title: A large expansion of the HSFY gene family in cattle shows dispersion across Yq and testis-specific expression.
abstract: Heat shock transcription factor, Y-linked (HSFY) is a member of the heat shock transcriptional factor (HSF) family that is found in multiple copies on the Y chromosome and conserved in a number of species. Its function still remains unknown but in humans it is thought to play a role in spermatogenesis. Through real time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analyses we determined that the HSFY family is largely expanded in cattle (∼70 copies) compared with human (2 functional copies, 4 HSFY-similar copies). Unexpectedly, we found that it does not vary among individual bulls as a copy number variant (CNV). Using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) we found that the copies are dispersed along the long arm of the Y chromosome (Yq). HSFY expression in cattle appears restricted to the testis and its mRNA correlates positively with mRNA markers of spermatogonial and spermatocyte cells (UCHL1 and TRPC2, respectively) which suggests that HSFY is expressed (at least in part) in early germ cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Christine K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Hamilton
authors.forename: Tamas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Revay
authors.forename: Robin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Domander
authors.forename: Laura A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Favetta
authors.forename: W Allan
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: King
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002138:Calibration; D002417:Cattle / Q000235:genetics*; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D004587:Electrophoresis, Agar Gel; D005260:Female; D018628:Gene Dosage / Q000235:genetics; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D000076249:Heat Shock Transcription Factors; D006801:Humans; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family / Q000235:genetics*; D009928:Organ Specificity / Q000235:genetics; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013737:Testis / Q000378:metabolism*; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D014998:Y Chromosome / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D000076249:Heat Shock Transcription Factors; D014157:Transcription Factors