PDF(Pubmed)
Abstract：
Keratins are the main structural protein components of wool fibres, and variation in them and their genes (KRTs) is thought to influence wool structure and characteristics. The PCR-single strand conformation polymorphism technique has been used previously to investigate genetic variation in selected coding and intron regions of the type II sheep keratin gene KRT81, but no variation was identified. In this study, we used the same technique to explore the 5\' untranslated region of KRT81 and detected three sequence variants (A, B and C) that contain four single nucleotide polymorphisms. Among the 389 Merino × Southdown cross sheep investigated, variant B was linked to a reduction in clean fleece weight, while C was associated with an increase in both greasy fleece weight and clean fleece weight. No discernible effects on staple length or mean-fibre-diameter-related traits were observed. These findings suggest that variation in ovine KRT81 might influence wool growth by changing the density of wool follicles in the skin, the density of individual fibres, or the area of the skin producing fibre, as opposed to changing the rate of extrusion of fibres or their diameter.
摘要：
角蛋白是羊毛纤维的主要结构蛋白成分,它们及其基因（KRTs）的变异被认为会影响羊毛的结构和特性。先前已使用PCR-单链构象多态性技术来研究II型绵羊角蛋白基因KRT81的选定编码和内含子区域的遗传变异，但未发现变异。在这项研究中,我们使用相同的技术来探索KRT81的5'非翻译区，并检测到三个序列变异（A，B和C）包含四个单核苷酸多态性。在被调查的389只美丽野羊×Southdown杂交羊中，变体B与清洁羊毛重量的减少有关，而C与油腻羊毛重量和干净羊毛重量的增加有关。未观察到对短纤维长度或平均纤维直径相关性状的明显影响。这些发现表明，绵羊KRT81的变化可能会通过改变皮肤中羊毛毛囊的密度来影响羊毛的生长。单个纤维的密度，或皮肤产生纤维的区域，与改变纤维的挤出速率或其直径相反。
