<i>PRAMEY</i>: A Bovid-Specific Y-Chromosome Multicopy Gene Is Highly Related to Postnatal Testicular Growth in Hu Sheep
Shengwei Pei | Fang Qin | Li Wang | Wanhong Li | Fadi Li | Xiangpeng Yue
<i>PRAMEY</i> (preferentially expressed antigen in melanoma, Y-linked) belongs to the cancer-testis antigens (CTAs) gene family and is predominantly expressed in testis, playing important roles in spermatogenesis and testicular development. This study cloned the full-length cDNA sequence of ovine <i>PRAMEY</i> using the rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) method and analyzed the expression profile and copy number variation (CNV) of <i>PRAMEY</i> using quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR). The results revealed that the <i>PRAMEY</i> cDNA was 2099 bp in length with an open reading frame (ORF) of 1536 bp encoding 511 amino acids. <i>PRAMEY</i> was predominantly expressed in the testis and significantly upregulated during postnatal testicular development. The median copy number (MCN) of <i>PRAMEY</i> was 4, varying from 2 to 25 in 710 rams across eight sheep breeds. There was no significant correlation between the CNV of <i>PRAMEY</i> and testicular size, while a significant positive correlation was observed between the mRNA expression and testicular size in Hu sheep. The current study suggests that the expression levels of <i>PRAMEY</i> were closely associated with testicular size, indicating that <i>PRAMEY</i> may play an important role in testicular growth.
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