This study attempted to determine the characteristic features of postpartum dairy cows during their return to estrus. Moreover, it investigated the effects of abnormal ovarian cycles (AOC) on subsequent reproductive performance and the relationship between normal ovarian cycles (NOC) and the blood urea nitrogen (BUN) level postpartum. Incidentally, 56.3% of the Holstein cows and 66.7% of the Jersey cows had NOC, whereas the 43.7% and 33.3% of the Holstein and Jersey, respectively, had AOC. Within 100 days of calving, the cows with AOC had significantly lower rates of artificial insemination (AI) submission as well as pregnancy and a significantly longer interval to first AI, as compared to that in the cows with NOC. Additionally, the cows with NOC had a significantly higher first AI conception rate than that in the cows with AOC. In this study, of the 32 Holstein cows, 8 resumed their ovarian cycle within 20 days of calving, 10 resumed the cycle with 21-40 days of calving, 8 within 41-60 days of calving, while the remaining 6 did not resume their ovarian cycles until 60 days postpartum. Furthermore, the likelihood ratios of incidence of NOC are 0.93, 1.94, and 0.38, respectively, in the groups with BUN levels ＜ 15, 15-19.9, and ≥ 20 mg/ dl. In conclusion, AOC postpartum adversely affects reproductive performance such as AI submission rate, pregnancy rate, interval to first AI and first AI conception rate; moreover, an increase or decrease in the BUN levels beyond 15-19.9 mg/dL leads to the AOC postpartum.

Cluster of differentiation (CD) 24 or heat stable antigen 24 (HSA) molecule is a mucin-type glycoprotein attached to the cell surface by glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchor, promoting adhesive interactions between cells or in extracellular matrix. The aim of this study was to determine the not yet fully identified porcine CD24 gene and protein structure using computational analysis and to validate variants reported in exons of CD24 gene using direct sequencing. A total of 59 samples belonging to Yorkshire, Landrace, Berkshire, Jeju black pig and wild boar were used in the study. Human CD24 mRNA sequences were used as a reference and subjected to BLAST searches to retrieve the orthologous expressed sequence tags (ESTs) or cDNA sequences against NCBI and Ensemble databases. Assembled ESTs and retrieved cDNA sequences for the porcine CD24 gene were used for specific BLAST search to determine its genomic structure. We found porcine CD24 gene to consist of two exons and a relatively long intron. Second exon of porcine CD24 gene had a long 3’ untranslated region (UTR) and was very similar to that of human, mouse, rat, and sheep. The sequence homology of porcine CD24 protein was 65.38-84.62%, when analyzed with amino acid sequences of rat, mouse, human, cattle, and sheep CD24 protein. N-terminal signal sequence, O-glycosylation sites and GPI-anchoring signal sites were also predicted in pig, which showed these motifs to be evolutionary conserved across the species. Variant analysis in exonic regions of porcine CD24 among the multiple breeds showed that only second exon contained eight SNPs and three insertions in a 3’ UTR. Taken together, this study reports putative porcine CD24 gene and its protein structure using in silico approaches, which will be helpful for any further functional studies.

초위성체 표지인자는 가축에서 유전자 다양성, 개체식별 연구를 위한 유전자 마커로 활용되고 있지만 가축의 가금류에서는 이러한 연구가 미비한 실정이다. 이러한 문제를 해결하기 위해 닭에서의 초위성체 마커에 대한 유전정보를 확보하고 보다 정확하고 신속한 유전자 분석 방법의 개발이 필요하다. 본 연구의 목적은 12개의 초위성체 표지인자(MS Marker)를 1세트로 구성된 다중중합효소연쇄반응(Multiplex PCR)을 이용하여 닭의 대립유전자와 대립유전자 빈도 및 이형접합도을 결정하는 마커를 개발하는 것이다. 닭 96수를 이용하여 12개 MS marker를 분석한 결과, MS marker에 대한 대립유전자수는 평균 3.08개로 관찰되었다. 12개 초위성체 마커의 이형접합도은 평균 0.563이고 다형정보도(Polymrphism information content : PIC)는 0.482로 계산되었다. 이 결과는 전국적으로 닭의 유전자를 이용한 개체식별 및 친자감별에 이용하기 위한 기초자료 뿐만 아니라 닭 이력제를 정착시킬 수 있는 중요한 기술로 활용 될 수 있을 것이라 사료된다.

돼지의 육질과 관련하여 지방침착의 중요도가 높아짐에 따라 지방대사 또는 지방축적과 관련한 후보유전자 발굴 을 위해 등지방 조직 유래의 cDNA microarray를 이용하여 품종별 지방함량관련 조직의 유전자 발현 양상을 분석하 였다. 그 결과 재래돼지의 등지방 조직에서 SCD (stearoyl-CoA desaturase)와 ELOVL6 (elongation of very long chain fatty acid 6)가 높은 발현을 보였고, 간에서 FMO1 (hepatic flavin-containing mono oxygenase)이 높은 발현을 보였으며, 요크셔는 간에서 FGG (fibrinogen gamma polypeptide)와 C3d (com- plement component c3d), 등지방에서 COL3A1 (type Ⅲ collagen alpha 1)이 높은 발현을 보이는 것을 확인하였다. Real-time PCR을 통해 microarray data의 validation과 품종간 유전자 발현량을 비교하여, 위의 유전자들 중 지방함량에 따른 차등발현 유전자로 SCD, ELOVL6 그리고 FGG를 선정하였다. 선정된 유전자 SCD, ELOVL6, FGG는 지방대사에 관여하며 근내지방 함량에도 영향을 미쳐 향후 육질개선에 유용한 후보유전자로 서 활용가능성을 제시하였다.