title: Two splice variants of the bovine  lactoferrin gene identified in Staphylococcus aureus  isolated from mastitis in dairy cattle.
abstract: Bovine  lactoferrin (bLF) is a member of the transferrin family; it plays an important  role in the innate immune response. We identified novel splice variants of the bLF gene in mastitis-infected and healthy cows. Reverse  transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and clone sequencing analysis  were used to screen the splice variants of the bLF gene in the mammary  gland, spleen and liver tissues. One main transcript corresponding to the bLF reference sequence was found in three tissues in both healthy and  mastitis-infected cows. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis showed that the  expression levels of the LF gene's main transcript were not  significantly different in tissues from healthy versus mastitis-infected cows.  However, the new splice variant, LF-AS2, which has the exon-skipping  alternative splicing pattern, was only identified in mammary glands infected  with Staphylococcus aureus. Sequencing analysis showed that the new splice  variant was 251 bp in length, including exon 1, part of exon 2, part of exon  16, and exon 17. We conclude that bLF may play a role in resistance to  mastitis through alternative splicing mechanisms.
authors.affiliation: Center of Dairy Cattle Research, Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Jinan, PR China. huangjinm@sina.com
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Z Y
authors.initials: ZY
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Z H
authors.initials: ZH
authors.lastname: Ju
authors.forename: C F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Q L
authors.initials: QL
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Q L
authors.initials: QL
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.forename: S Q
authors.initials: SQ
authors.lastname: Hang
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Zhong
mesh_terms: D017398:Alternative Splicing; D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D005091:Exons; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D007781:Lactoferrin / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D008099:Liver / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D008321:Mammary Glands, Animal / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology; D008414:Mastitis, Bovine / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000382:microbiology; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013154:Spleen / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D007781:Lactoferrin