Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, People's Republic of China.
Genes Genomics. 2021 Feb;43(2):173-182. doi: 10.1007/s13258-020-01026-3. Epub 2021 Feb 2.
Skin color is colorful for birds, which has been reported to be associated with multi-biological functions, such as crypsis, camouflage, social signaling and mate choice, but little is known about its underlying molecular mechanism.
Studies on the major genes affecting the black skin color of ducks.
For this purpose, Silver ammonia staining and RNA-seq analysis were carried out to identify the differences in tissue morphology and gene expressions between black and yellow skin ducks.
The silver ammonia dyes slice results showed that in the development of black duck, the content of melanin in black skin gradually increased and then decreased, and the content of melanin in yellow and black skin was significantly different. Through transcriptome, a total of 102 and 84 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in beak skin and web skin, respectively. These DEGs were enriched in melanin biosynthesis and play a critical role in melanogenesis pathway. Co-expression analysis showed that EDNRB2 was the only gene associated with black skin color in DEGs, which was also consistent with qRT-PCR.
The melanin synthesis pathway dominated by EDNRB2 up-regulated the amount of melanin synthesis, leading to the formation of black skin in ducks.
鸟类的皮肤颜色丰富多彩，据报道与多种生物学功能有关，如伪装、保护色、社交信号和配偶选择，但对其潜在的分子机制知之甚少。
研究影响鸭子黑色皮肤的主要基因。
为此，进行了银氨染色和 RNA-seq 分析，以鉴定黑皮和黄皮鸭之间组织形态和基因表达的差异。
银氨染片结果表明，在黑鸭的发育过程中，黑皮肤中的黑色素含量逐渐增加，然后减少，黑皮和黄皮之间的黑色素含量有显著差异。通过转录组分析，在喙皮和蹼皮中分别鉴定出 102 个和 84 个差异表达基因（DEGs）。这些 DEGs 富集在黑色素生物合成途径中，对黑素生成途径起着关键作用。共表达分析表明，EDNRB2 是 DEGs 中唯一与黑皮肤颜色相关的基因，这与 qRT-PCR 结果一致。
以 EDNRB2 为主导的黑色素合成途径上调了黑色素合成的数量，导致鸭子的黑色皮肤形成。
