• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제21권11호
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• pp.1535-1543
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• 2008

Microsatellites (MS) are useful for quantifying genetic variation within and between populations and for describing the evolutionary relationships of closely related populations. The main objectives of this work were to estimate genetic parameters, measure genetic distances and reconstruct phylogenetic relationships between Australian Angora/Angora_Aus/ and Cashmere/Cashmere_Aus/ populations and three Mongolian Cashmere goat (Bayandelger/BD/, Zavkhan Buural/ZB/, and Gobi Gurvan Saikhan/GGS/) populations based on variation at fourteen MS loci. The level and pattern of observed and expected heterozygosity and polymorphic information content of the fourteen loci studied across the populations were quite similar and high. Except for SRCRSP07, all studied microsatellites were in Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium (p<0.001). Moderate genetic variation (7.5%) was found between the five goat populations with 92.5% of total genetic variation attributable to diversity existing between the individuals within each population. The greatest Nei's genetic distances were found between the Angora and four Cashmere populations (0.201-0.276) and the lowest distances were between the Mongolian Cashmere goat populations (0.026-0.031). Compared with other Cashmere goat populations, the GGS (crossbred with Russian Don Goats) population had the smallest pairwise genetic distance from the Australian Angora population (0.192). According to a three-factorial correspondence analysis (CA), the three different Mongolian Cashmere populations could hardly be distinguished from each other.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제19권1호
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• pp.13-18
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• 2006

Two different animal models, which differ in whether or not taking maternal genetic effect into account, for estimating genetic parameters of cashmere weight, live body weight, cashmere thickness, staple length, fiber diameter, and fiber length in Inner Mongolia White Cashmere Goat were compared via likelihood ratio test. The results indicate that maternal genetic effect has significant influence on live body weight and cashmere thickness, but no significant influence on the other traits. Using models suitable for each trait, both genetic parameters and trends were analyzed with the MTDFREML program. Heritability estimates from single trait models for cashmere weight, live body weight, cashmere thickness, staple length, fiber diameter and fiber length were found to be 0.30, 0.07, 0.21, 0.29, 0.28 and 0.21, respectively. Genetic correlation estimates from two-trait models between live body weight and all other traits (-0.06~0.07) was negligible, as were those between fiber diameter and all other traits (-0.01~0.03) except cashmere thickness (0.19). Cashmere weight and staple length had moderate to low genetic correlations with other traits (-0.24~0.39 and -0.24~0.34, respectively) except for live body weight and fiber diameter. Cashmere thickness had a strong genetic correlation with fiber length (0.81), and low genetic correlation with other traits (0.19~0.34) except live body weight. Genetic trend analysis suggests that selection for cashmere weight was very effective, which has led to the slow genetic progress of cashmere thickness and fiber length due to their genetic correlations with cashmere weight. The selection for live body weight was not effective, which was consistent with its low inheritability.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제28권9호
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• pp.1235-1243
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• 2015

The goat Capra hircus is one of several economically important livestock in China. Advances in molecular genetics have led to the identification of several single nucleotide variation markers associated with genes affecting economic traits. Validation of single nucleotide variations in a whole-transcriptome sequencing is critical for understanding the information of molecular genetics. In this paper, we aim to develop a large amount of convinced single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for Cashmere goat through transcriptome sequencing. In this study, the transcriptomes of Cashmere goat skin at four stages were measured using RNA-sequencing and 90% to 92% unique-mapped-reads were obtained from total-mapped-reads. A total of 56,231 putative SNPs distributed among 10,057 genes were identified. The average minor allele frequency of total SNPs was 18%. GO and KEGG pathway analysis were conducted to analyze the genes containing SNPs. Our follow up biological validation revealed that 64% of SNPs were true SNPs. Our results show that RNA-sequencing is a fast and efficient method for identification of a large number of SNPs. This work provides significant genetic resources for further research on Cashmere goats, especially for the high density linkage map construction and genome-wide association studies.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제31권5호
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• pp.650-657
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• 2018

