Associations between the presence of specific antibodies to the West Nile Virus infection and candidate genes in Romanian horses from the Danube delta.

Abstract

The West Nile virus (WNV) is a mosquito-borne flavivirus causing meningoencephalitis in humans and animals. Due to their particular susceptibility to WNV infection, horses serve as a sentinel species. In a population of Romanian semi-feral horses living in the Danube delta region, we have analyzed the distribution of candidate polymorphic genetic markers between anti WNV-IgG seropositive and seronegative horses. Thirty-six SNPs located in 28 immunity-related genes and 26 microsatellites located in the MHC and LY49 complex genomic regions were genotyped in 57 seropositive and 32 seronegative horses. The most significant association (pcorr < 0.0002) was found for genotypes composed of markers of the SLC11A1 and TLR4 genes. Markers of five other candidate genes (ADAM17, CXCR3, IL12A, MAVS, TNFA), along with 5 MHC class I and LY49-linked microsatellites were also associated with the WNV antibody status in this model horse population. The OAS1 gene, previously associated with WNV-induced clinical disease, was not associated with the presence of anti-WNV antibodies.

• Authors: K Stejskalova, E Janova, C Horecky, E Horecka, P Vaclavek, Z Hubalek, K Relling, M Cvanova, G D'Amico, A D Mihalca, D Modry, A Knoll, P Horin
• Journal: Molecular biology reports (Mol Biol Rep) Vol. 46 Issue 4 Pg. 4453-4461 (Aug 2019) ISSN: 1573-4978 [Electronic] Netherlands
• PMID: 31175514 (Publication Type: Journal Article)

Chemical References

• Antibodies, Viral

Topics

• Animals
• Antibodies, Viral (analysis, blood)
• Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
• Horses (blood, genetics, immunology)
• Microsatellite Repeats (genetics)
• Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length
• Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide (genetics)
• Romania
• Sentinel Species
• West Nile Fever (genetics, immunology, veterinary)
• West Nile virus (pathogenicity)