title: Molecular Characterization and Expression Analysis of Creatine Kinase Muscle (CK-M) Gene in Horse.
abstract: Since ancient days, domestic horses have been closely associated with human civilization. Today, horse racing is an important industry. Various genes involved in energy production and muscle contraction are differentially regulated during a race. Among them, creatine kinase (CK) is well known for its regulation of energy preservation in animal cells. CK is an iso-enzyme, encoded by different genes and expressed in skeletal muscle, heart, brain and leucocytes. We confirmed that the expression of CK-M significantly increased in the blood after a 30 minute exercise period, while no considerable change was observed in skeletal muscle. Analysis of various tissues showed an ubiquitous expression of the CK-M gene in the horse; CK-M mRNA expression was predominant in the skeletal muscle and the cardiac muscle compared to other tissues. An evolutionary study by synonymous and non-synonymous single nucleotide polymorphism ratio of CK-M gene revealed a positive selection that was conserved in the horse. More studies are warranted in order to develop the expression of CK-M gene as a biomarker in blood of thoroughbred horses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Science, College of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Pusan National University, Miryang 627-702, Korea ; Department of Equine Sciences, Sorabol College, Gyeongju 780-711, Korea .
authors.forename: Kyong-Tak
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Do
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Science, College of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Pusan National University, Miryang 627-702, Korea.
authors.forename: Hyun-Woo
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Science, College of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Pusan National University, Miryang 627-702, Korea.
authors.forename: Narayanasamy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Badrinath
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Science, College of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Pusan National University, Miryang 627-702, Korea.
authors.forename: Jeong-Woong
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Science, College of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Pusan National University, Miryang 627-702, Korea.
authors.forename: Jae-Young
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: BK21+, Department of Cogno-Mechatronics Engineering, Pusan National University, Busan 609-735, Korea .
authors.forename: Young-Hwa
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Biotechnology, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju 561-756, Korea .
authors.forename: Hak-Kyo
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Biotechnology, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju 561-756, Korea .
authors.forename: Ki-Duk
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Science, College of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Pusan National University, Miryang 627-702, Korea.
authors.forename: Byung-Wook
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Cho
keywords: Biomarker; Creatine Kinase Muscle; Exercise; Horse; Quantitative-polymerase Chain Reaction