Objective: The study investigated the biological functions and mechanisms for controlling cashmere growth of Liaoning cashmere goat by ovarian carcinoma immunoreactive antigen-like protein 2 (OCIAD2) and decorin (DCN) genes. Methods: cDNA library of Liaoning cashmere goat was constructed in early stages. OCIAD2 and DCN genes related to cashmere growth were identified by homology analysis comparison. The expression location of OCIAD2 and DCN genes in primary and secondary hair follicles (SF) was performed using in situ hybridization. The expression of OCIAD2 and DCN genes in primary and SF was performed using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results: In situ hybridization revealed that OCIAD2 and DCN were expressed in the inner root sheath of Liaoning cashmere goat hair follicles. Real-time quantitative PCR showed that these genes were highly expressed in SF during anagen, while these genes were highly expressed in primary hair follicle in catagen phase. Melatonin (MT) inhibited the expression of OCIAD2 and promoted the expression of DCN. Insulin-like growth factors-1 (IGF-1) inhibited the expression of OCIAD2 and DCN, while fibroblast growth factors 5 (FGF5) promoted the expression of these genes. MT and IGF-1 promoted OCIAD2 synergistically, while MT and FGF5 inhibited the genes simultaneously. MT+IGF-1/MT+FGF5 inhibited DCN gene. RNAi technology showed that OCIAD2 expression was promoted, while that of DCN was inhibited. Conclusion: Activation of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling pathway up-regulated OCIAD2 expression and stimulated SF to control cell proliferation. DCN gene affected hair follicle morphogenesis and periodic changes by promoting transforming growth $factor-{\beta}$ ($TGF-{\beta}$) and BMP signaling pathways. OCIAD2 and DCN genes have opposite effects on $TGF-{\beta}$ signaling pathway and inhibit each other to affect the hair growth.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제32권10호
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• pp.1501-1510
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• 2019

Objective: An experiment was conducted to evaluate genetic diversity of 26 Chinese indigenous goats by 30 microsatellite markers, and then to define conservation priorities to set up the protection programs according to the weight given to within- and between-breed genetic diversity. Methods: Twenty-six representative populations of Chinese indigenous goats, 1,351 total, were sampled from different geographic regions of China. Within-breed genetic diversity and marker polymorphism were estimated calculating the mean number of alleles, observed heterozygosities, expected heterozygosities, fixation index, effective number of alleles and allelic richness. Conservation priorities were analyzed by statistical methods. Results: A relatively high level of genetic diversity was found in twenty-four population; the exceptions were in the Daiyun and Fuqing goat populations. Within-breed kinship coefficient matrices identified seven highly inbred breeds which should be of concern. Of these, six breeds receive a negative contribution to heterozygosity when the method was based on proportional contribution to heterozygosity. Based on Weitzman or Piyasatian and Kinghorn methods, the breeds distant from others i.e. Inner Mongolia Cashmere goat, Chengdu Brown goat and Leizhou goat obtain a high ranking. Evidence from Caballero and Toro and Fabuel et al method prioritized Jining Gray goat, Liaoning Cashmere goat, and Inner Mongolia Cashmere goat, which agree with results from Kinship-based methods. Conclusion: Conservation priorities were determined according to multiple methods. Our results suggest Inner Mongolia Cashmere goat (most methods), Jining Gray goat and Liaoning Cashmere goat (high contribution to heterozygosity and total diversity) should be prioritized based on most methods. Furthermore, Daiyun goat and Shannan White goat also should be prioritized based on consideration of effective population size. However, if one breed can continually survive under changing conditions, the straightforward approach would be to increase its utilization and attraction for production via mining breed germplasm characteristics.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제26권3호
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• pp.323-333
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• 2013

This study investigated the geographic and pairwise distances of nine Chinese local Cashmere goat populations through the analysis of 20 microsatellite DNA markers. Fluorescence PCR was used to identify the markers, which were selected based on their significance as identified by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Society for Animal Genetics (ISAG). In total, 206 alleles were detected; the average allele number was 10.30; the polymorphism information content of loci ranged from 0.5213 to 0.7582; the number of effective alleles ranged from 4.0484 to 4.6178; the observed heterozygosity was from 0.5023 to 0.5602 for the practical sample; the expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.5783 to 0.6464; and Allelic richness ranged from 4.7551 to 8.0693. These results indicated that Chinese Cashmere goat populations exhibited rich genetic diversity. Further, the Wright's F-statistics of subpopulation within total (FST) was 0.1184; the genetic differentiation coefficient (GST) was 0.0940; and the average gene flow (Nm) was 2.0415. All pairwise FST values among the populations were highly significant (p<0.01 or p<0.001), suggesting that the populations studied should all be considered to be separate breeds. Finally, the clustering analysis divided the Chinese Cashmere goat populations into at least four clusters, with the Hexi and Yashan goat populations alone in one cluster. These results have provided useful, practical, and important information for the future of Chinese Cashmere goat breeding.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제26권11호
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• pp.1644-1650
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• 2013

