The Mechanisms of Fur Development and Color Formation in American Mink Revealed Using Comparative Transcriptomics

Overview

Journal Animals (Basel)

Date 2022 Nov 26

PMID 36428316

Authors

Lidong Wang

Shengyang Zhou

Guangshuai Liu

Tianshu Lyu

Lupeng Shi

Yuehuan Dong

Shangbin He

Honghai Zhang

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

American mink fur is an important economic product, but the molecular mechanisms underlying its color formation and fur development remain unclear. We used RNA-seq to analyze the skin transcriptomes of young and adult mink with two different hair colors. The mink comprised black adults (AB), white adults (AW), black juveniles (TB), and white juveniles (TW) (three each). Through pair comparison and cross-screening among different subgroups, we found that 13 genes and five signaling pathways (the JAK-STAT signaling pathway (cfa04630), signaling pathways regulating pluripotency of stem cells (cfa04550), ECM-receptor interaction (cfa04512), focal adhesion (cfa04510), and the Ras signaling pathway (cfa04014)) were related to mink fur development. We also found that members of a tyrosinase family (, , and ) are involved in mink hair color formation. The expression levels of TYR were higher in young black mink than in young white mink, but this phenomenon was not observed in adult mink. Our study found significant differences in adult and juvenile mink skin transcriptomes, which may shed light on the mechanisms of mink fur development. At the same time, the skin transcriptomes of black and white mink also showed differences, with the results varying by age, suggesting that the genes regulating hair color are active in early development rather than in adulthood. The results of this study provide molecular support in breeding for mink coat color and improving fur quality.

Citing Articles

Genetic and Phenotypic Parameters for Pelt Quality and Body Length and Weight Traits in American Mink.

Valipour S, Karimi K, Barrett D, Do D, Hu G, Sargolzaei M Animals (Basel). 2022; 12(22).

PMID: 36428411 PMC: 9686488. DOI: 10.3390/ani12223184.

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