Abstract
There are two main types of hair follicle in Inner Mongolia Cashmere goats, the primary hair follicle (PHF) producing hair fibers and the secondary hair follicle (SHF) producing cashmere fibers. Of both fibers from cashmere-bearing goats in Aerbasi, Inner Mongolia, the timing of cyclical phases for the cashmere have been well clarified but hair fibers have been less noticeable. Herein, we evaluated transcriptome of PHF and SHF from the same three goats in Aerbasi at the catagen- and telogen phase of cashmere growth. We totally found 1977 DEGs between PHFs at the telogen and catagen phases of SHF, 1199 DEGs between telogen- and catagen SHF, 2629 DEGs between PHF at the catagen phase of SHF and catagen SHF, and 755 DEGs between PHF at the telogen phase of SHF and telogen SHF. By analyzing gene functions based on GO and KEGG database, we found that the DEGs have functions in muscle contraction and muscle filament sliding between catagen- and telogen SHF, indicating that arrector pilli muscles might play a role on the transition from catagen to telogen. Moreover, considering that the enriched GO and KEGG categories of the DEGs between PHF and SHF, we suggested that part of PHF might rest in their own anagen phase when SHF are at catagen, but PHF might enter into the telogen phase at SHF’s telogen. Finally, we highly recommended the several potential genes acting as the regulators of the transition between growth phases including IL17RB and eight members of ZNF. These results provide insight into molecular mechanisms on the transition of SHF from catagen to telogen together with PHF’s growth situation at SHF’s catagen and telogen in Inner Mongolia Cashmere goats.
Highlights
Hair follicles on animal skin execute many useful biology function except for producing hair, such as immune defense and grease secretion, etc
For Inner Mongolia Cashmere goats, the anagen phase of secondary hair follicle (SHF) begins from April until November, the catagen phase is from December to January, and the telogen phase is from February to March[5]
Between catagen SHF and telogen SHF, the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were related to muscle contraction (GO:0006936) and muscle filament sliding (GO:0030049) instead of growth and metabolism
Summary
Hair follicles on animal skin execute many useful biology function except for producing hair, such as immune defense and grease secretion, etc. As a major province of raw cashmere in China, Inner Mongolia bears three types of Cashmere goats—Erlangshan, Aerbasi and Alashan; these Cashmere goats are mainly distributed in the northwest of Inner Mongolia Plateau (Fig 1). They are superior in the production of cashmere with diameter less than 16 μm. A growth cycle consists mainly of three distinct stages—anagen, catagen and telogen [2,3,4]. For Inner Mongolia Cashmere goats, the anagen phase of SHF begins from April until November, the catagen phase is from December to January, and the telogen phase is from February to March[5]. To increase the harvest accompanying with the thinner cashmere, researchers try to find major genes and pathways, which may affect the of development and growth the cashmere by molecular biology methods
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