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The Himalayan marmot (Marmota himalayana), a natural host and transmitter of plague, is also susceptible to the hepadnavirus infection. To reveal the genetic basis of the hepadnavirus susceptibility and the immune response to plague, we systematically characterized the features of immune genes in Himalayan marmot with those of human and mouse. We found that the entire major histocompatibility complex region and the hepatitis B virus pathway genes of the Himalayan marmot were conserved with those of humans. A Trim (tripartite motif) gene cluster involved in immune response and antiviral activity displays dynamic evolution, which is reflected by the duplication of Trim5 and the absence of Trim22 and Trim34. Three key regions of Ntcp, which is critical for hepatitis B virus entry, had high identity among seven species of Marmota. Moreover, we observed a severe alveolar hemorrhage, inflammatory infiltrate in the infected lungs and livers from Himalayan marmots after infection of EV76, a live attenuated Yersinia pestis strain. Lots of immune genes were remarkably up-regulated, which several hub genes H2r[gamma], Tra29, and Nlrp7 are placed at the center of the gene network. These findings suggest that Himalayan marmot is a potential animal model for study on the hepadnavirus and plague infection. Key words: Himalayan marmot, immune system, hepadnavirus, plague. La marmotte de l'Himalaya (Marmota himalayana), un hote naturel qui peut transmettre la peste, est egalement sensible a l'infection par l'hepadnavirus. Afin de reveler l'assise genetique de la sensibilite a l'hepadnavirus et de la reponse immunitaire a la peste, les auteurs ont systematiquement caracterise les genes du systeme immunitaire chez la marmotte de l'Himalaya avec ceux chez l'humain et la souris. Les auteurs ont trouve que la region entiere du complexe majeur d'histocompatibilite et les genes du sentier du virus de l'hepatite B chez la marmotte de l'Himalaya sont conserves avec ceux presents chez l'humain. Un groupe de genes Trim (<< a motif tripartite >>) implique dans la reponse immunitaire et l'activite antivirale presentait une evolution dynamique, laquelle se reflete par la duplication de Trim5 et l'absence des genes Trim22 et Trim34. Trois regions cles de Ntcp, lequel est critique pour l'entree du virus de l'hepatite B, presentaient un fort niveau d'identite au sein de sept especes de Marmota. De plus, les auteurs ont observe une severe hemorragie alveolaire, un infiltrat inflammatoire dans les poumons et le foie chez des marmottes de l'Himalaya apres infection avec l'EV76, une souche vivante attenuee du Yersinia pestis. Plusieurs genes du systeme immunitaire etaient remarquablement plus fortement exprimes, dont plusieurs genes (H2r[gamma], Tra29 et Nlrp7) qui sont au coeur de reseaux de genes. Ces observations suggerent que la marmotte de l'Himalaya constitue une espece modele potentielle pour l'etude de l'infection avec l'hepadnavirus et la peste. [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles : marmotte de l'Himalaya, systeme immunitaire, hepadnavirus, peste., Introduction The Himalayan marmot (Marmota himalayana) is a marmot species that inhabits alpine grasslands throughout the Himalayan regions and on the Tibetan Plateau (Nikol'skii and Ulka 2006; Hoffmann et al. [...]

Background: Rabbits are well-domesticated animals. As a crucial economic animal, rabbit has been successfully bred into wool-use, meat-use and fur-use breeds. Hair length is one of the most economically important traits affecting profitability in wool rabbits. In this study, to identify selection signatures with the long-hair trait, whole-genomic resequencing of long-haired rabbits (Angora rabbits) and short-haired rabbits (Rex and New Zealand rabbits) was performed. Results: By genome-wide selective sweeping analysis based on population comparison, we identified a total of 5.85 Mb regions (containing 174 candidate genes) with strong selection signals. Six of these genes (Dusp1, Ihh, Fam134a, Map3k1, Spata16, and Fgf5) were enriched in the MAPK signalling and Hedgehog signalling pathways, both of which are closely associated with hair growth regulation. Among these genes, Fgf5 encodes the FGF5 protein, which is a well-established regulator of hair growth. There was a nonsynonymous nucleotide substitution (T19234C) in the Fgf5 gene. At this locus, the C allele was present in all of the tested Angora rabbits, while the T allele was dominant in New Zealand and Rex rabbits. We further confirmed that the C allele was conserved in Angora rabbits by screening an additional 135 rabbits. Moreover, the results of functional predictions and co-immunoprecipitation revealed that the T19234C mutation impaired the binding capacity of FGF5 to its receptor FGFR1. Conclusions: We discovered that the homozygous missense mutation T19234C within Fgf5 might contribute to the long-hair trait of Angora rabbits by reducing its receptor binding capacity. This finding will provide new insights into the genetic basis underlying the genetic improvement of Angora rabbits and benefit the improvement of rabbit breeding in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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