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ABSTRACTInner Mongolia Cashmere goats are excellent genetic resources in China. Cashmere yield/body weight (g/kg), staple diameter (It is the cross-sectional diameter of coarse wool)/staple length (μm/cm), and fiber diameter (It is the cross-sectional diameter of fluff)/fiber length(μm/cm) were studied as secondary traits. Using the CORR and REG programs of SAS9.2, it was found that there is a significant phenotypic correlation and regression between the three secondary traits. The variance components analysis and genetic parameters estimation using the AIREML of the WOMBAT software. The results showed that all secondary traits have moderate heritability (0.17–0.30), and the heritability of each secondary trait of the long staple type is higher than other types. The genetic correlation of each secondary trait is between −0.39 and 0.27, and the genetic correlation of each secondary trait increases with the increase of staple length. Therefore, selection staple length can be to indirect selection of secondary traits.

Histological methods were used to compare the changes in the morphology of the gastrointestinal tract of 10-day-old and 30-day-old cashmere goats in Inner Mongolia. In this study, three 10-day-old and three 30-day-old Inner Mongolia cashmere goats, a total of six goats, were randomly selected for slaughter and sampling. Paraffin sections and H.E. staining were made according to conventional methods, and the relevant parameters of ruminant stomach, small intestine and large intestine of lambs at each stage were determined. The results showed that compared with the 10-day-old lamb, the total rumen weight, net weight, rumen ruffle nipple width, lamina propria width, muscular thickness and keratosis thickness of the 30-day-old lamb increased significantly (P<0.05), the height of the primary fold of the reticulogastric fundus increased significantly (P<0.05), the thickness of the reticulogastric fundus myometrium increased significantly (P<0.05), the thickness of the central muscle, the thickness of the muscle, and the thickness of the keratinized layer of the valvular fundus increased significantly (P<0.05), the depth of the recesses of the duodenum and jejunum crypts decreased significantly (P<0.05), the villus height/crypt depth values increased significantly (P<0.05), and the thickness of the cecal muscle, and the thickness of the rectal mucosa increased significantly (P<0.05). The results showed that with the increase of age (10 to 30 days old), the digestive tract of Inner Mongolia cashmere goats gradually increased their ability to absorb nutrients, and their development was healthy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cashmere is the fine bottom hair produced by the secondary hair follicles of the skin. This hair is economically important. Previous studies by our research group have shown that exogenous melatonin (MT) can regulate the periodic growth of secondary hair follicles, induce the secondary development of villi, and alter the expression of some genes related to hair follicle development. Few studies on the regulation of villus growth by MT binding receptors have been published. In this study, MT was implanted subcutaneously behind the ear of Inner Mongolia cashmere goats. RT-qPCR, in situ hybridization, Western blot analysis, immunofluorescence and RNAi techniques were used to investigate the receptors and functions of MT in regulating the development of secondary hair follicles in Inner Mongolia cashmere goats. The results showed that MT binds to the nuclear receptor RORα on dermal papilla stimulates hair follicle development and promotes villus growth. The RORα mRNA expression in the skin of Inner Mongolia cashmere goats was periodic and showed a trend of first increasing and then decreasing. The expression began to increase in February, peaked in April, and reached the lowest level in May. RORα significantly affected the mRNA expression of β-catenin gene, a key gene in hair follicle development, in the presence of MT. It will lay a solid molecular foundation for further research on the regulation mechanism between MT receptor and villus growth and development and to achieve artificial regulation of villus growth time and yield to improve the effect of villus production.

