Molecular Signatures and Functional Analysis of Secondary Hair Follicles in Cashmere Goat During Annual Cashmere Growth

Secondary hair follicles (SHFs) produce the cashmere of goats. In the present study, SHF clusters were isolated under the microscope by cutting out the epidermis and removing the connective tissues. RNA sequencing was performed on the collected SHFs. Through genome-wide transcriptomic analysis, we discovered and characterized differentially expressed molecular signatures across the annual growth cycle of cashmere and demonstrated their differential expression features and importance in cashmere growth. Overall design: Gene expression profiling analysis of RNA-seq data for cashmere follicles during annual cashmere growth. RNA sequencing was performed using Illumina HiSeq 4000 platform across six time points, each with two biological replicates (male and female), representing phases of anagen (May and September), catagen (November and December) and telogen (February and March).