Abstract
BackgroundThe geese have strong broodiness and poor egg performance. These characteristics are the key issues that hinder the goose industry development. Yet little is known about the mechanisms responsible for follicle development due to lack of genomic resources. Hence, studies based on high-throughput sequencing technologies are needed to produce a comprehensive and integrated genomic resource and to better understand the biological mechanisms of goose follicle development.Methodology/Principal FindingsIn this study, we performed de novo transcriptome assembly and gene expression analysis using short-read sequencing technology (Illumina). We obtained 67,315,996 short reads of 100 bp, which were assembled into 130,514 unique sequences by Trinity strategy (mean size = 753bp). Based on BLAST results with known proteins, these analyses identified 52,642 sequences with a cut-off E-value above 10−5. Assembled sequences were annotated with gene descriptions, gene ontology and clusters of orthologous group terms. In addition, we investigated the transcription changes during the goose laying/broodiness period using a tag-based digital gene expression (DGE) system. We obtained a sequencing depth of over 4.2 million tags per sample and identified a large number of genes associated with follicle development and reproductive biology including cholesterol side-chain cleavage enzyme gene and dopamine beta-hydroxylas gene. We confirm the altered expression levels of the two genes using quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR).Conclusions/SignificanceThe obtained goose transcriptome and DGE profiling data provide comprehensive gene expression information at the transcriptional level that could promote better understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying follicle development and productivity.
Highlights
China has the largest goose production in the world [1,2,3]
Illumina Transcriptome Sequencing and Reads Assembly To obtain an overview of the goose gene expression profile at the egg laying period, cDNA from ovarian tissues of laying/ broodiness goose was sequenced by the Illumina sequencing platform
The results showed a mean identity of 98.4% and query coverage of 69.5%
Summary
China has the largest goose production in the world [1,2,3]. The goose is well known for its strong adaptability, rapid growth, rich nutrient content and low input requirement [4]. (2009) identified some differentially expressed genes relevant to the reproduction of the geese from the prelaying to the egg-laying stage using suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH). These genes include estrogen receptor 1, estrogen receptor 2, follicle stimulating hormone receptor, prolactin receptor, ferritin H chain [5]. As of February 1, 2012, there are about 430 EST and 7314 nucleotide sequences available for the goose in the NCBI database, and only 35 nucleotide sequences are relevant to reproduction These genetic data are insufficient for elucidating the molecular mechanism of productivity of the laying geese. The geese have strong broodiness and poor egg performance These characteristics are the key issues that hinder the goose industry development. Studies based on high-throughput sequencing technologies are needed to produce a comprehensive and integrated genomic resource and to better understand the biological mechanisms of goose follicle development
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