Figures (6)  Tables (3)

    • Figure 1. 

      Histological analysis of four native goat breeds in China. Breeds: Representative animals of DBG, YBG, BJG, and IMCG. Fleece: coarse hair and cashmere under an inverted microscope. Melanin staining: staining results from transverse and longitudinal skin slices of four breeds of goats. The red arrows point to the sites where melanin is deposited.

    • Figure 2. 

      Transcriptome analysis of skin tissues among four goat breeds.(a) Sample correlation heatmap; (b) PCA (principal component analysis) plot; (c) cluster heatmap of the top 2,000 genes.

    • Figure 3. 

      Identification of core genes related to coat color.(a) Volcano plot of genes among black and white hair goats, including BJG vs YBG, BJG vs DBG, DBG vs IMCG, YBG vs IMCG; (b) overlapping genes among four comparisons.

    • Figure 4. 

      Identification of core genes related to fiber length. (a) Serial volcano plot of comparisons including BJG vs IMCG, DBG vs IMCG, and YBG vs IMCG. (b) Overlapping genes among three comparisons.

    • Figure 5. 

      Relative expression levels of coat color-related genes.

    • Figure 6. 

      Relative expression levels of fiber length-related genes.

    • Genes Primer sequence (5'–3') Annealing temperature (°C) Amplicon size (bp)
      ALDOC F: ATTCTGGCCGCAGATGAGTC 60 105
      R: GAACAGAACCTGGCGGTACA
      IRX3 F: AGGGCGGAACAGATCGCT 60 122
      R: GAGAGCCGATAAGACCAGAGC
      NR1D1 F: ACATCGCTGGGAAAGTCAGG 60 102
      R: GAGGAAGCCTGGCGTAAACT
      FOXQ1 F: CGACGGTTGTGGCTTTACTG 60 129
      R: TGCTTTCAGGTGGCAGTGAT
      HOXA9 F: GGAAGAAACGCTGCCCCTAT 60 135
      R: TCTTGACCTGCCTCTCCGTA
      HOXA10 F: CTTCCAAAGGCGAAAACGCA 60 82
      R: GTCTGGTGCTTGGTGTAGGG
      CEBPB F: CCCGCCCGTGGTGTTATT 60 76
      R: GGCAGAATGAGAGGCAAGAGT
      EDA2R F: CTGCTCGTGGTGTTTACCCT 60 118
      R: TCTTGCCAGCCTCATACTGC
      ASIP F: AGCCCAGAGATGAAAGGAACC 60 76
      R: GCCACAATAGAGACAGAAGGGA
      TYR F: CCTCGGCTGATGTGGAGTTT 60 188
      R: CTGGGACATCGTTCCGTTCA
      TYRP1 F: TCAGTTTGTCATCGCCACCA 60 192
      R: AGAAATGCTGGTCCCTCGTG
      DCT F: TTCTCACACCAAGGACCTGC 60 148
      R: TGCACACGTCACACTCGTTA
      PMEL F: GGGCTGACCTTTCCTACACC 60 184
      R: ACATGCCTATCTGTGGTGCC
      SLC24A5 F: TGCACGCTGCAGAAAGATTG 60 103
      R: CAAGTGTGCAGTAGCCCAGA
      SLC45A2 F: CAGATCCTGGTCGGAAGTGG 60 237
      R: TGTCTGAGGTTAGGGACCGT
      HTRA4 F: CGTGGCTTCTGGGGTTTTTG 60 109
      R: GGTGACAGGCAGTCCGTTTA
      NCBP3 F: AGGAACTCCATGAGGGCAGA 60 127
      R: GACGTGTGTGCTGACGTTTT
      SDHA F: CGCTACGACACCAGCTACTT 60 103
      R: TGGACCCGTCTTCTATGCAC
      PTPRA F: AATTCAACGCTCTCCCTGCT 60 131
      R: AACTGGTGTCAGATGGACTCG

      Table 1. 

      Paired primer sequences in qPCR experiments.

    • Traits Breeds
      IMCG BJG DBG YBG
      Fiber traits Hair melanin content (mg) 0.0286 ± 0.0069b 0.0234 ± 0.0135b 0.5509 ± 0.0832a 0.5637 ± 0.0936a
      Hair length (cm) 11.3 ± 1.6a 4.1 ± 0.6b 3.7 ± 0.6b 4.2 ± 0.8b
      Cashmere length (cm) 7.4 ± 0.7a 1.3 ± 0.3b 0.4 ± 0.4c 1.2 ± 0.3b
      Different letters within the same row indicate p < 0.05.

      Table 2. 

      Descriptive statistics of the hair follicle and fiber traits.

    • Breed Sample Clean reads Mapping rate (%) Q30 (%) GC content (%)
      IMCG IMCG-1 21,132,218 96.86 94.34 51.12
      IMCG-2 21,693,880 97.41 95.15 50.42
      IMCG-3 20,226,767 97.28 94.78 50.21
      BJG BJG-1 27,068,839 96.89 94.98 50.92
      BJG-2 23,048,523 96.82 95.36 50.73
      BJG-3 21,340,575 97.43 94.75 50.10
      DBG DBG-1 22,755,384 97.60 95.20 49.35
      DBG-2 24,074,908 97.21 94.73 50.36
      DBG-3 24,040,968 97.10 95.66 49.97
      YBG YBG-1 21,388,934 96.59 94.33 50.86
      YBG-2 22,957,714 97.04 95.20 51.48
      YBG-3 24,458,718 96.64 94.94 51.14

      Table 3. 

      Transcriptome sequencing data of 12 skin tissues.