There is genetic diversity of hair types in the Inner Mongolia cashmere goat population. Previous studies have found that fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) and PI3K-AKT signal pathways may be related to different hair types in Inner Mongolia cashmere goats. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the effects of the PI3K-AKT signal pathway on different hair types, the expression of mRNA and protein expression sites of FGF21 in the hair follicles of cashmere goats with different hair types, so as to lay a foundation for understanding the molecular mechanism of different hair types and the role of skin hair follicle development. In this experiment, the skin tissues of long hair type (LHG) and short hair type (SHG) of Inner Mongolia cashmere goat were collected in three key periods of secondary hair follicle growth, namely, anagen (September), catagen (December), and telogen (March). The relative expression of FGF21 and PI3K-AKT signal pathway candidate gene mRNA in different periods and different hair types was detected by real-time fluorescence quantitative technique (qRT-PCR), and the expression site of FGF21 protein was located by immunohistochemical technique. Through qRT-PCR, it was found that the relative expression of FGF21, FGFR1, AKT3, BRCA1, PKN3, SPP1, and GNG4 was significantly different between LHG and SHG. The expression of FGF21 in the skin of LHG was significantly higher than that of SHG in the three periods. Through immunohistochemical test, it was found that FGF21 protein was mainly expressed in primary hair follicle connective tissue sheath, primary hair follicle outer root sheath, secondary hair follicle outer root sheath, and sebaceous glands. It was also found that the expression of LHG skin tissue in the outer root sheath of primary hair follicles was higher than that of SHG in three periods. In summary, it is suggested that the PI3K-AKT signal pathway may play an important role in the formation of different hair types in Inner Mongolia cashmere goats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Horns are unique cranial appendages in ruminants, and horn traits are useful in the indirect selection of growth traits in goat. However, genetic parameters for horns have not been estimated in Inner Mongolia Cashmere goats. In this study, we collected pedigree information with 7 632 records from 2 049 Inner Mongolia Cashmere goats during 2017 to 2019 to study horn base interval (HBI), horn length (HL) and horn base circumference (HBC), as well as four essential economic traits including cashmere length (CL), staple length (SL), cashmere weight (CW) and live body weight (LBW). Genetic parameters and (co)variances were estimated by a multivariate animal model, average information restriction maximum likelihood method in WOMBAT software. The estimates of heritability for HBI, HL, HBC, CL, SL, CW and LBW were 0.31, 0.25, 0.30, 0.10, 0.34, 0.21 and 0.12, respectively, indicating moderate heritability of horn traits in Cashmere goats. We found out that coefficients of genetic correlations between three horn traits were -0.31 to 0.78, while those between three horn traits and four economic traits ranged from -0.05 to 0.52. Strong genetic correlations were observed between horn traits (HBC-HL, HBC-HBI). In addition, a strong phenotypic correlation was revealed for horn and economic traits (HL-LBW). In summary, this study uncovered genetic characteristics and relationships for horn traits in Cashmere goats, which will facilitate the breeding practices of Cashmere goats by providing easier measurement than common economic traits.

Inner Mongolia cashmere goat is an excellent livestock breed formed through long-term natural selection and artificial breeding, and is currently a world-class dual-purpose breed producing cashmere and meat. Multi trait animal model is considered to significantly improve the accuracy of genetic evaluation in livestock and poultry, enabling indirect selection between traits. In this study, the pedigree, genotype, environment, and phenotypic records of early growth traits of Inner Mongolia cashmere goats were used to build multi trait animal model., Then three methods including ABLUP, GBLUP, and ssGBLUP wereused to estimate the genetic parameters and genomic breeding values of early growth traits (birth weight, weaning weight, average daily weight gain before weaning, and yearling weight). The accuracy and reliability of genomic estimated breeding value are further evaluated using the five fold cross validation method. The results showed that the heritability of birth weight estimated by three methods was 0.13-0.15, the heritability of weaning weight was 0.13-0.20, heritability of daily weight gain before weaning was 0.11-0.14, and the heritability of yearling weight was 0.09-0.14, all of which belonged to moderate to low heritability. There is a strong positive genetic correlation between weaning weight and daily weight gain before weaning, daily weight gain before weaning and yearling weight, with correlation coefficients of 0.77-0.79 and 0.56-0.67, respectively. The same pattern was found in phenotype correlation among traits. The accuracy of the estimated breeding values by ABLUP, GBLUP, and ssGBLUP methods for birth weight is 0.5047, 0.6694, and 0.7156, respectively; the weaning weight is 0.6207, 0.6456, and 0.7254, respectively; the daily weight gain before weaning was 0.6110, 0.6855, and 0.7357 respectively; and the yearling weight was 0.6209, 0.7155, and 0.7756, respectively. In summary, the early growth traits of Inner Mongolia cashmere goats belong to moderate to low heritability, and the speed of genetic improvement is relatively slow. The genetic improvement of other growth traits can be achieved through the selection of weaning weight. The ssGBLUP method has the highest accuracy and reliability in estimating genomic breeding value of early growth traits in Inner Mongolia cashmere goats, and is significantly higher than that from ABLUP method, indicating that it is the best method for genomic breeding of early growth weight in Inner Mongolia cashmere goats.

