Acta Veterinaria et Zootechnica Sinica ›› 2023, Vol. 54 ›› Issue (1): 157-167.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2023.01.015

• ABIMAL GENETICS AND BREEDING • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Expression and Function of KRT 16 in Hair Follicle Development of Angora Rabbit

ZHANG Xiyu1, ZHAI Pin2, WANG Fan1, DAI Yingying1, ZHAO Bohao1, CHEN Yang1, WU Xinsheng1*   

  1. 1. College of Animal Science and Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China;
    2. Institute of Animal Science, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing 210014, China
  • Received:2022-04-18 Online:2023-01-23 Published:2023-01-17

Abstract: The study aimed to investigate the expression pattern and function of KRT16 during hair follicle development in Angora rabbit. In this experiment, 12 healthy 6-month-old Wan Strain Angora rabbits were selected for dorsal skin sampling during the anagen, catagen, and telogen after hair shearing. The coding sequence of the rabbit KRT16 gene was obtained by cloning, and the biological properties of the KRT16 coding sequence (CDS) were initially analyzed using bioinformatics softwares. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) was performed to analyze the expression of KRT16 in hair follicles at different times. Overexpression and knockdown of KRT16 in dermal papilla cells (DPC) were performed to investigate the regulatory role of KRT16 on genes related to hair follicle growth and development, and the effect on DPC proliferation. The results showed that the coding sequence of the KRT16 gene was 1 431 bp, could encode 476 amino acids, and showed high homology in different mammals. qRT-PCR results showed that KRT16 showed different expression levels during the period of hair follicle development, with high expression during the anagen phase. The changes in the expression levels of hair follicle development-related genes were examined by overexpressing and knocking down KRT16 in rabbit hair papilla cells. The mRNA expression of SFRP2 and TGFβ1 genes was highly significantly decreased (P<0.01), and the mRNA expression of BCL2, CCND1, EGF, LEF1, and CTNNB1 genes was highly significantly increased after overexpression of KRT16 (P<0.01); while the expression of SFRP2 and TGFβ1 genes was highly significantly increased (P<0.01), and the expression of BCL2, CCND1, EGF, LEF1, and CTNNB1 genes was highly significantly decreased (P<0.01) after knockdown of KRT16. Meanwhile, KRT16 was able to significantly promote the proliferation of hair papilla cells. In summary, it is showed that KRT16 is involved in the cyclic development of hair follicles and can regulate hair follicle growth-and development-related genes to promote the proliferation of hair papilla cells. This study provides a reference for the basic research of hair follicle development through the preliminary study of KRT16 gene function and also provides a basis for the functional study of hair follicle development-related genes in Angora rabbits.

Key words: wool rabbit, KRT16, dermal papilla cell, hair follicle development

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