Acta Veterinaria et Zootechnica Sinica ›› 2020, Vol. 51 ›› Issue (10): 2413-2424.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2020.10.009

• ANIMAL GENETICS AND BREEDING • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Screening and Preliminary Analysis of Tarim Red Deer (Cervus elaphus yarkandensis) Hair Color Differentially Expressed Genes Based on RNA-Seq

Subinur ELI1, Tayerjan MAMAT1, Buweihailiqiemu ABABAIKERI1,2, Mahmut HALIK1*   

  1. 1. College of Life Science and Technology, Xinjiang University, Urumqi 830046, China;
    2. College of Xinjiang Uyghur Medicine, Hotan 848000, China
  • Received:2019-11-26 Online:2020-10-25 Published:2020-10-26

Abstract: The aim of this study was to screen and analyze the hair color related genes of Tarim red deer based on RNA-Seq technology. Using Illumina Hi Seq TM2000 sequencing platform, the skin tissue of Tarim red deer and Tianshan red deer were sequenced by transcriptome. After quality control and assembly, the obtained sequences were compared with the annotations in NR, Swiss-Prot, COG, KOG, KEGG, GO and Pfam databases, and the differentially expressed genes were screened, functional annotated and enriched. The results showed that 25 038 Unigenes with annotated information were obtained by sequencing. The comparative analysis showed that there were 922 differentially expressed genes between Tarim red deer and Tianshan red deer, of which 495 were up-regulated and 427 were down-regulated. The results of GO functional enrichment analysis showed that 568 differentially expressed genes were enriched in 61 GO terms and participated in biological processes, cell components and molecular functions, respectively. The enrichment analysis of KEGG metabolic pathway showed that the most significant metabolic pathway enriched by differentially expressed genes was the ECM-receptor interaction. Real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to analyze the transcriptional level changes of 7 candidate genes related to hair color to verify the accuracy and reliability of transcriptome sequencing results. The expression trend of these genes was consistent with the transcriptome sequencing results. ECM-receptor interaction, protein digestion and absorption, PI3K-Akt signaling pathway and tyrosine related to melanin synthesis may be related to regulation of hair color of Tarim red deer; Candidate genes MITF, Ggt1, VDR, PTPRF, CⅡTA, ARPC5L, POMC may play an important role in hair color formation of Tarim red deer. The results of this study will provide abundant experimental data for studying the molecular regulatory mechanism of hair color related genes and exploring the potential new genes in Tarim red deer.

Key words: Cervus elaphus yarkandensis, RNA-Seq technology, hair color, differentially expressed genes, qRT-PCR

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