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Differential Expression Pattern of Retroviral Envelope Gene in the Equine Placenta

Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) are proviral phases of exogenous retroviruses, which have coevolved with vertebrate genomes for millions of years. The conservation of ERV genes throughout evolution suggests their beneficial effects on their hosts' survival. An example of such positive selection...

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Autores principales: Stefanetti, Valentina, Pascucci, Luisa, Wilsher, Sandra, Cappelli, Katia, Capomaccio, Stefano, Reale, Lara, Passamonti, Fabrizio, Coletti, Mauro, Crociati, Martina, Monaci, Maurizio, Marenzoni, Maria Luisa
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
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Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8298818/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34307531
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2021.693416
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author Stefanetti, Valentina
Pascucci, Luisa
Wilsher, Sandra
Cappelli, Katia
Capomaccio, Stefano
Reale, Lara
Passamonti, Fabrizio
Coletti, Mauro
Crociati, Martina
Monaci, Maurizio
Marenzoni, Maria Luisa
author_facet Stefanetti, Valentina
Pascucci, Luisa
Wilsher, Sandra
Cappelli, Katia
Capomaccio, Stefano
Reale, Lara
Passamonti, Fabrizio
Coletti, Mauro
Crociati, Martina
Monaci, Maurizio
Marenzoni, Maria Luisa
author_sort Stefanetti, Valentina
collection PubMed
description Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) are proviral phases of exogenous retroviruses, which have coevolved with vertebrate genomes for millions of years. The conservation of ERV genes throughout evolution suggests their beneficial effects on their hosts' survival. An example of such positive selection is demonstrated by the syncytin gene, which encodes a protein with affinity for various mammalian placentas that is involved in the formation of syncytiotrophoblasts. Although the horse has an epitheliochorial placenta, in which the fetal trophoblasts are simply apposed to the intact uterine epithelium, we have previously demonstrated that the equine ERV (EqERV) env RNA is unexpectedly expressed in placental tissue. In the present study, we investigated the mRNA expression pattern of the EqERV env gene in different parts of the equine placenta, to gain more insight into its putative role in the fetal–maternal relationship. To this end, we used reverse transcription–quantitative PCR (RT–qPCR) and in situ hybridization assays to analyze different target areas of the equine placenta. The retroviral env gene is expressed in the equine placenta, even though there is no syncytium or erosion of the uterine endometrium. The gene is also expressed in all the sampled areas, although with some quantitative differences. We suggest that these differences are attributable to variations in the density, height, and degree of morphological complexity of the chorionic villi forming the microcotyledons. The involvement of the EqERV env gene in different functional pathways affecting the fetus–mother relationship can be hypothesized.
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spelling pubmed-82988182021-07-24 Differential Expression Pattern of Retroviral Envelope Gene in the Equine Placenta Stefanetti, Valentina Pascucci, Luisa Wilsher, Sandra Cappelli, Katia Capomaccio, Stefano Reale, Lara Passamonti, Fabrizio Coletti, Mauro Crociati, Martina Monaci, Maurizio Marenzoni, Maria Luisa Front Vet Sci Veterinary Science Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) are proviral phases of exogenous retroviruses, which have coevolved with vertebrate genomes for millions of years. The conservation of ERV genes throughout evolution suggests their beneficial effects on their hosts' survival. An example of such positive selection is demonstrated by the syncytin gene, which encodes a protein with affinity for various mammalian placentas that is involved in the formation of syncytiotrophoblasts. Although the horse has an epitheliochorial placenta, in which the fetal trophoblasts are simply apposed to the intact uterine epithelium, we have previously demonstrated that the equine ERV (EqERV) env RNA is unexpectedly expressed in placental tissue. In the present study, we investigated the mRNA expression pattern of the EqERV env gene in different parts of the equine placenta, to gain more insight into its putative role in the fetal–maternal relationship. To this end, we used reverse transcription–quantitative PCR (RT–qPCR) and in situ hybridization assays to analyze different target areas of the equine placenta. The retroviral env gene is expressed in the equine placenta, even though there is no syncytium or erosion of the uterine endometrium. The gene is also expressed in all the sampled areas, although with some quantitative differences. We suggest that these differences are attributable to variations in the density, height, and degree of morphological complexity of the chorionic villi forming the microcotyledons. The involvement of the EqERV env gene in different functional pathways affecting the fetus–mother relationship can be hypothesized. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-07-09 /pmc/articles/PMC8298818/ /pubmed/34307531 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2021.693416 Text en Copyright © 2021 Stefanetti, Pascucci, Wilsher, Cappelli, Capomaccio, Reale, Passamonti, Coletti, Crociati, Monaci and Marenzoni. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Veterinary Science
Stefanetti, Valentina
Pascucci, Luisa
Wilsher, Sandra
Cappelli, Katia
Capomaccio, Stefano
Reale, Lara
Passamonti, Fabrizio
Coletti, Mauro
Crociati, Martina
Monaci, Maurizio
Marenzoni, Maria Luisa
Differential Expression Pattern of Retroviral Envelope Gene in the Equine Placenta
title Differential Expression Pattern of Retroviral Envelope Gene in the Equine Placenta
title_full Differential Expression Pattern of Retroviral Envelope Gene in the Equine Placenta
title_fullStr Differential Expression Pattern of Retroviral Envelope Gene in the Equine Placenta
title_full_unstemmed Differential Expression Pattern of Retroviral Envelope Gene in the Equine Placenta
title_short Differential Expression Pattern of Retroviral Envelope Gene in the Equine Placenta
title_sort differential expression pattern of retroviral envelope gene in the equine placenta
topic Veterinary Science
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8298818/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34307531
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2021.693416
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