Dynamic transcriptome profiling reveals essential roles of the receptor tyrosine kinases (RTK) family in feather development of duck

1. The following study examined the expression profiles of the receptor tyrosine kinases (RTK) family in the developing feather follicles of Pekin ducks and Nonghua ducks at 6–9 weeks of age. The RTK subfamilies related to feather development were summarised, and other candidate genes related to feather development were enriched. 2. To reveal the potential role of all RTK members in feather development, the feather follicles of two duck breeds (Pekin and Nonghua ducks) at 6–9 weeks were isolated and chosen for RNA-Seq determination. 3. A total of 53 RTK members were confirmed in the duck genome, and 42 were expressed in duck feather follicles. Among RTK subfamilies, the VEGFR, PDGFR, FGFR, EGFR, and InsR subfamilies, along with and Met and KIT genes, were the main ones regulating feather growth. 4. Genes with a similar expression pattern to the RTK were identified, and KEGG and PPI analyses were performed to explore the new potential feather development genes associated with RTK genes. Results showed that BCAR1, PXN, LAMA2, LAMC1 and LAMC3 are essential candidate genes for regulating feather growth.