Transcriptome analysis reveals the genetic basis underlying the development of skin appendages and immunity in hedgehog (Atelerix albiventris)

Hui-Ming Li,Xiu-Juan Zhang,Hai-Ying Jiang,Jin-Ping Chen,Bi-Ze Yang,Lin-Miao Li,Hafiz Ishfaq Ahmad

doi:10.1038/s41598-020-70844-y

Abstract

The expression of hair features is an evolutionary adaptation resulting from interactions between many organisms and their environment. Elucidation of the mechanisms that underlie the expression of such traits is a topic in evolutionary biology research. Therefore, we assessed the de novo transcriptome of Atelerix albiventris at three developmental stages and compared gene expression profiles between abdomen hair and dorsal spine tissues. We identified 328,576 unigenes in our transcriptome, among which 4,435 were differentially expressed between hair- and spine-type tissues. Dorsal and abdomen skin tissues 5 days after birth were compared and the resulting DEGs were mainly enriched in keratin filament, epithelium cell differentiation, and epidermis development based on GO enrichment analysis, and tight junction, p53, and cell cycle signaling pathways based on KEGG enrichment analysis. MBP8, SFN, Wnt1 and KRT1 gene may involve in the development of hedgehog skin and its appendages. Strikingly, DEGs in hair-type tissues were also significantly enriched in immune-related terms and pathways with hair-type tissues exhibiting more upregulated immune genes than spine-type tissues. Our study provided a list of potential genes involved in skin appendage development and differentiation in A. albiventris, and the candidate genes provided valuable information for further studies of skin appendages.

Highlights

The expression of hair features is an evolutionary adaptation resulting from interactions between many organisms and their environment
Abbreviations A. albiventris Atelerix albiventris Hiseq High-throughput sequencing principle component analysis (PCA) Principal component analysis KRT Keratin FGF Fibroblast growth factor SHH Sonic hedgehog bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) Bone morphogenetic protein DEGs Differentially expressed genes RT-qPCR Quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction self-organizing feature map (SOM) Self-organizing feature map Perceiving and responding to life-threatening signals and regulating their own morphological characteristics constitute a fundamental challenge for all mammals
A neural network graph based on self-organizing feature map (SOM) analysis revealed dynamic transcriptional changes at the individual stages of appendage development in A. albiventris (Fig. 1c)

Summary

Introduction

The expression of hair features is an evolutionary adaptation resulting from interactions between many organisms and their environment. Abbreviations A. albiventris Atelerix albiventris Hiseq High-throughput sequencing PCA Principal component analysis KRT Keratin FGF Fibroblast growth factor SHH Sonic hedgehog BMP Bone morphogenetic protein DEGs Differentially expressed genes RT-qPCR Quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction SOM Self-organizing feature map Perceiving and responding to life-threatening signals and regulating their own morphological characteristics constitute a fundamental challenge for all mammals. The hedgehog progresses through a series of well-defined stages during its life cycle, from embryonic, to non-spine, to with-spine s tages[3] These transitions are governed by tightly regulated gene expression at pre-transcriptional, epigenetic, and translational levels. Development of hair follicles on a skin appendage with a complex growth cycle is characterized by anagen, catagen, and telogen stages, and many key signaling pathways and genes are involved in their r egulation[4,5,6]. EDA and EDAR interact with members of the bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) family, some of which inhibit follicle development to establish follicle patterning[2,18,19,20]

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