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. 2024 May 24;15(6):681.
doi: 10.3390/genes15060681.

Ovine KRT81 Variants and Their Influence on Selected Wool Traits of Commercial Value

Wenhao Li  1   2 , Lingrong Bai  3 , Huitong Zhou  2   3 , Zhihe Zhang  2 , Zhijie Ma  1 , Guofang Wu  1 , Yuzhu Luo  2 , Jasmine Tanner  3 , Jon G H Hickford  2   3
Affiliations

Ovine KRT81 Variants and Their Influence on Selected Wool Traits of Commercial Value

Wenhao Li et al. Genes (Basel). .

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.

Keywords: KRT81; keratin K81; polymorphism; sheep; wool trait.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
PCR-SSCP gel electrophoresis patterns for a fragment of the 5′ UTR of ovine KRT81. Three different patterns (A, B and C) are observed in either homozygous or heterozygous forms.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Alignment of the ovine KRT81 sequences. Three variant sequences (A, B and C) identified in this study are aligned with the GenBank sequence X62509. The putative HK1, AP-1, AP-2, CAAT, TATA and two CAP sites identified by Powell et al. [3] are marked, and the start codon is highlighted in bold. Nucleotides identical to the top sequence are denoted by dashes. Grey shaded regions indicate the PCR primer biding sites. The positions of the SNPs identified are indicated above the sequences.
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