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Updated: May 4, 2026
Transabdominal Ultrasound for Pregnancy Diagnosis in Reeves' Muntjac Deer
Published on: January 7, 2014
Identification of pregnancy-associated glycoproteins and alpha-fetoprotein in fallow deer (Dama dama) placenta
Mathilde Bériot, Aline Flora Tchimbou, Olimpia Barbato
1Laboratory of Animal Endocrinology and Reproduction, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liege, B-4000 Liege, Belgium. jfbeckers@ulg.ac.be.
Background:
This paper describes the isolation and characterization of pregnancy-associated glycoproteins (PAG) from fetal cotyledonary tissue (FCT) and maternal caruncular tissue (MCT) collected from fallow deer (Dama dama) pregnant females. Proteins issued from FCT and MCT were submitted to affinity chromatographies by using Vicia villosa agarose (VVA) or anti-bovine PAG-2 (R#438) coupled to Sepharose 4B gel. Finally, they were characterized by SDS-PAGE and N-terminal microsequencing.
Results:
Four distinct fallow deer PAG (fdPAG) sequences were identified and submitted to Swiss-Prot database. Comparison of fdPAG with PAG sequences identified in other ruminant species exhibited 64 to 83% identity. Additionally, alpha-fetoprotein was identified in fetal and maternal tissues.
Conclusion:
Our results demonstrate the efficacy of VVA and bovine PAG-2 affinity chromatographies for the isolation of PAG molecules expressed in deer placenta. This is the first report giving four specific amino acid sequences of PAG isolated from feto-maternal junction (FCT and MCT) in the Cervidae family.
