title: Exploring differentially expressed genes in the ovaries of uniparous and multiparous goats using the RNA-Seq (Quantification) method.
abstract: Fecundity improvement is one of the most important objectives for goat breeders as it greatly increases production efficiency. To investigate the genes associated with litter sizes in the Anhui White goat (AWG), gene expression differences in the ovaries of uniparous and multiparous AWG were assessed using the RNA-Seq (Quantification) method. This analysis generated 6,027,714 and 5,884,062 clean reads in uniparous and multiparous libraries, respectively. A total of 2201 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were thereby identified (FDR≤0.001, |log₂Ratio|≥1). There were 1583 up-regulated and 618 down-regulated genes in the multiparous samples compared with the uniparous samples. A large number of these DEGs were related to the terms cellular process, cell & cell part and binding. Twelve genes which may be associated with the high prolificacy of AWG were identified using a bioinformatic screen. In addition, pathway analysis revealed that these DEGs were significantly enriched in 11 Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways, including ECM-receptor interactions, focal adhesion, and regulation of the actin cytoskeleton among others. This suggested a role for these pathways in the prolificacy of AWG. These results provide a list of new candidate genes for goat prolificacy.
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Technology, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei, Anhui 230036, China.
authors.forename: Ying-Hui
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Ling
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Technology, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei, Anhui 230036, China; Local Animal Genetic Resources Conservation and Biobreeding Laboratory of Anhui Province, Hefei, Anhui 230036, China.
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xiang
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Technology, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei, Anhui 230036, China.
authors.forename: Yun-Sheng
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Technology, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei, Anhui 230036, China.
authors.forename: Ya
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Technology, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei, Anhui 230036, China.
authors.forename: Yun-Hai
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Technology, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei, Anhui 230036, China.
authors.forename: Zi-Juan
authors.initials: ZJ
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Technology, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei, Anhui 230036, China. Electronic address: dingjp1964@126.com.
authors.forename: Jian-Ping
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Technology, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei, Anhui 230036, China. Electronic address: zhangxiaorong01@163.com.
authors.forename: Xiao-Rong
authors.initials: XR
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling / Q000662:veterinary*; D063990:Gene Ontology; D053263:Gene Regulatory Networks; D006041:Goats / Q000235:genetics*; D008957:Models, Genetic; D010053:Ovary / Q000378:metabolism*; D010298:Parity; D011247:Pregnancy; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA / Q000379:methods*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics
keywords: Differentially expressed genes; Goat; Ovary; Prolificacy; RNA-Seq