title: Expression patterns of TRα and CRABPII genes in Chinese cashmere goat skin during prenatal development.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The physiologic characteristics of the cashmere trait and many of the differentially expressed genes relevant to hair cycling have been extensively studied, whereas genes involved in the prenatal development of hair follicles have been poorly investigated in cashmere goats. The aim of this study, therefore, was to quantify the time-course changes in the expressions of TRα and CRABPII genes in the fetal skin of Chinese cashmere goats at the multiple embryonic days (E70, E75, E80, E90, E100, E120 and E130) using real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR).
  
  
  RESULTS
  RT-qPCR showed that TRα was expressed at E70 with relatively high level and then slightly decreased (E75, E80, and E90). The highest expression of TRα mRNA was revealed at E130 (P > 0.05). The expression pattern of CRABPII mRNA showed an 'up-down-up' trend, which revealed a significantly highest expression at E75 (P < 0.05) and was down-regulated during E80 to E120 (P < 0.05) and mildly increased at E130, subsequently.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study demonstrated that TRα and CRABPII genes expressed in different levels during prenatal development of cashmere. The present study will be helpful to provide the comprehensive understanding of TRα and CRABPII genes expressions during cashmere formation and lay the ground for further studies on their roles in regulation of cashmere growth in goats.
authors.affiliation: Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan 611130 P. R. China.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.affiliation: Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan 611130 P. R. China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan 611130 P. R. China.
authors.forename: Zhongqiang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan 611130 P. R. China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan 611130 P. R. China.
authors.forename: Linjie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: School of Life Science, Foshan University, Foshan, 528000 P. R. China.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, College of Animal Science and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan 611130 P. R. China.
authors.forename: Hongping
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
keywords: CRABPII; Cashmere goat; Expression; Skin; TRα