Abstract
BackgroundSheep are valuable resources for the animal fibre industry. Therefore, identifying genes which regulate wool growth would offer strategies for improving the quality of fine wool. In this study, we employed Agilent sheep gene expression microarray and proteomic technology to compare the gene expression patterns of the body side (hair-rich) and groin (hairless) skins of Aohan fine wool sheep (a Chinese indigenous breed).ResultsComparing the body side to the groin skins (S/G) of Aohan fine wool sheep, the microarray study revealed that 1494 probes were differentially expressed, including 602 more highly expressed and 892 less highly expressed probes. The microarray results were verified by means of quantitative PCR. Cluster analysis could distinguish the body side skin and the groin skin. Based on the Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery (DAVID), 38 of the differentially expressed genes were classified into four categories, namely regulation of receptor binding, multicellular organismal process, protein binding and macromolecular complex. Proteomic study revealed that 187 protein spots showed significant (p < 0.05) differences in their respective expression levels. Among them, 46 protein entries were further identified by MALDI-TOF/MS analyses.ConclusionsMicroarray analysis revealed thousands of differentially expressed genes, many of which were possibly associated with wool growth. Several potential gene families might participate in hair growth regulation. Proteomic analysis also indentified hundreds of differentially expressed proteins.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12863-014-0144-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
IntroductionIdentifying genes which regulate wool growth would offer strategies for improving the quality of fine wool
Sheep are valuable resources for the animal fibre industry
Based on the Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery (DAVID), 38 of the differentially expressed genes were classified into four categories, many of which shared the same genes, according to their functional correlation (Additional file 3: Table S2)
Summary
Identifying genes which regulate wool growth would offer strategies for improving the quality of fine wool. Identifying genes which regulate wool growth offers the opportunity to improve the wool production efficiency, product quality and diversity in breeding programs. Microarray studies have been reported for different traits in sheep and goats, such as resistance to parasites [13,14], mammary development and milk quality [15,16,17], wool follicle development [18], natural fleece rot resistance [19] and pigmentation traits of skin and wool [20]. Several studies have demonstrated the usefulness of cDNA microarray for expression profiling of wool follicle growth cycles in whole skin [22,23,24]. More recently the RNA-seq method was used to determine the genes differentially expressed among various tissues (including whole skin) of sheep [25]
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