Discovery of cashmere goat (Capra hircus) microRNAs in skin and hair follicles by Solexa sequencing
In this study, the skin tissues were harvested from the three stages of hair follicle cycling (anagen, catagen and telogen) in a fiber-producing goat breed. In total, 63,109,004 raw reads were obtained by Solexa sequencing and 61,125,752 clean reads remained for the small RNA digitalization analysis. This resulted in the identification of 399 conserved miRNAs; among these, 326 miRNAs were expressed in all three follicular cycling stages, whereas 3, 12 and 11 miRNAs were specifically expressed in anagen, catagen, and telogen, respectively. We also identified 172 potential novel miRNAs by Mireap, 36 miRNAs were expressed in all three cycling stages, whereas 23, 29 and 44 miRNAs were specifically expressed in anagen, catagen, and telogen, respectively. Gene Ontology and KEGG pathway analyses indicated that five major biological pathways (Metabolic pathways, Pathways in cancer, MAPK signalling pathway, Endocytosis and Focal adhesion) accounting for 23.08% of target genes among 278 biological functions, indicating that these pathways are likely to play significant roles during hair cycling. Overall design: the skin tissues were harvested from the three stages of hair follicle cycling (anagen, catagen and telogen) in a fiber-producing goat breed