Andrzej Dybus

Cloning two PepT1 cDNA fragments of common carp, Cyprinus carpio (Actinopterygii: Cypriniformes: Cyprinidae).

1 Division of Ichthyobiology and Fisheries, Faculty of Animal Science, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Warsaw, Poland 2 Division of Molecular Cytogenetics, Faculty of Biotechnology and Animal Science, West Pomeranian University of Technology, Szczecin, Poland 3 Laboratory of General Physiology, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Technologies, University of Salento, via Provinciale LecceMonteroni, Lecce, Italy 4 School of Environment and Natural Resources, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA

The PRNP ins/del and octapeptide repeat polymorphisms in Jersey cattle and their associations with production traits

So far the studies on the prion protein (PRNP) gene have mainly been focused on the search for an association between detected polymorphisms in this gene and the susceptibility of cattle to bovine spongiform encephalopathy. The PRNP gene location on chromosome 13 suggests that the polymorphisms within this gene can be potential quantitative trait locus (QTL) markers for milk production traits. The aim of this study was the analysis of the potential effect of the insertion/deletion polymorphisms within the promoter region (23 bp) and intron 1 (12 bp) of the PRNP gene on milk production traits in Jersey cattle. The study material consisted of 171 Jersey cows. The following milk production traits were analysed: milk yield, milk fat and protein yield, milk fat and protein content. Statistically significant differences were found in milk fat content in the second lactation between animal groups representing the ins/del and del/del genotypes for the 23 bp polymorphism (P≤0.05). The ins/del 12 bp polymorphism was found to have significant (P≤0.05) and highly significant (P≤0.01) effects on milk yield.

Polymorphism in dopamine receptor D4 gene is associated with pigeon racing performance

Sequencing and genotyping: Sequencing of PCR products (Table S1) covering the complete exon 3 and parts of introns 2 and 3 from the DRD4 gene revealed four SNPs: the intronic g.129954C>T (ss1751581452), two missense mutations g.129562A>C (p.Arg139Ser; ss1751581453) and g.129456C>T (p.Leu175Phe; ss1751581455) and the synonymous g.129484T>C (ss1751581454). The last one was not further considered. The study involved 123 racing pigeons derived from two unrelated pigeon flocks. SNP g.129562A>C and SNP g.129456C>T were in complete linkage disequilibrium, and only the latter was considered in association analyses. The frequencies of SNPs and of combined genotypes of the DRD4 gene are presented in Table S2.

Association between the growth hormone releasing hormone (GHRH) gene polymorphism and milk production traits of dairy cattle.

Abstract Szatkowska, I., Dybus, A., Grzesiak, W., Jedrzejczak, M. and Muszyńska, M. 2009. Association between the growth hormone releasing hormone (GHRH) gene polymorphism and milk production traits of dairy cattle. J. Appl. Anim. Res., 36: 119–123. The association between the GHRH/HaeIII gene polymorphism, and milk production traits of Polish Holstein and Jersey cows were analysed. A total of 427 animals were included in the study. A PCR-RFLP method was used for genotyping. The frequencies of genotypes and alleles for the Polish Holstein cows were 0.078—AA, 0.339—AB, 0.583—BB and 0.248—GHRHA , 0.752—GHRHB. For the Jersey cows, the frequencies were: 0.032—AA, 0.427—AB, 0.541—BB and 0.246—GHRHA , 0.754—GHRHB. In all lactations, the Jersey cows with AA genotype exhibited the highest milk fat content. In the 2nd and 3rd lactations the AA Jersey cows had lower milk yields compared with the AB/BB cows. However, Polish Holstein cows did not exhibit such effects of genotypes on milk yield/traits. It still remains unclear that the analysed polymorphism could influence to the physiology of milk fat production.

Nucleotide Substitution in 3' Arm of Bovine MIR-2467 in Five Cattle Breeds

The T > C single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the MIR2467 gene was investigated in order to confirm its presence in cattle genome and to check for possible differences in its genotype distribution among different breeds. Additional purpose of the study was to investigate in silico potential effect of that substitution on the structure and stability of precursor mir-2467. The study involved 634 individuals of five cattle breeds: Angus, Hereford, Holstein-Friesian, Jersey, and Limousin, which were genotyped using PCR-RFLP assay. In this study, the presence of T > C polymorphism at position 24 was observed in all the cattle breeds excepting Hereford. In addition, the differences in the genotype distribution among analyzed breeds were indicated. On the basis of minimum free energy structure prediction, the C allele was indicated to have possible impact on decreasing the stability of the pre-mir-2467, thus altering its ability to regulate target genes expression.

Cordycepin from Hot Water Extract of Cordyceps militaris Induce Apoptosis in Human Non-Small Lung Carcinoma upon Activation of A3 Adenosine Receptors

Cordyceps militaris hot water extract (CMHW) containing cordycepin (cordycepin-CMHW) was used to study the anti-cancer effects in human A549 non-small cell lung carcinoma cells. Our results showed cordycepin-CMHW can inhibit cell proliferations in A549 cells by activating A3 adenosine receptor (A3AR) via the inactivation of Akt pathways. Cordycepin-CMHW can also induce apoptosis in the A549 cells by enhancing DNA fragmentation and chromatin condensation. We further observed that cordycepin-CMHW up-regulated caspase-9 and increased cleavage of caspase-3 and poly ADP ribose polymerase (PARP) in A549 cells. The results suggested cordycepin-CMHW is a highly selective treatment to de-regulation of the cell proliferation and apoptosis in non-small cell lung carcinoma via signaling pathways generated by A3AR activation.

Evaluation of the applicability of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to sex identification in Eurasian blackbirds (Turdus merula)

Evaluation of the applicability of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to sex identification in Eurasian blackbirds (Turdus merula) Turdus merula is one of most common bird species in Europe. This study verified a method for its sex identification by PCR with P2/P8 primers, based on the CHD1 gene polymorphism, proposed in earlier studies as a universal tool for sex identification in most bird species. Although there are some reports that PCR cannot determine sex in Eurasian blackbirds due to a lack of differences in intron lengths of CHD1-Z and CHD1-W genes, our study showed that such a possibility does exist, so it can contribute to an increased understanding of the biology of this species.