cDNA Microarray Analysis of Differential Gene Expression in Boar Testes during the Prepubertal Period

Lee, Dong-Mok; Lee, Ki-Ho; Choi, Jin Ho; Hyun, Jin Hee; Lee, Eun Ju; Bajracharya, Prati; Lee, Yong Seok; Chang, Jongsoo; Chung, Chung Soo; Choi, Inho

doi:2009.22.8.1091

Article

Animal Breeding and Genetics

Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences 2009;22(8): 1091-1101.
https://doi.org/10.5713/ajas.2009.90009 Published online June 26, 2009.

cDNA Microarray Analysis of Differential Gene Expression in Boar Testes during the Prepubertal Period

Dong-Mok Lee, Ki-Ho Lee, Jin Ho Choi, Jin Hee Hyun, Eun Ju Lee, Prati Bajracharya, Yong Seok Lee, Jongsoo Chang, Chung Soo Chung, Inho Choi

Abstract

In an attempt to understand the biochemical mechanism for the synthesis of the anabolic steroid, 19-nortestosterone, produced by prepubertal boar testes and its physiological role, normalized complementary DNA (cDNA) from boar testes was generated. DNA sequencing of 2,016 randomly selected clones yielded 794,116 base pairs of high quality nucleotide sequence. Computer-assisted assembly of the nucleotide sequence of each clone resulted in 423 contigs and 403 singletons including several genes for steroidogenic enzymes and molecules related to steroid metabolism. Analysis of gene expression pattern by use of the presently-fabricated cDNA microarray identified a number of genes that were differentially expressed during the postnatal development period in boar testes. Two genes of unknown function were identified to be highly expressed in the testis of 2-weeks-old neonatal boar. In addition, the sequencing of open reading frames of these genes revealed their homology with human alpha hemoglobin and Homo sapiens hypothetical LOC643669, transcript variant 1. Moreover, the transcripts of these genes were also detected in porcine muscle and adipocytes, in addition to Leydig cells of pigs.

Keywords: Boar; Testis; DNA Chip Analysis; Gene Expression; DNA Sequence