Analysis of genes that control fur color formation in domestic rabbits using Solexa sequencing. Oryctolagus cuniculus

We used Solexa sequencing technology to probe the gene expression of dorsal skin tissues from three full-sib Rex rabbits of different colors. The number of expressed genes in each sample was approximately 14,700. Compared with the chinchilla Rex rabbit control sample, the numbers of genes that exhibited greater than a 2-fold change in expression with a false discovery rate of ≤0.001 in the black rabbit sample and white rabbit sample were 1,809 and 460, respectively, and the number of common differentially expressed genes was 257.Of the 257 genes, 32 genes that were upregulated in sample B and downregulated in sample W. The FABP7 gene was the only gene that was downregulated in the B sample and upregulated in the W sample Overall design: The samples collected with three full-sib individual and they were raised under the same conditions for 42 days(at the first molt). The fur colors of them were characterized as black (B), white (W), and chinchilla (C).