Acta Veterinaria et Zootechnica Sinica ›› 2022, Vol. 53 ›› Issue (9): 2930-2943.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2022.09.011

• ANIMAL GENETICS AND BREEDING • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Mining Genes Related to Wool Bending of Zhongwei Goat Based on WGCNA and GSEA

LI Xiaobo1,2, LIU Zhanfa3, LIU Yue2, CHEN Qian1,2, MA Yuehui2, ZHAO Qianjun2*, YE Shaohui1*   

  1. 1. College of Animal Science and Technology, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming 650201, China;
    2. Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China;
    3. Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Zhongwei Goat Farm, Ningxia 755000, China
  • Received:2022-02-22 Online:2022-09-23 Published:2022-09-23

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to explore the molecular mechanism of wool bending during growth of Zhongwei goat, and to explore the key genes affecting the curvature of wool at different developmental stages. The skin tissues of 3 Zhongwei goats at 45 days old (curved hair) and 365 days old (straight hair) were collected for transcriptome sequencing (RNA-seq). Hub gene was identified by WGCNA and GSEA analysis. Taking P-value<0.05 and log2FoldChange ≥ 1 as the screening criteria for differentially expressed genes, a total of 1 252 significant differentially expressed genes were screened, the age of 45 days as the control group and 365 days as the experimental group, including 812 up-regulated genes and 440 down-regulated genes. A total of 14 modules were obtained based on WGCNA analysis, among which yellow and turquoise modules were related to the curved phenotype of coat. Network analysis indicated 20 core genes affecting wool curvature were screened using String and Cytoscape. GSEA results showed that Hedgehog signaling pathway, JAK/STAT signaling pathway, TGF/BETA signaling pathway and other regulatory pathways involved in hair follicle development were significantly enriched. Based on the results of KEGG, WGCNA, molecular network construction and GSEA analysis, the genes CCL27, IL7 and WNT2 were screened, and it was inferred that these genes played a key role in regulating hair follicle development. This study provides a theoretical basis for further elucidating the molecular mechanism of animal hair bending.

Key words: Zhongwei goat, transcriptome sequencing, wool bending, WGCNA, GSEA

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