Cloning and identification of the ASIP gene in Chinese raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides procyonoides).

The quantity, quality, and distribution of eumelanin and pheomelanin determine a wide variety of coat colors in animals. Three coat color variants exist in farmed wild-type Chinese raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides procyonoides), which is an important fur-bearing animal species. The ASIP gene is an important candidate gene for coat color variation in some species. In this study, the complete cDNA sequences of ASIP were amplified from a wild-type Chinese raccoon dog. Sequence analysis revealed the coding region of ASIP in Chinese raccoon dog to be 396-bp in length and two transcripts (accession Nos. KT224450 and KT224451) were identified due to the alternative use of exon 1 (1A and 1C). However, the alternative splicing pattern and the coding sequence of ASIP in three types of coat color variants were the same as those identified in the wild-type individual. Based on the results obtained in this study, we can exclude a role for alternative splicing of exon 1 and the coding sequence of ASIP in coat color variation in Chinese raccoon dog.