title: Duplicated Spot 14 genes in the chicken: characterization and identification of polymorphisms associated with abdominal fat traits.
abstract: In mammals, thyroid hormone responsive Spot 14 (THRSP) is a small acidic protein that is predominately expressed in lipogenic tissue (i.e., liver, abdominal fat and the mammary gland). This gene has been postulated to play a role in lipogenesis, since it responds to thyroid hormone stimulation, high glucose levels and it is localized to a chromosomal region implicated in obesity. In this paper, we report the identification and characterization of duplicated polymorphic paralogs of Spot 14 in the chicken, THRSPalpha and THRSPbeta. Despite low similarity in amino acid (aa) sequence between chickens and mammals, other properties of Spot 14 (i.e., pI, subcellular localization, transcriptional control and functional domains) appear to be highly conserved. Furthermore, a synteny group of THRSP and its flanking genes [NADH dehydrogenase (NDUFC2) and glucosyltransferase (ALG8)] appears to be conserved among chickens, humans, mice and rats. Polymorphic alleles, involving a variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR), were discovered in the putative protein coding region of the duplicated chicken THRSPalpha (9 bp) and THRSPbeta (6 or 12 bp) genes. Our study shows that the THRSPalpha locus is associated with abdominal fat traits in a broilerxLeghorn resource population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal and Food Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19176, USA.
authors.forename: Xiaofei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Wilfrid
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Carre
authors.forename: Huaijun
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Susan J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Lamont
authors.forename: Larry A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Cogburn
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000378:metabolism; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002645:Chickens / Q000235:genetics*; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D005796:Genes / Q000235:genetics; D020131:Genes, Duplicate / Q000235:genetics*; D005838:Genotype; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D020033:Protein Isoforms / Q000235:genetics; D011506:Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014157:Transcription Factors
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D020033:Protein Isoforms; D011506:Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; C051065:THRSP protein, human; D014157:Transcription Factors