Grupo de Pesquisa em Genômica de Equinos - GenE, Núcleo de Biotecnologia, Centro de Desenvolvimento Tecnológico, Campus Universitário, Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, Caixa Postal 96010-900, Brazil.
Laboratório de Bioinformática e Proteômica, Núcleo de Biotecnologia, Centro de Desenvolvimento Tecnológico, Campus Universitário, Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, Caixa Postal 96010-900, Brazil.
Mol Divers. 2019 Nov;23(4):1019-1028. doi: 10.1007/s11030-018-09914-3. Epub 2019 Feb 10.
The prolactin hormone is involved in several biological functions, although its main role resides on reproduction. As it interferes on fertility changes, studies focused on human health have established a linkage of this hormone to fertility losses. Regarding animal research, there is still a lack of information about the structure of prolactin. In case of horse breeding, prolactin has a particular influence; once there is an individualization of these animals and equines are known for presenting several reproductive disorders. As there is no molecular structure available for the prolactin hormone and receptor, we performed several bioinformatics analyses through prediction and refinement softwares, as well as manual modifications. Aiming to elucidate the first computational structure of both molecules and analyse structural and functional aspects related to these proteins, here we provide the first known equine model for prolactin and prolactin receptor, which obtained high global quality scores in diverse software's for quality assessment. QMEAN overall score obtained for ePrl was (- 4.09) and QMEANbrane for ePrlr was (- 8.45), which proves the structures' reliability. This study will implement another tool in equine genomics in order to give light to interactions of these molecules, structural and functional alterations and therefore help diagnosing fertility problems, contributing in the selection of a high genetic herd.
催乳素激素参与多种生物学功能，尽管其主要作用在于生殖。由于它会影响生育力的变化，因此针对人类健康的研究已经确定了这种激素与生育力丧失之间的联系。就动物研究而言，关于催乳素的结构仍然缺乏信息。在马的繁殖中，催乳素具有特殊的影响；一旦对这些动物进行个体化，就会发现马类动物存在多种生殖障碍。由于催乳素激素和受体没有可用的分子结构，我们通过预测和精修软件以及手动修改进行了多次生物信息学分析。为了阐明这两种分子的第一个计算结构，并分析与这些蛋白质相关的结构和功能方面，我们在这里提供了第一个已知的马催乳素和催乳素受体模型，这些模型在不同的软件质量评估中获得了很高的整体质量分数。ePrl 的 QMEAN 总分为 (-4.09)，ePrlr 的 QMEANbrane 总分为 (-8.45)，这证明了这些结构的可靠性。这项研究将在马基因组学中引入另一个工具，以阐明这些分子的相互作用、结构和功能的改变，从而有助于诊断生育问题，为选择具有高遗传力的牛群做出贡献。
