Comparative Transcriptome Analysis of Raccoon Dog Skin to Determine Melanin Content in Hair and Melanin Distribution in Skin.
Comparative Transcriptome Analysis of Raccoon Dog Skin to Determine Melanin Content in Hair and Melanin Distribution in Skin.
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DOI：
10.1038/srep40903
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发表时间：
2017-01-18
影响因子：
4.6
通讯作者：
Xu C
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Du Z;Huang K;Zhao J;Song X;Xing X;Wu Q;Zhang L;Xu C
浣熊犬（Nyctereutes procyonoides）是世界上重要的犬科动物。中国的浣熊狗，表现出白色突变，特别是那些有白色皮毛的狗。探讨浣熊毛发和皮肤中黑色素的生物合成对于理解浣熊的生存和进化机制具有重要意义。在这项研究中，我们测量了两种类型的浣熊狗的毛发中黑色素的含量，并制作了染色的皮肤组织切片。结果表明，黑色素生物合成发生在野生型（W）和白色型（B）的浣熊皮肤，虽然黑色素产生较少的B皮肤。然后对W和B的皮肤转录组进行测序，比较其表达基因的异同。基因表达比较显示，在B皮肤中有60个基因表达上调，127个基因表达下调。我们分析了与黑素生成途径相关的单基因和途径，发现TYR、TYRP 1、MC 1 R、SLC 24 a5、SLC 45 a2和OCA 2在B皮肤中显著下调，并且这些结果通过qRT-PCR得到验证。我们推测，白色突变的表型特征可能是由这些基因的表达减少引起的，这一发现为将来在浣熊狗中的实验提供了新的见解。
The raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides) is an important canid fur-bearing animal species worldwide. Chinese raccoon dogs that present a white mutation, especially those with a white coat. Exploring melanin biosynthesis in the hair and skin of raccoon dogs is important for understanding the survival and evolutionary mechanisms of them. In this study, we measured the content of melanin in the hair of two types of raccoon dog and generated stained slices of skin tissue. The results indicated that melanin biosynthesis occurs in the wild-type (W) and white-type (B) raccoon dog skin, although less melanin is produced in B skin. We then sequenced the skin transcriptomes of W and B, compared the similarities and differences in expressed genes. A comparison of the gene expression showed 60 up-regulated genes and 127 down-regulated genes in B skin. We analyzed the unigenes and pathways related to the melanogenesis pathway and found that TYR, TYRP1, MC1R, SLC24a5, SLC45a2 and OCA2 were significantly down-regulated in B skin and these results were verified via qRT-PCR. We surmised that the phenotypic characteristics of the white mutation might be caused by the reduced expression of these genes and this finding provides new insights for future experiments in raccoon dogs.