ACTA VETERINARIA ET ZOOTECHNICA SINICA ›› 2013, Vol. 44 ›› Issue (8): 1189-1197.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2013.08.003

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Cloning and Expression Characterization of Sheep POU2F3 Gene and Its Isoforms in Chinese Merino Skin

RONG En-guang1,2,3, QIAO Shu-pei1,2,3, YU Lei3, YAN Xiao-hong3,YANG Hua4, LI Hui1,2,3, WANG Ning1,2,3*   

  1. 1.  Key Laboratory of Chicken Genetics and Breeding,  Ministry of Agriculture, Harbin 150030, China; 2. Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction, Education Department of Heilongjiang, Harbin 150030, China; 3. College of Animal Science and Technology, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China; 4. Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary, Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural and Reclamation Science, Shihezi 832000, China
  • Received:2013-01-22 Online:2013-08-23 Published:2013-08-23

Abstract:

The objective of this study was to explore the expression pattern of POU2F3 gene in sheep, and to clone the full-length CDS of POU2F3 and its alternatively spliced isoforms in Chinese Merino skin (Xinjiang Junken Type). The expression of POU2F3 gene was detected by Semi-quantitative reverse transcription PCR (SqRT-PCR) in tissues. The full-length CDS regions of POU2F3 gene and its isoforms were amplified by RT-PCR, cloned into T vector, and sequenced. The sequence was analyzed using online bioinformatics softwares. SqRT-PCR analysis showed that the POU2F3 gene was only expressed in some sheep internal organs and tissues. Comparatively, it was highly expressed in body side skin. No significant differences at the expression levels of POU2F3 gene between the skins from various anatomic locations of super fine wool strain were observed (P>0.05). Similarly, no significant differences at the expression levels of POU2F3 gene in body side skin between wool and hair sheep were observed (P>0.05). Sequence analysis indicated that sheep POU2F3 gene in skin generated at least four spliced mRNA isoforms encoding four POU2F3 protein isoforms of 429, 396, 221 and 221aa, respectively. POU2F3 gene is highly expressed in the skin of Chinese Merino (Xinjiang Junken Type). Besides the full-length POU2F3, sheep POU2F3 has at least two protein isoforms in skin. This study not only lays the foundation for clarifying the function of sheep POU2F3 gene, but also provides theoretical basis for breeding high quality Merino sheep.

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