Effect of additional boron on tibias of African ostrich chicks.

The aim of the present study was to find out the effects of boron on ostrich chicks fed with 0 mg/l, 100 mg/l, 200 mg/l, and 400 mg/l of additional boron in water. We measured bone mineral density (BMD), perimeter, length, weight, ash content of ostrich tibias, thickness of cortical bone, and diameter of the marrow cavity. We also analyzed the apoptosis status of paraffin sections using a TUNEL kit and examined serum levels of leptin and estradiol (E(2)). The results were dramatic. Compared with the control group, group C had a very high BMD. The serum levels of leptin in groups C and D were significantly higher than control values, and the levels of E(2) fluctuated. The perimeter, length, weight, and ash content of ostrich tibias all increased significantly with increasing dosage of boron. The cross-section analysis revealed that the bone marrow cavity shifted closer to one side in group D, which was observed on a macro-scale. This shift may be related to the toxicity of excessive boron, as indicated by the apoptosis status. According to the present data, additional boron was helpful for ostrich chick bone development, and 200 mg/l supplement boron in the drinking water appeared to be the most beneficial.

Molecular cloning, expression and characterization of bovine UQCC and its association with body measurement traits.

Ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase complex chaperone (UQCC) involved in the development and maintenance of bone and cartilage is an important candidate gene for body measurement traits selection through marker-assisted selection (MAS). The expression of UQCC is upregulated in many human and animal models of height as well as other stature indexes. We have cloned the cDNA sequence coding UQCC gene in bovine. Genomic structural analysis indicated that bovine UQCC shares a high similarity with human UQCC. Furthermore, Real-Time PCR analysis show that the expression of bovine UQCC is remarkably different in diverse tissues, including high level expression in the spleen, heart and windpipe, and relatively low expression in other tissues. We also analyzed allele frequencies in different cattle breeds and an association study on the selected SNPs. SNP DraI A2691T in intron 1 and SNP Bsh1236I A3150G in intron 8 are significantly associated with Body Length (BL), Rump Length (RL), Chest Depth (CD) and Pin Bone Width (PBW). For the A2691T SNP marker, there are significant effects on the RL (p = 0.0001), CD (p = 0.0059) and PBW (p < 0.0001) in 679 individuals; with A3150G SNP marker, there are significant effects on the BL (p = 0.0047) and CD (p = 0.0454. Regarding association analysis of combination of the two SNPs, there are significant effects on the BL (p = 0.0215), CD (p = 0.0282) and PBW (p = 0.0329) in the total population. The results suggest that the UQCC gene is a candidate gene of body measurement traits in bovine reproduction and breeding, and provide data for establishing of an animal model using cattle to study big animal body type.