Molecular characterization of porcine NECD, SNRPN and UBE3A genes and imprinting status in the skeletal muscle of neonate pigs

Mol Biol Rep. 2012 Oct;39(10):9415-22. doi: 10.1007/s11033-012-1806-6. Epub 2012 Jun 19.

Abstract

Imprinted genes are expressed monoallelically depending on their parental origin, and play important roles in embryo survival and postnatal growth regulation. In this study, we characterized the porcine NECD (necdin), SNRPN (small nuclear ribonucleoprotein polypeptide N) and UBE3A (UBE3A ubiquitin protein ligase E3A) genes, analyzed their expression in nine tissues including liver, lung, small intestine, skeletal muscle, heart, kidney, spleen, inguinal lymph nodes and fat, and also examined their imprinting status in the skeletal muscle of neonate pigs. Results indicated that these three genes were highly homologous between pigs and cattle, being 95.02 % in nucleotide and 99.17 % in amino acid with the cattle SNRPN gene, and 96.46 % in nucleotide and 98.63 % in amino acid with the cattle UBE3A gene, respectively. The three genes were expressed in all the tissues investigated. Three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the coding region of these genes, i.e. g.263G>C, g.402T>C and g.340A>G for porcine NECD, SNRPN and UBE3A genes, respectively, were revealed; and imprinting analysis with which indicated that, in the skeletal muscle of neonate pigs, both NECD and SNRPN were maternally imprinted, while UBE3A was not imprinted.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Animals, Newborn
  • Base Sequence
  • Genomic Imprinting*
  • Muscle, Skeletal / metabolism*
  • Nerve Tissue Proteins / genetics*
  • Nerve Tissue Proteins / metabolism
  • Nuclear Proteins / genetics*
  • Nuclear Proteins / metabolism
  • Organ Specificity
  • Phylogeny
  • Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA
  • Sus scrofa / genetics*
  • Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases / genetics*
  • Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases / metabolism
  • snRNP Core Proteins / genetics*
  • snRNP Core Proteins / metabolism

Substances

  • Nerve Tissue Proteins
  • Nuclear Proteins
  • necdin
  • snRNP Core Proteins
  • Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases