Identification of pregnancy-associated glycoproteins and alpha-fetoprotein in fallow deer (Dama dama) placenta

Mathilde Bériot,Jean-François Beckers,Aline Flora Tchimbou,Noelita M De Sousa,Olimpia Barbato

doi:10.1186/1751-0147-56-4

Mathilde Bériot, Jean-François Beckers + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.1186/1751-0147-56-4

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Abstract

BackgroundThis 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.ResultsFour 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.ConclusionOur 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.

Highlights

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
This paper describes the isolation and characterization of fallow deer PAG proteins from placental extracts by using Vicia villosa agarose (VVA) and anti-PAG-2 affinity chromatographies
Isolation of fallow deer PAG (fdPAG) from FCT and MCT After extraction, concentrations of PAG measured by RIA remained very low in both FCT and MCT

Summary

Introduction

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. They were characterized by SDS-PAGE and N-terminal microsequencing. Fallow deer belongs to Cervinae tribe, and to Dama genus. The divergence between Cervidae and Bovidae was estimated to be 22.8 ± 4.7 MYA [2]. The placentation is of oligocotyledonary type, with a maximum of 10 cotyledons in Cervidae family [4].

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