A large expansion of the HSFY gene family in cattle shows dispersion across Yq and testis-specific expression.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 21408193.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0017790 and PMC identifier 3049798.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Heat shock transcription factor, Y-linked (HSFY) is a member of the heat shock transcriptional factor (HSF) family that is found in multiple copies on the Y chromosome and conserved in a number of species. Its function still remains unknown but in humans it is thought to play a role in spermatogenesis. Through real time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analyses we determined that the HSFY family is largely expanded in cattle (∼70 copies) compared with human (2 functional copies, 4 HSFY-similar copies). Unexpectedly, we found that it does not vary among individual bulls as a copy number variant (CNV). Using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) we found that the copies are dispersed along the long arm of the Y chromosome (Yq). HSFY expression in cattle appears restricted to the testis and its mRNA correlates positively with mRNA markers of spermatogonial and spermatocyte cells (UCHL1 and TRPC2, respectively) which suggests that HSFY is expressed (at least in part) in early germ cells.
Medical subject headings
- Cattle
- DNA-Binding Proteins
- Gene Expression Regulation
- Multigene Family
- Testis
- Transcription Factors
- Y Chromosome