; D000686:Amyloidosis / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D000818:Animals; D001170:Arthritis, Infectious / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D001483:Base Sequence; D002645:Chickens / Q000235:genetics*; D004372:Ducks; D013293:Enterococcus faecalis; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011201:Poultry Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D000685:Serum Amyloid A Protein / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D013045:Species Specificity; D014337:Trout
D000682:Amyloid; D000685:Serum Amyloid A Protein