Yu Shigang, Wang Gang, Liao Juan, Tang Mei, Sun Wenxing
Engineering Research Center of Sichuan Province Higher School of Local Chicken Breeds Industrialization in Southern Sichuan, College of Life Science, Leshan Normal University, Leshan, China.
College of Public Health, Nantong University, Nantong, China.
Cell Physiol Biochem. 2018;46(6):2373-2384. doi: 10.1159/000489644. Epub 2018 May 4.
BACKGROUND/AIMS: Melanin is a major and ubiquitous component of plumage colouration, and patterns of melanin pigmentation in birds are extremely varied. However, the molecular mechanism of pigmentation in avian plumage is still largely unknown.
To elucidate the molecular mechanisms involved in the formation of black and white plumage, this study takes advantage of high-throughput sequencing technology to compare differences in the transcriptome between black and white chicken feather bulbs. In total, we constructed six cDNA libraries from black (Group B) and white (Group W) feather bulbs in the dorsal plumage of Muchuan black-boned chickens.
A comparison between Groups B and W revealed 61 differentially expressed genes, with 47 displaying higher, and 14 displaying lower, levels of expression in white feather bulbs. Our results revealed a set of candidate genes and two potential metabolic pathways involved in black-bone chicken plumage melanogenesis. These include four homeobox genes (HOXB9, HOXC8, HOXA9, and HOXC 9), two glutathione (GSH) metabolism-related genes (CHAC1 and GPX3), and the transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) signalling pathway. Two known genes, TYR and MITF, were also shown to play a role in melanin formation.
our data provide a valuable resource for discovering genes important in plumage melanin formation and will help further elucidate the molecular mechanisms for black and white plumage.
背景/目的：黑色素是羽毛颜色的主要且普遍存在的成分，鸟类黑色素沉着模式极为多样。然而，鸟类羽毛色素沉着的分子机制仍 largely 未知。
为阐明黑白羽毛形成所涉及的分子机制，本研究利用高通量测序技术比较沐川黑骨鸡背部羽毛毛囊中黑色和白色毛囊转录组的差异。总共，我们从沐川黑骨鸡背部羽毛的黑色（B组）和白色（W组）毛囊构建了六个cDNA文库。
B组和W组之间的比较揭示了61个差异表达基因，其中47个在白色毛囊中表达水平较高，14个在白色毛囊中表达水平较低。我们的结果揭示了一组参与黑骨鸡羽毛黑色素生成的候选基因和两条潜在代谢途径。这些包括四个同源盒基因（HOXB9、HOXC8、HOXA9和HOXC9）、两个谷胱甘肽（GSH）代谢相关基因（CHAC1和GPX3）以及转化生长因子β（TGF-β）信号通路。两个已知基因TYR和MITF也被证明在黑色素形成中起作用。
我们的数据为发现对羽毛黑色素形成重要的基因提供了宝贵资源，并将有助于进一步阐明黑白羽毛的分子机制。
