Transcriptome Analysis of Improved Wool Production in Skin-Specific Transgenic Sheep Overexpressing Ovine ?-Catenin.

ABSTRACT: ?-Catenin is an evolutionarily conserved molecule in the canonical Wnt signaling pathway, which controls decisive steps in embryogenesis and functions as a crucial effector in the development of hair follicles. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying wool production have not been fully elucidated. In this study, we investigated the effects of ovine ?-catenin on wool follicles of transgenic sheep produced by pronuclear microinjection with a skin-specific promoter of human keratin14 (k14). Both polymerase chain reaction and Southern blot analysis showed that the sheep carried the ovine ?-catenin gene and that the ?-catenin gene could be stably inherited. To study the molecular responses to high expression of ?-catenin, high-throughput RNA-seq technology was employed using three transgenic sheep and their wild-type siblings. These findings suggest that ?-catenin normally plays an important role in wool follicle development by activating the downstream genes of the Wnt pathway and enhancing the expression of keratin protein genes and keratin-associated protein genes.

SUBMITTER: Wang J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6387261 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature