The American Association of Bovine Practitioners' (AABP) Bovine Lameness Committee met for the first time at the association's annual convention in Rapid City, South Dakota, in September 2000. The ...committee developed a mission statement and established a series of subcommittees to address specific issues. One subcommittee accepted the challenge to develop a system for recording lameness, trimming and foot care information. Objectives were to devise a system that would be simple to use, compatible with Dairy Herd Improvement Association record keeping systems or other record keeping programmes, and in agreement with internationally recognized definitions and nomenclature used to describe lameness conditions. With this system the veterinarian, trimmer or data recorder is required to identify specific lameness conditions through the use of a single upper case letter, which serves as the specific code for a particular disorder. In most cases, this letter corresponds to the first letter of the name for the lameness condition in question. If desired, lower case letters may be used as sub-codes to provide more detailed descriptions. Upper case letter codes are combined with numbered claw zones that specify location of the lesion. Whereas nine claw/foot zones were identified in the original diagrams, this system permits identification of lesions in four additional areas, including the interdigital skin, palmar/plantar interdigital cleft and axial wall. Using this system, lameness conditions may be simply and accurately documented by use of the upper case letter and number corresponding to the appropriate zone or region of the claw or foot affected. Claws, feet and limbs are identified or numbered from left to right beginning with the left front foot; left front lateral claw (LFL) #1, left front medial (LFM) claw #2, right front medial (RFM) claw #3, right front lateral (RFL) claw #4, left rear lateral (LRL) claw #5, left rear medial (LRM) claw #6, right rear medial (RRM) claw #7, and right rear lateral (RRL) claw #8. A foot or limb may be designated by use of the appropriate capital letters or both claw numbers; left front (LF) foot or limb #12, right front (RF) foot or limb #34, left rear (LR) foot or limb #56, and right rear (RR) foot or limb #78. This system provides a flexible yet uniform model for the capture of lameness information that will assist veterinarians, trimmers and others in the evaluation and monitoring of lameness and foot care information in cattle.
The
VegT/
Antipodean (
Apod) gene is important for germ layer formation in
Xenopus. To investigate the role of this gene at the protein level, as opposed to the RNA level, we have generated affinity ...purified polyclonal antibodies to Apod, and for comparison, to the other early T-box proteins Xbrachyury and Eomesodermin. An anti-VegT/Apod antibody reveals that there are two protein isoforms in
Xenopus, one that we refer to as VegT and a smaller molecular weight isoform that we refer to as Apod. These isoforms have different N-terminal domains resulting from developmentally regulated alternative splicing of a primary transcript arising from a single
VegT/
Apod gene. VegT is maternally expressed. Its translation is blocked during oogenesis but the protein is present from the egg until gastrulation in the presumptive endoderm. There is no evidence for zygotic expression of this isoform. Conversely, the Apod protein isoform is expressed only after the onset of zygotic transcription in the presumptive mesoderm and is inducible by activin. We conclude that the developmental role of
VegT/
Apod is mediated by two different proteins, with entirely different patterns of expression and response to growth factors.
A gene for Holt-Oram syndrome (HOS) has been previously mapped to chromosome 12q2 and designated HOS1. We have identified a HOS patient with a de novo chromosomal rearrangement involving 12q. ...Detailed cytogenetic analysis of this case reveals three breaks on 12q, and two of these are within the HOS1 interval. By using a combination of chromosome painting and FISH with YACs and cosmids, it has been possible to map these breakpoints within the critical HOS1 interval and thus provide a focus for HOS gene-identification efforts.
Eomesodermin is an essential early gene in Xenopus mesoderm formation and shows a morphogen-like response to activin. Here we define the regions of the Eomesodermin promoter required for mesodermal ...expression and for concentration-dependent response to activin. We find an activin response element (ARE) located between -5.6 and -5.0 kb which contains two critical FAST2 binding sites. The ARE alone is necessary and sufficient for concentration-dependent response to activin. A 5.6 kb promoter recapitulates Eomes expression in normal mesoderm cells. A repressor element extinguishes Eomes expression in the endoderm. We relate our results to mesoderm patterning in early Xenopus development and to a mechanism of morphogen gradient response.
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