Inner Mongolia Cashmere goat is evolved from Mongolia goat in long-term breeding, as a source of high-quality cashmere, Inner Mongolia Cashmere goat type of Erlangshan is famous in the world. By using molecular biology techniques, we sequenced the complete mitochondrial DNA of Erlangshan Cashmere goat. The complete length of sequence is 16,640 bp, containing 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, two ribosomal RNA genes and a control region (D-loop region). Our mitogenome will enlarge genomic information for further studies on evolution and domestication of Inner Mongolia Cashmere goat, enhance germplasm conservation and breeding programs of domestic goat.

Cashmere is the fine bottom hair produced by the secondary hair follicles of the skin. This hair is economically important. Previous studies by our research group have shown that exogenous melatonin (MT) can regulate the periodic growth of secondary hair follicles, induce the secondary development of villi, and alter the expression of some genes related to hair follicle development. Few studies on the regulation of villus growth by MT binding receptors have been published. In this study, MT was implanted subcutaneously behind the ear of Inner Mongolia cashmere goats. RT-qPCR, in situ hybridization, Western blot analysis, immunofluorescence and RNAi techniques were used to investigate the receptors and functions of MT in regulating the development of secondary hair follicles in Inner Mongolia cashmere goats. The results showed that MT binds to the nuclear receptor RORα on dermal papilla stimulates hair follicle development and promotes villus growth. The RORα mRNA expression in the skin of Inner Mongolia cashmere goats was periodic and showed a trend of first increasing and then decreasing. The expression began to increase in February, peaked in April, and reached the lowest level in May. RORα significantly affected the mRNA expression of β- catenin gene, a key gene in hair follicle development, in the presence of MT. It will lay a solid molecular foundation for further research on the regulation mechanism between MT receptor and villus growth and development and to achieve artificial regulation of villus growth time and yield to improve the effect of villus production., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Lu, Wu, Wu, Zhang, Liu, Mu, Terigele, Wu, Zhang, Su, Liu, Wang, Wang, Qi and Zhao.)

p70 ribosomal S6 kinase (p70S6K) can integrate nutrient and growth factor signals to promote cell growth and survival. We report our molecular characterization of the complementary DNA (cDNA) that encodes the goat p70S6K gene 40S ribosomal S6 kinase 1 (S6K1) (GenBank accession GU144017) and its 3′ noncoding sequence in Inner Mongolia Cashmere goats (Capra hircus). Goat S6K1 cDNA was 2,272 bp and include an open reading frame (ORF) of 1,578 bp, corresponding to a polypeptide of 525 amino acids, and a 694-residue 3′ noncoding sequence with a polyadenylation signal at nucleotides 2,218 to 2,223. The relative abundance of S6K1 mRNA was measured by real-time PCR in 6 tissues, and p70S6K expression was examined by immunohistochemistry in heart and testis. The phosphorylation of p70S6K is regulated by mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling in fetal fibroblasts.

