The transcriptional landscape of seasonal coat colour moult in the snowshoe hare
The transcriptional landscape of seasonal coat colour moult in the snowshoe hare
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DOI：
10.1111/mec.14177
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发表时间：
2017-08-01
影响因子：
4.9
通讯作者：
Melo-Ferreira, Jose
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Ferreira, Mafalda S.;Alves, Paulo C.;Melo-Ferreira, Jose
季节性毛色变化是对季节性变化环境的重要适应，但对这一特征和其他年周期特征的进化仍知之甚少。在这项研究中，我们使用基因表达来了解季节性毛色换羽野生雪鞋野兔（Lepus americanus）。我们用头发的颜色，以遵循换羽的进展，同时采样皮肤从三个换羽阶段收集在春季换羽高峰期从白色冬季棕色夏季毛皮野兔。使用RNA测序，我们测试了表达模式是否与基于毛发生长周期的既定阶段的预测一致。我们发现在不同皮肤类型的功能上一致的聚类，有766个基因在蜕皮阶段之间差异表达。“白色”皮毛显示出更多差异表达的基因，这些基因相对于其他皮肤类型上调，涉及晚期休止期（静止期）和生长期（增殖期）开始之间的过渡。从过渡“中间”和“棕色”毛皮的皮肤样品是转录相似的，类似于退化过渡到退化期（退化阶段）。我们还检测了几个关键的生物钟和色素沉着基因的差异表达，提供了重要的手段来解剖基地交替季节性的颜色形态。我们的研究结果表明，皮毛颜色是一个有用的生物标志物的季节性变化，但有一个一致的主要基因表达波和可见的毛色变化之间的滞后。这些实验表明，从非模式生物的自然种群中进行发育取样，可以为剖析复杂的季节性变化特征的遗传基础和进化提供重要的资源。
Seasonal coat colour change is an important adaptation to seasonally changing environments but the evolution of this and other circannual traits remains poorly understood. In this study, we use gene expression to understand seasonal coat colour moulting in wild snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus). We used hair colour to follow the progression of the moult, simultaneously sampling skin from three moulting stages in hares collected during the peak of the spring moult from white winter to brown summer pelage. Using RNA sequencing, we tested whether patterns of expression were consistent with predictions based on the established phases of the hair growth cycle. We found functionally consistent clustering across skin types, with 766 genes differentially expressed between moult stages. "White" pelage showed more differentially expressed genes that were upregulated relative to other skin types, involved in the transition between late telogen (quiescent stage) and the onset of anagen (proliferative stage). Skin samples from transitional "intermediate" and "brown" pelage were transcriptionally similar and resembled the regressive transition to catagen (regressive stage). We also detected differential expression of several key circadian clock and pigmentation genes, providing important means to dissect the bases of alternate seasonal colour morphs. Our results reveal that pelage colour is a useful biomarker for seasonal change but that there is a consistent lag between the main gene expression waves and change in visible coat colour. These experiments establish that developmental sampling from natural populations of non-model organisms can provide a crucial resource to dissect the genetic basis and evolution of complex seasonally changing traits.