Ribosomal protein (rp) S6 is the substrate of ribosomal protein S6K (S6 kinase) and is involved in protein synthesis by mTOR/S6K/S6 signaling pathway. Some S6 cDNA have been cloned in mammals in recent years but has not been identified in the goat. To facilitate such studies, we cloned the cDNA encoding Cashmere goat (Capra hircus) S6 (GenBank accession GU131122) and then detected mRNA expression in seven tissues by real time PCR and protein expression in testis tissue by immunohistochemisty. Sequence analysis indicated that the obtained goat S6 was a 808 bp product, including a 3' untranslated region of 58 bp and an open reading frame of 750 bp which predicted a protein of 249 amino acids. The predicted amino acid sequence was highly homologous to cattle, human, mouse and rat S6. Expression analysis indicated S6 mRNA was expressed extensively in detected tissues and S6 protein was expressed in testis tissue.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제31권3호
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• pp.316-326
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• 2018

Objective: This study investigated the expression of genes in cashmere goats at different periods of their fetal development. Methods: Bioinformatics analysis was used to evaluate data obtained by transcriptome sequencing of fetus skin samples collected from Inner Mongolia cashmere goats on days 45, 55, and 65 of fetal age. Results: We found that FoxN1, FoxE1, and FoxI3 genes of the Fox gene family were probably involved in the growth and development of the follicle and the formation of hair, which is consistent with previous findings. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction detecting system and Western blot analysis were employed to study the relative differentially expressed genes FoxN1, FoxE1, and FoxI3 in the body skin of cashmere goat fetuses and adult individuals. Conclusion: This study provided new fundamental information for further investigation of the genes related to follicle development and exploration of their roles in hair follicle initiation, growth, and development.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제15권8호
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• pp.1076-1079
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• 2002

The DNA fingerprint polymorphism and the genetic relationship were studied by RAPD technology on Chaidamu goat (CG), Chaidamu Cashmere goat (CCG) and Liaoning Cashmere goat (LCG) from Chaidamu Basin of Qinghai province, China. The results showed that: The amplified bands were all 94 in 3 goat populations by using 8 random primers, and the DNA polymorphism frequencies of CG, CCG and LCG were 0.8404, 0.8617 and 0.8511, respectively, and the length of these DNA fragments were 176-2937 bp. The mean heterozygosities of the 3 goat populations were 0.5148, 0.5142 and 0.5075, respectively. The genetic relationship between CCG and CG or LCG were similar (Gst=4.37% and 3.79%; $D_{ij}=0.0109$ and 0.0106), and that between CG and LCG was further (Gst=13.14%; $D_{ij}=0.0230$). These results also showed that the genetic relationship between CCG and LCG was the closest, then CG and LCG, and CG and CCG was distant.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제26권8호
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• pp.1057-1064
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• 2013

p70 ribosomal S6 kinase (p70S6K) can integrate nutrient and growth factor signals to promote cell growth and survival. We report our molecular characterization of the complementary DNA (cDNA) that encodes the goat p70S6K gene 40S ribosomal S6 kinase 1 (S6K1) (GenBank accession GU144017) and its 3' noncoding sequence in Inner Mongolia Cashmere goats (Capra hircus). Goat S6K1 cDNA was 2,272 bp and include an open reading frame (ORF) of 1,578 bp, corresponding to a polypeptide of 525 amino acids, and a 694-residue 3' noncoding sequence with a polyadenylation signal at nucleotides 2,218 to 2,223. The relative abundance of S6K1 mRNA was measured by real-time PCR in 6 tissues, and p70S6K expression was examined by immunohistochemistry in heart and testis. The phosphorylation of p70S6K is regulated by mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling in fetal fibroblasts.