Copy number variations of five Y chromosome genes in donkeys

H. Han; X. Zhao; X. Xia; H. Chen; C. Lei; R. Dang

Copy number variations of five Y chromosome genes in donkeys

2017

In mammals, the Y chromosome plays a pivotal role in male sexdetermination and is essential for normal sperm production. A number ofstudies were conducted on Y chromosome genes of various species andidentified single-copy and multi-copy genes. However, limited studiesabout donkey Y chromosome genes have been done. In this study, 263 malesamples from 13 Chinese donkey breeds were collected to analyze the copynumber variations (CNVs) of five Y chromosome genes using the quantitative PCR(qPCR) method. These five genes (cullin 4 B Y (CUL4BY),equus testis-specific transcript y1 (ETSTY1),equus testis-specific transcript y4 (ETSTY4), equus testis-specific transcript Y 5(ETSTY5), and sex-determining region Y (SRY) were identified asmulti-copy, whose median copy numbers (MCNs) were 5, 45, 2, and 2, and13 with CNV ranges of 1–57, 1–227, 1–37, 1–86 and 1–152, respectively. TheCNVs of these five genes were shared in different breeds. Compared toprevious studies, the copy numbers of five genes showed some distinctconsequences in this study. In particular, the well-known single-copy SRY geneshowed CNVs in donkeys. Our results provided genetic variations of donkey Ychromosome genes.

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