Antler development and coupled osteoporosis in the skeleton of red deer Cervus elaphus: expression dynamics for regulatory and effector genes

Abstract

Antlers of deer display the fastest and most robust bone development in the animal kingdom. Deposition of the minerals in the cartilage preceding ossification is a specific feature of the developing antler. We have cloned 28 genes which are upregulated in the cartilaginous section (called mineralized cartilage) of the developing ("velvet") antler of red deer stags, compared to their levels in the fetal cartilage. Fifteen of these genes were further characterized by their expression pattern along the tissue zones (i.e., antler mesenchyme, precartilage, cartilage, bone), and by in situ hybridization of the gene activities at the cellular level. Expression dynamics of genes col1A1, col1A2, col3A1, ibsp, mgp, sparc, runx2, and osteocalcin were monitored and compared in the ossified part of the velvet antler and in the skeleton (in ribs and vertebrae). Expression levels of these genes in the ossified part of the velvet antler exceeded the skeletal levels 10-30-fold or more. Gene expression and comparative sequence analyses of cDNAs and the cognate 5' cis-regulatory regions in deer, cattle, and human suggested that the genes runx2 and osx have a master regulatory role. GC-MS metabolite analyses of glucose, phosphate, ethanolamine-phosphate, and hydroxyproline utilizations confirmed the high activity of mineralization genes in governing the flow of the minerals from the skeleton to the antler bone. Gene expression patterns and quantitative metabolite data for the robust bone development in the antler are discussed in an integrated manner. We also discuss the potential implication of our findings on the deer genes in human osteoporosis research.

An activity-maintaining sequential protein extraction method for bioactive assay and proteome analysis of velvet antlers

“…Therefore, proteomic studies on deer followed a cross-species strategy, using a given protein database of other sequenced organism with close relative genome, analogous to the proteome profiling of Pedobacter cryoconitis [20], L. starkeyi [21] and Marenzelleria [22]. Since deer and bovine are very closely related in phylogenetics [23,24], the gene sequences of cow show high similarity (in the range 90-99%) with deer genes in the coding regions of mRNAs [25,26]. Similarly, some reports on gene expression in deer antler also revealed that the deer genes all showed high sequence homology (above 90%) to that of bovine [5,27].…”

Summary of Comments on Analysis of Hungarian red deer trophies by means of Principal component analysis in two different counties

“…The development of antlers is a modified endochondral ossification process (Rucklidge et al, 1997). The growth rate of the antler may reach over 100 g per day between May and July (on the northern hemisphere), enormous bone mass (generally 7-9 kg, occaisionally 13-15 kg, as reported from the Danube-Drava-Gemenc-Bilje Park of Nature in Hungary and Croatia) develops within 120-150 days (Stéger et al, 2010). At the end of the antler growing period the hard bony antler is the trophy.…”

Drosophila Orthologs, expressed specifically in Courting Zebra Finch Males, are engaged in Courtshipe

“…Comparative genomic approaches represent successful strategies to explore the genes and gene networks behind an interesting biological phenomenon. For example, several candidate genes behind human osteoporosis were revealed by comparing the transcriptomes of red deer (Cervus elaphus) osteoporotic and regenerating rib bone samples [4,5]. In the present study we followed the experimental strategy above, and made use of the plaque-based competitive hybridization (PBCH) technique which was successfully used to identify e.g.…”

“…the genes regulating red deer antler development [6]. The PBCH technique is an alternative method to procedures such as applied fragment *Address correspondence to this author at the University of Szeged, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Biology, H-6720 Szeged, Somogyi Street 4, Hungary; Tel: +36 62 545108; Fax: +36 62 545131; E-mail: villanyi22@gmail.com length comparisons and DNA chip technology to identify differentially expressed genes [5][6][7][8]. In the present study we compared transcriptomes by analyzing about 600,000 cDNA clones from both the courting and caring zebra finch male brain libraries using the PBCH method.…”