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The Zhongwei goat is an important and unique goat breed indigenous to China. It has a natural hair curling phenotype at birth, but the degree of curling gradually decreases with growth. The molecular mechanism underlying the dynamic changes in the wool curvature in Zhongwei goats is poorly understood. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play important roles in many biological processes, including hair growth and development. In this study, we selected skins from Zhongwei goats at different ages (45 and 108 days) that exhibited different levels of hair curvature and performed miRNA sequencing to explore the molecular mechanism of hair bending. In total, 28 significantly differentially expressed miRNAs (DE miRNAs) were identified in the three groups of samples between the two developmental stages. An analysis of the target genes of the above-mentioned DE miRNAs by the Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analyses indicated that the DE miRNAs were involved in signal pathways which were previously associated with hair bending and hair follicle development, such as the TGF-β/SMAD, PI3K-Akt, JAK-STAT, and MAPK pathways. A comprehensive analysis of the correlations between the miRNA-seq results and issued transcriptional findings indicated that SMAD1 was a target gene of miR-26a and SMAD5 was a target gene of miR-130a. Furthermore, goat dermal papilla cells were successfully isolated and purified to determine the role of miRNAs in follicle development in vitro. The study results demonstrated that miR-130a and miR-26a had significant effects on the proliferation of dermal papilla cells. In addition, the detection results of mRNA and protein levels indicate that the overexpression of miR-26a can promote the expression of related genes in the TGF-β/SMAD pathway, while miR-130a has the opposite substitution effect. The dual luciferase report test showed that miR-26a targeted the SMAD1 gene and reduced the expression of the SMAD1 protein in hair papillary cells. Our results identified DE microRNAs which perhaps change at the time of hair straightening in Zhongwei goats and explore the role of miR-26a and miR-130a in dermal papilla cells proliferation. The present study provided a theoretical basis to explore the mechanisms underlying the Zhongwei hair growth and curly phenotype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through long term natural and artificial selection, domestic sheep (Ovis aries) have become adapted to a diverse range of agro-ecological environments and display multiple phenotypic traits. Characterization of diversity and selection signature is essential for genetic improvement, understanding of environmental adaptation, as well as utilization and conservation of sheep genetic resources. Here, we aimed to assess genomic diversity, population structure, and genomic selection among five Chinese native sheep breeds using 600K high density SNP genotypes. A total of 96 animals of the five breeds were selected from different geographical locations with extremely dry or humid conditions. We found a high proportion of informative SNPs, ranging from 93.3% in Yabuyi to 95.5% in Wadi, Hu, and Hetian sheep. The average pairwise population differentiation (FST) between the breeds was 0.048%, ranging from 0.022% to 0.054%, indicating their low to moderate differentiation. PCA, ADMIXTURE, and phylogenetic tree analyses revealed a clustering pattern of the five Chinese sheep breeds according to their geographical distribution, tail type, coat color, body size, and breeding history. The genomic regions under putative selection identified by FST and XP-EHH approaches frequently overlapped across the breeds, and spanned genes associated with adaptation to extremely dry or humid environments, innate and adaptive immune responses, and growth, wool, milk, and reproduction traits. The present study offers novel insight into genomic adaptation to dry and humid climates in sheep among other domestic animals and provides a valuable resource for further investigation. Moreover, it contributes useful information to sustainable utilization and conservation of sheep genetic resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]