The beta subunit of follicle stimulating hormone (FSHB) is expressed specifically in pituitary gonadotropes in vertebrates. Transgenic mouse studies have shown that enhancers in the proximal promoter between -172/-1 bp of the ovine FSHB gene are required for gonadotrope expression of ovine FSHB. These enhancers are associated with regulation by activins and gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH)...

A clone of the extracellular domain of the rat liver prolactin receptor was generated by the RNA-based polymerase chain reaction, and the NH2-terminal 210 amino acids were expressed in HeLa cells using a vaccinia virus/T7 hybrid expression system. The protein was isolated from serum-free culture medium directly by chromatography on an ovine prolactin affinity column and yielded approximately 1....

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) on survival, activation and growth of ovine primordial follicles using histological studies. Pieces of ovine ovarian cortex were obtained and cultured for 6 days in Minimum Essential Medium supplemented with or without FSH (50 ng/mL). These fragments were then process to be used for histology compar...

Pasteurella multocida isa gram-negative bacterial pathogen that is causative agent of a wide range of diseases in many animal species and humans. Lipopolysaccharides (LPS) are an important virulence factor, minor changes to structure of which can exert dramatic effects on pathogenicity of P. multocida in its host. LPS can be used for the identification and classification of strains with somatic...

The oocyte-secreted polypeptide growth factors, growth differentiation factor 9 (GDF9) and bone morphogenetic protein 15 (BMP15, also known as GDF9B) have both been shown to be essential for ovarian follicular development and ovulation rate. In addition, it is known from both in vivo and in vitro studies that these factors co-operate in some manner. To date, most studies examining the in vitro ...

Although ovine lentiviruses have been described in the United States since the early part of this century, North American strains of sheep lentiviruses remain relatively uncharacterized at the molecular level. The LTR of a North American ovine lentivirus, OLV-CU1, was found to be closely related at the molecular and functional levels to visna virus, the Icelandic ovine lentivirus. Sequence anal...

Susceptibility to scrapie is primarily controlled by polymorphisms in the ovine prion protein gene (PRNP). Here, we report a novel ovine exon three PRNP polymorphism (SNP G346C; P116), its association with the ovine ARQ allele (P116A136R154Q171), and two new genotypes (PARQ/ARR; PARQ/ARQ) for the St. Croix White (SCW) breed and a related composite (CMP) breed developed for meat production. The ...

The nucleotide sequence data reported will appear in DDBJ, EMBL, GenBank(R) and GSDB Nucleotide Sequence Databases; the sequences of ovine CPT1A and CPT1B cDNAs have the accession numbers Y18387 and AJ272435 respectively and the partial adipose tissue and liver CPT1A clones have the accession numbers Y18830 and Y18829 respectively. Fatty acid and ketone body metabolism differ considerably betwe...

Natural killer (NK) cells have a key role in the innate immune response against pathogens because of their cytotoxic properties and production of interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma). Some insight into ruminant NK cell biology has been gained through the characterization of bovine NK cells as NKp46(+)/CD3(-) cells. However, ovine NK cells have been little studied because of the lack of specific antibod...

Problem statement: Q fever is a ubiquitous zoonosis caused by Coxiella burnetii, an obligate intracellular rickettsial organism that caused abortion and stillbirth in ruminants. Approach: The prevalence of Coxiella burnetii in Iran is essentially unknown. Its traditional diagnosis is based on culture, serology and conventional PCR. In this present study, for more sensitive and accurate detectio...