Identification of Genes Related to Hair Follicle Cycle Development in Inner Mongolia Cashmere Goat by WGCNA

Gao Gong; Yixing Fan; Xiaochun Yan; Wenze Li; Xiaomin Yan; Hongfu Liu; Ludan Zhang; Yixing Su; Jiaxin Zhang; Wei Jiang; Zhihong Liu; Zhiying Wang; Ruijun Wang; Yanjun Zhang; Qi Lv; Jinquan Li; Rui Su

doi:10.3389/fvets.2022.894380

Identification of Genes Related to Hair Follicle Cycle Development in Inner Mongolia Cashmere Goat by WGCNA

Front Vet Sci. 2022 Jun 14:9:894380. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2022.894380. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Gao Gong¹, Yixing Fan², Xiaochun Yan¹, Wenze Li¹, Xiaomin Yan¹, Hongfu Liu¹, Ludan Zhang¹, Yixing Su¹, Jiaxin Zhang¹, Wei Jiang¹, Zhihong Liu¹, Zhiying Wang¹, Ruijun Wang¹, Yanjun Zhang¹, Qi Lv^{1

3

4

5}, Jinquan Li^{1

3

4

5}, Rui Su^{1

3

4

5}

Affiliations

¹ College of Animal Science, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, China.
² College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Mutton Sheep Genetics and Breeding, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Hohhot, China.
⁵ Engineering Research Center for Goat Genetics and Breeding, Hohhot, China.

Abstract

Cashmere goat from Inner Mongolia is an excellent local breed in China, and the related cashmere product is a kind of precious textile raw material with high price. Cashmere is generated from secondary hair follicles, which has obvious annual periodicity and includes three different stages: anagen, catagen, and telogen. Therefore, we investigated skin transcriptome data for 12 months using weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) to explore essential modules, pathways, and genes responsible for the periodic growth and development of secondary hair follicles. A total of 17 co-expression modules were discovered by WGCNA, and there is a strong correlation between steelblue module and month (0.65, p = 3E-09), anagen (0.52, p = 1E-05), telogen (-0.6, p = 8E-08). Gene expression was generally high during late anagen to catagen (June to December), while expression was downregulated from telogen to early anagen (January-May), which is similar to the growth rule of hair follicle cycle. KEGG pathway enrichment analyses of the genes of steelblue module indicated that genes are mainly enriched in Cell cycle, Wnt signaling pathway, p53 signaling pathway and other important signal pathways. These genes were also significantly enriched in GO functional annotation of the cell cycle, microtubule movement, microtubule binding, tubulin binding, and so on. Ten genes (WIF1, WNT11, BAMBI, FZD10, NKD1, LEF1, CCND3, E2F3, CDC6, and CDC25A) were selected from these modules, and further identified as candidate biomarkers to regulate periodic development of hair follicles using qRT-PCR. The Wnt signaling pathway and Cell cycle play an important role in the periodic development of hair follicles. Ten genes were identified as essential functional molecules related to periodic development of hair follicle. These findings laid a foundation for understanding molecular mechanisms in biological functions such as hair follicle development and hair growth in cashmere goats.

Keywords: Inner Mongolia cashmere goats; WGCNA; Wnt signaling pathway; core genes; hair follicle cycle.