Variation in salivary and pancreatic alpha-amylase genes in Italian horse breeds

The dietary demand of the modern horse relies on high-cereal feeding and limited forage compared with natural grazing conditions, predisposing the horse to several important diseases. Salivary and pancreatic alpha-amylases (coded by AMY1 and AMY2 genes, respectively) play a crucial role in carbohydr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of heredity 2014-05, Vol.105 (3), p.429-435
Main Authors: Coizet, Beatrice, Nicoloso, Letizia, Marletta, Donata, Tamiozzo-Calligarich, Alessandra, Pagnacco, Giulio, Crepaldi, Paola
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amino Acid Substitution
Animals
Base Sequence
Biodiversity
Diet
Dietary Carbohydrates
Digestion - genetics
Edible Grain - chemistry
Genetic diversity
Genetic Variation
Genotype & phenotype
Genotyping Techniques
Horses
Horses - classification
Horses - genetics
Italy
Pancreatic alpha-Amylases - genetics
Polymorphism
Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
Salivary alpha-Amylases - genetics
Sequence Alignment
Sequence Analysis, DNA
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Summary:The dietary demand of the modern horse relies on high-cereal feeding and limited forage compared with natural grazing conditions, predisposing the horse to several important diseases. Salivary and pancreatic alpha-amylases (coded by AMY1 and AMY2 genes, respectively) play a crucial role in carbohydrate digestion in nonruminants, but little is known about these 2 genes in the horse. Aim of this work has been to distinguish genomic sequences of horse AMY1 and AMY2 genes and to analyze any polymorphisms in breeds historically characterized by marked differences in nutritional management. A single nucleotide polymorphism detection was performed and 7 novel single nucleotide polymorphisms were found. Three single nucleotide polymorphisms are in exons and were genotyped in 112 horses belonging to 6 breeds. One single nucleotide polymorphism in AMY1 gene distinguished Haflinger and the Italian native Murgese from the other breeds, whereas both the single nucleotide polymorphisms in AMY2 gene showed different allelic frequencies in Friesian compared with the other breeds. These differences are confirmed by quite high fixation index (Fst) values for these 2 nonsynonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms. These preliminary results highlight marked divergences in allele frequencies of AMY1 and AMY2 genes, involved in starch digestion, between horse breeds characterized by different histories of selection, thus providing first indications of possible relations between genetics and nutritional management.
ISSN:0022-1503
1465-7333
DOI:10.1093/jhered/esu005