Journal
PHYSIOLOGICAL GENOMICS
Volume 49, Issue 12, Pages 703-711Publisher
AMER PHYSIOLOGICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1152/physiolgenomics.00072.2017
Keywords
skin; pigmentation; RNA sequencing; network; goat
Categories
Funding
- Chongqing Fund of Agriculture Development [15404]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [31672393]
- Chongqing Fundamental Research Funds [15435, 16431]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The Youzhou dark goat is a natural mutant with dark skin over the whole body including the visible mucous membranes. In the present study, we characterized 100-day-old fetal skin at the histomorphological and transcriptomic levels in dark-skinned (Youzhou dark goat) and white-skinned (Yudong white goat) goats with deep RNA sequencing, quantitative PCR, and histological methods. Histological analysis indicated that there were marked differences in both melanin distribution and epidermal ultrastructure between the hyperpigmented and normal skin in two breeds of goat. Subsequent analyses suggested that a presumed structure variation (duplication or insertion) in ASIP might be responsible for its lower expression in the hyperpigmented skin (Youzhou dark goat) by determining the distribution of melanocytes across the body at early development stage. Analyses for genes with differential expression between the dark-skinned and white-skinned goats indicated the network composed of ASIP-MCIR, ECM-receptor interaction, and MAPK signaling might play crucial roles in the determination of skin pigmentation in fetal goats. Moreover, we also identified 1.616 novel transcripts in goat skin by RNA sequencing, which may represent two distinct groups of transcript based on their characteristics. Our findings contribute to the understanding of the characteristics of global gene expression in early-stage skin pigmentation and development and describe an animal model for human diseases associated with pigmentation.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available