• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.22-26
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• 2013

To monitor the reproductive patterns of endangered orangutan, Time-resolved fluorescence immuno assay (TR-FIA) were used to analyze metabolites of sex hormones in feces. Orangutan had long-term interbirth intervals (amenorrhea) during lactation period in which the secretion of sex hormones was repressed. The concentration of progesterone in the serum of pregnant orangutan was 30fold higher than that in non-pregnant orangutan. However, the concentration of hCG during pregnant period was different from the result of other primates. The present study suggested that age is not the important factor in determining the reproduction capability, because it is rather greatly influenced by the combination of various factors. Tracing metabolites of sex hormones in orangutan feces seems to be provide the effective solution for the infertility in orangutan. This study result shows the basic data in operating conservation project for endangered orangutan.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.214-217
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• 1999

An 8-month-old male orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) housed in Everland Zoo-logical Gardens died after having 10 day history of depression, anorexia and acute respiratory distress. On necropsy, the lung failed to collapse and showed diffuse red consolidation. Microscopically, the alveoli were filled with large amounts of red blood cells, fibrin and varing number of hemosiderin-laden macrophages. The alveolar septa were thickened due to infiltrated mononuclear cells and congestion and are occasionally necrotic. Escherichia coli was isolated from the lung, spleen and kidney. The result of antibiotic sensitivity test of the isolated organism was also described.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.32-36
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• 2000

Solitary long terminal repeats(LTRs) of human endogenous retrovirus K family(HERV-K) have been found to be coexpressed with sequences of closely located genes. It has been suggested that HERV-K LTR-like elements entered the primate genome approximately 33-40 million years ago. WE investigated the presence of HERV-K LTR elements in New World monkeys using PCR amplification. Six LTR elements of HERV-K family were identified from New World monkeys, represented by the squirrel and night monkeys. They showed a high degree of sequence homology(96-99%) with the human-specific HERV-K LTR elements. Phylogenetic analysis reveals that an LTR element (SM-1) from the squirrel monkey and another LTR element (NM-1) from the night monkey are very closely related to the human-specific HERV-K LTR elements with low degree of divergence. This finding suggests that some of LTR elements of HERV-K family have recently been proliferated in New World monkeys. A sequence in chromosome Xq26(AL034407) \ulcorner contains an HERV-K LTR element was shown to be present in the human genome, but is absent in the bonobo, chimpanzee, gorilla, orangutan, and gibbon. It has more than 99% homology to other human-specific HERV-K LTR elements. This sequence thus represents and isolated insertion of an evolving class of elements that may have made a particular contribution to human genomic plasticity.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.116-121
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• 2010

Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA) promote the development of brain and vision of the fetus, relieve inflammation, inhibit oral dysplasia of rumor cell, decrease the incidence of cardiovascular disease and regulate arrhythmia. ${\Delta}-6$ desaturase is the rate-limited enzyme in the desaturation process. This study reports the cloning, characterization and tissue expression of a ${\Delta}-6$ desaturase gene in the chicken. PCR primers were designed based on the predicted sequence of chicken ${\Delta}-6$ desaturase (accession number: XM421053) and used to isolate a cDNA fragment of 1,323 bp from chicken liver. Based on the 1,323 bp fragment an EST (BI390105) was obtained by BLAST. The EST and 5'nd of the 1,323 bp fragment were partially overlapped. Gene specific primers derived from the EST were used for amplification of the 5'nd. Another gene-specific primer derived from the 1,323 bp fragment was used for amplification of the 3'nd by 3'ACE. Then the three overlapping cDNA sequences obtained were assembled with DNAMAN software and a full-length ${\Delta}-6$ desaturase of 2,153 bp was obtained. The full-length cDNA contained an ORF of 1,335 bp with a 5'ntranslated region of 147 nucleotides followed by an ATG initiation codon. Stop codon TGA was at position 1,481-1,483 bp. The deduced amino acids shared an homology above 77% with bovine, mice, orangutan, rat and human. The protein sequence had three histidine-rich regions HDFGH (HisI region), HFQHH (HisII region) and HH (HisIII region), a cytochrome $b_{5}$-like domain containing a heme-binding motif and two transmembrane domains. Sequence analysis of the chicken genomic DNA revealed that the coding sequence of chicken ${\Delta}-6$ desaturase included 12 exons and 11 introns. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR showed that the ${\Delta}-6$ desaturase expression levels were in turn liver, spleen, pancreas, lung, breast muscle, heart, and abdominal fat. The expression of ${\Delta}-6$ desaturase in liver was significantly higher than that in breast muscle (p<0.01). The expression of ${\Delta}-6$ desaturase in lung was significantly higher than that in abdominal fat (p<0.01). This is the first clone of chicken ${\Delta}-6$ desaturase.