Discovery of genes and proteins regulating wool diameter

Sheep provide considerable materials for the animal fibre industry. Identifying genes of major effect for wool growth would offer strategies for improving the quality of fine wool. In this study, we employed Agilent Sheep Gene Expression Microarray and proteomic technology to investigate the gene expression patterns of body side skin between Aohan fine wool sheep and small tail Han sheep (two Chinese indigenous breed) at the anagen stage of wool follicle. Several potential gene families might participate in hair growth regulation, including fibroblast growth factors, transforming growth factor-β, WNTs, insulin-like growth factor, vascular endothelial growth factors and so on. Furthermore, according to the results at both mRNA and protein levels, similar regulation mechanism of gene activity might be engaged during skin development and embryo development. All animals were treated in accordance with the animal protocols defined by national and local animal welfare bodies, and all animal work was approved by the Shandong Province Biological Studies Animal Care and Use Committee.One ram and two ewes of 12-month-old Aohan fine wool sheep and small tail Han sheep were used in the microarray study. These animals were half sibs (sharing the same father) for each breed. In August 2010, full-thickness skin from body side were sampled from each animal under local anaesthesia for microarray and proteomic experiments. The area of each sample was about 1 cm2. All samples were immediately put into collection tubes and stored in liquid nitrogen for RNA and protein extraction. A total of 15, 208 probes were spotted on this Agilent Sheep Gene Expression Microarray (Santa Clara, CA, USA).