Exploring the Maintaining Period and the Differentially Expressed Genes between the Yellow and Black Stripes of the Juvenile Stripe in the Offspring of Wild Boar and Duroc
Sanya Xiong,
Dengshuai Cui,
Naibiao Yu,
Ruiqiu He,
Haojie Zhu,
Jiacheng Wei,
Mingyang Wang,
Wenxin Duan,
Xiaoqing Huang,
Liming Ge,
Yuanmei Guo
Affiliations
Sanya Xiong
National Key Laboratory for Swine Genetic Improvement and Germplasm Innovation, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China
Dengshuai Cui
National Key Laboratory for Swine Genetic Improvement and Germplasm Innovation, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China
Naibiao Yu
National Key Laboratory for Swine Genetic Improvement and Germplasm Innovation, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China
Ruiqiu He
National Key Laboratory for Swine Genetic Improvement and Germplasm Innovation, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China
Haojie Zhu
National Key Laboratory for Swine Genetic Improvement and Germplasm Innovation, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China
Jiacheng Wei
National Key Laboratory for Swine Genetic Improvement and Germplasm Innovation, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China
Mingyang Wang
National Key Laboratory for Swine Genetic Improvement and Germplasm Innovation, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China
Wenxin Duan
National Key Laboratory for Swine Genetic Improvement and Germplasm Innovation, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China
Xiaoqing Huang
National Key Laboratory for Swine Genetic Improvement and Germplasm Innovation, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China
Liming Ge
National Key Laboratory for Swine Genetic Improvement and Germplasm Innovation, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China
Yuanmei Guo
National Key Laboratory for Swine Genetic Improvement and Germplasm Innovation, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China
Coloration is a crucial trait that allows species to adapt and survive in different environments. Wild boars exhibit alternating black (dark) and yellow (light) longitudinal stripes on their back during their infancy (juvenile stripes), and as adults, they transform into uniform wild-type coat color. Aiming to record the procedure of juvenile stripes disappearing, piglets (WD) with juvenile stripes were produced by crossing a wild boar with Duroc sows, and photos of their coat color were taken from 20 d to 220 d. The pigments in the hairs from the black and yellow stripes were determined. Furthermore, the differentially expressed genes between the black and yellow stripes were investigated in 5 WD with the age of 30 d using whole-transcriptome sequencing to explore the genetic mechanism of the juvenile stripes. The juvenile stripes started to disappear at about 70 d, and stripes were not distinguished with the naked eye at about 160 d; that is, the juvenile stripe completely disappeared. A hotspot of a differentially expressing (DE) region was found on chromosome 13, containing/covering 2 of 13 DE genes and 8 of 10 DE lncRNAs in this region. A network among ZIC4, ssc-miR-532-3p, and ENSSSCG00000056225 might regulate the formation of juvenile stripes. Altogether, this study provides new insights into spatiotemporal coat color pattern.