There is genetic diversity of hair types in the Inner Mongolia cashmere goat population. Previous studies have found that fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) and PI3K-AKT signal pathways may be related to different hair types in Inner Mongolia cashmere goats. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the effects of the PI3K-AKT signal pathway on different hair types, the expression of mRNA and protein expression sites of FGF21 in the hair follicles of cashmere goats with different hair types, so as to lay a foundation for understanding the molecular mechanism of different hair types and the role of skin hair follicle development. In this experiment, the skin tissues of long hair type (LHG) and short hair type (SHG) of Inner Mongolia cashmere goat were collected in three key periods of secondary hair follicle growth, namely, anagen (September), catagen (December), and telogen (March). The relative expression of FGF21 and PI3K-AKT signal pathway candidate gene mRNA in different periods and different hair types was detected by real-time fluorescence quantitative technique (qRT-PCR), and the expression site of FGF21 protein was located by immunohistochemical technique. Through qRT-PCR, it was found that the relative expression of FGF21, FGFR1, AKT3, BRCA1, PKN3, SPP1, and GNG4 was significantly different between LHG and SHG. The expression of FGF21 in the skin of LHG was significantly higher than that of SHG in the three periods. Through immunohistochemical test, it was found that FGF21 protein was mainly expressed in primary hair follicle connective tissue sheath, primary hair follicle outer root sheath, secondary hair follicle outer root sheath, and sebaceous glands. It was also found that the expression of LHG skin tissue in the outer root sheath of primary hair follicles was higher than that of SHG in three periods. In summary, it is suggested that the PI3K-AKT signal pathway may play an important role in the formation of different hair types in Inner Mongolia cashmere goats., (© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Society of Animal Science.)

• The histological examinations of hair follicle density were performed on 14 body sites from 11 Inner Mongolia cashmere goats. • The pattern of total hair follicle density (THFD) was unevenly distributed. • The THFD was high in front and rear, and low in the bottom of the body of Inner Mongolia cashmere goat. • Sites belonging to the body side can be the representative sampling area. In this study, hair follicle density (HFD) was compared among different body sites in Inner Mongolia cashmere goat (Capra hirus). Skin samples from 14 different body sites of 11 Inner Mongolia cashmere goats were collected. A total of 154 skin samples were processed for paraffin embedment, sectioning and H&E staining. Images of 9.26 mm2 were captured by a microscope camera, and primary hair follicle density (PHFD), secondary hair follicle density (SHFD), the ratio of second to primary hair follicle density (S/P) and total hair follicle density (THFD) were calculated. The results showed that there was no significant difference in HFD between females and males. The 14 body sites were clustered into three categories according to the HFD. The THFD of high-density, medium-density and low-density groups was 50.0 ± 8.5, 41.6 ± 7.1 and 26.6 ± 6.2 follicles/mm2 of stained skin section, respectively, and the significant differences (P < 0.01) were found among them. High and low HFD existed in front and rear, and bottom of the body, respectively. These sites from the body of Inner Mongolia cashmere goats had medium value, but had very high value to represent all sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inner Mongolia Cashmere goat is evolved from Mongolia goat in long-term breeding, as a source of high-quality cashmere, Inner Mongolia Cashmere goat type of Erlangshan is famous in the world. By using molecular biology techniques, we sequenced the complete mitochondrial DNA of Erlangshan Cashmere goat. The complete length of sequence is 16,640 bp, containing 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, two ribosomal RNA genes and a control region (D-loop region). Our mitogenome will enlarge genomic information for further studies on evolution and domestication of Inner Mongolia Cashmere goat, enhance germplasm conservation and breeding programs of domestic goat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inner Mongolia Cashmere goat is evolved from Mongolia goat in long-term breeding, as a source of high-quality cashmere, Inner Mongolia Cashmere goat type of Erlangshan is famous in the world. By using molecular biology techniques, we sequenced the complete mitochondrial DNA of Erlangshan Cashmere goat. The complete length of sequence is 16,640 bp, containing 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, two ribosomal RNA genes and a control region (D-loop region). Our mitogenome will enlarge genomic information for further studies on evolution and domestication of Inner Mongolia Cashmere goat, enhance germplasm conservation and breeding programs of domestic goat., Competing Interests: No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors., (© 2017 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.)