The molecular mechanism of buffalo white hair formation is revealed

Recently, the International Livestock Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, "Joint Laboratory of Animal and Livestock Genetic Resources" in cooperation with the Agricultural University of China and other units, using a variety of histological methods, the study revealed the cause of the white hair color characteristics of buffalo mutations and molecular control mechanisms, for China's white buffalo characteristics of genetic resources protection and utilization provides an important scientific basis. The findings are published online in Molecular Biology and Evolution.
According to Professor Han Jianlin, white buffalo skin is pink, eyes are black, hair, horns, hoofs are all white, is a precious genetic resources of livestock and poultry, but its white hair-colored molecular mechanism has not been parsed. By studying the white buffalo Agouti signal protein gene (
), the researchers found that it inserted a LINE-1 transstate upstream, which significantly increased the expression of the
gene in the skin of the white buffalo, thereby hindering the development of melanin cells, eventually leading to the white buffalo due to the lack of mature melanin cells and pigment particles at the base of the skin. White-haired characteristics are the esogens of the first analytical molecular genetic mechanism of home-bred buffaloes, which provide an important scientific basis for the effective protection of the characteristic genetic resources of white buffaloes in China and the scientific selection and breeding.
the study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China. Several scholars from China, Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Thailand, Laos and Bangladesh participated in the study. (Source: Zhang Qingdan, China Science Journal, Fu Songchuan)
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