Identification and characterization of yak (Bos grunniens) b-Boule gene and its alternative splice variants

Gene. 2014 Oct 25;550(2):193-9. doi: 10.1016/j.gene.2014.08.028. Epub 2014 Aug 18.

Abstract

Boule is responsible for meiotic arrest of sperms and male sterility during mammalian spermatogenesis. In the present study, we first identified yak b-Boule gene and its two alternative splice variants. The full length coding region of yak b-Boule is 888bp and encodes a 295-amino acid protein with a typical RNA-recognition motif (RRM) and a Deleted in Azoospermia (DAZ) repetitive sequence motif. Two alternative splice variants of yak b-Boule were generated following the consensus "GT-AG" rule and named b-Boule1 (36bp deletion in exon 3) and b-Boule2 (deletion of integral exon 7), respectively. In male yak, b-Boule, b-Boule1 and b-Boule2 were found to be exclusively expressed in the testes at a ratio of 81:0.1:1. Intriguingly, the mRNA expression levels of b-Boule and b-Boule1 in yak testis were significantly higher than those in cattle-yak, although no significant difference was observed for b-Boule2 expression between the yak and cattle-yak. These results suggest that b-Boule gene, which is partially regulated by alternative splicing, may be involved in the process of yak spermatogenesis.

Keywords: Expression; Splice variants; Yak; b-Boule.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • Base Sequence
  • Cattle / genetics*
  • Cattle / metabolism
  • Cloning, Molecular
  • Infertility, Male / genetics
  • Male
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Protein Isoforms / genetics
  • RNA Splice Sites / genetics*
  • RNA-Binding Proteins / genetics*
  • RNA-Binding Proteins / metabolism
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA
  • Spermatogenesis / genetics
  • Tissue Distribution

Substances

  • Protein Isoforms
  • RNA Splice Sites
  • RNA-Binding Proteins