1. Ovine keratome: identification, localisation and genomic organisation of keratin and keratin-associated proteins
- Author
-
Rudiger Brauning, John C. McEwan, Zhidong Yu, Jeffrey E. Plowman, Paul H. Maclean, Nauman J. Maqbool, and Wildermoth Je
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Chromosomes, Artificial, Bacterial ,DNA, Complementary ,Protein mass spectrometry ,macromolecular substances ,Biology ,Proteomics ,Genome ,Type II keratin ,03 medical and health sciences ,Complementary DNA ,Keratin ,Genetics ,Animals ,Humans ,Gene ,Sheep, Domestic ,chemistry.chemical_classification ,Expressed sequence tag ,integumentary system ,030102 biochemistry & molecular biology ,Wool ,General Medicine ,030104 developmental biology ,chemistry ,Keratins ,Animal Science and Zoology ,Cattle ,Hair Follicle - Abstract
Wool is composed primarily of proteins belonging to the keratin family. These include the keratins and keratin-associated proteins (KAPs) that are responsible for the structural and mechanical properties of wool fibre. Although all human keratin and KAP genes have been annotated, many of their ovine counterparts remain unknown and even less is known about their genomic organisation. The aim of this study was to use a combinatory approach including comprehensive cDNA and de novo genomic sequencing to identify ovine keratin and KAP genes and their genomic organisation and to validate the keratins and KAPs involved in wool production using ovine expressed sequence tag (EST) libraries and proteomics. The number of genes and their genomic organisation are generally conserved between sheep, cattle and human, despite some unique features in the sheep. Validation by protein mass spectrometry identified multiple keratins (types I and II), epithelial keratins and KAPs. However, 15 EST-derived genes, including one type II keratin and 14 KAPs, were identified in the sheep genome that were not present in the NCBI gene set, providing a significant increase in the number of keratin genes mapped on the sheep genome.
- Published
- 2018