Highly dynamic temporal changes of TSPY gene copy number in aging bulls

PLoS One. 2017 May 26;12(5):e0178558. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0178558. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

The Y-chromosomal TSPY gene is one of the highest copy number mammalian protein coding gene and represents a unique biological model to study various aspects of genomic copy number variations. This study investigated the age-related copy number variability of the bovine TSPY gene, a new and unstudied aspect of the biology of TSPY that has been shown to vary among cattle breeds, individual bulls and somatic tissues. The subjects of this prospective 30-month long study were 25 Holstein bulls, sampled every six months. Real-time quantitative PCR was used to determine the relative TSPY copy number (rTSPY CN) and telomere length in the DNA samples extracted from blood. Twenty bulls showed an altered rTSPY CN after 30 months, although only 9 bulls showed a significant change (4 significant increase while 5 significant decrease, P<0.01). The sequential sampling provided the flow of rTSPY CN over six observations in 30 months and wide-spread variation of rTSPY CN was detected. Although a clear trend of the direction of change was not identifiable, the highly dynamic changes of individual rTSPY CN in aging bulls were observed here for the first time. In summary we have observed a highly variable rTSPY CN in bulls over a short period of time. Our results suggest the importance of further long term studies of the dynamics of rTSPY CN variablility.

MeSH terms

  • Aging / genetics*
  • Animals
  • Cattle
  • Cell Cycle Proteins / genetics*
  • Gene Dosage*
  • Male

Substances

  • Cell Cycle Proteins

Grants and funding

The work was funded by the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Canada Research Chairs Program and the Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph. The funders provided support in the form of operating costs and salaries for authors OAO, KM, LAF, and TR. Neither the funding agencies nor the commercial affiliation had a role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section.