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Molecular biological characterization of equine surfactant protein A
R Hospes1, B I L Hospes, I Reiss
1Interdisciplinary Research Team on Perinatology/Neonatology Justus-Liebig-University, Giessen, Germany. rainer.hospes@vetmed.uni-giessen.de
Abstract:
In the following, we describe the isolation and sequencing of the equine surfactant protein A (Sp-A) as found in both the cDNA and the genomic DNA. We found a length of the cDNA sequence of 747 bp (base pairs), in translation into amino acids of 248. Compared with the known molecular biological facts about Sp-A in other species, the cDNA sequence obtained showed highest homology with that of sheep (85.01%). The genomic DNA of equine Sp-A, as in other species, includes three introns. There were no hints for the existence of two different Sp-A genes. These results should form the basis for a better understanding of respiratory failure in foals and adult horses, and also lead to further studies on this item.