Skin transcriptomic analysis reveals candidate genes and pathways associated with thermotolerance in hair sheep

• Published in: International journal of biometeorology 2024-03, Vol.68 (3), p.435-444
• Main Authors: de Andrade Pantoja, Messy Hannear, Poleti, Mirele Daiana, de Novais, Francisco José, Duarte, Kelly Kéffny Souza, Mateescu, Raluca G., Mourão, Gerson Barreto, Coutinho, Luiz Lehmann, Fukumasu, Heidge, Titto, Cristiane Gonçalves
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animal Physiology; Animals; Biological and Medical Physics; Biophysics; Biopsy; Cellular stress response; Climatic conditions; Divergence; Earth and Environmental Science; Environment; Environmental Health; Genes; Heat; Heat stress; Heat tolerance; Immune response; Immunological tolerance; Meteorology; Original Paper; Plant Physiology; Ribonucleic acid; RNA; rRNA 18S; rRNA 28S; rRNA 5S; Sheep; Skin; Solar radiation; Temperature effects; Temperature tolerance; Test chambers; Thermoregulation; Transcriptomics
• ISSN: 0020-7128; 1432-1254
• DOI: 10.1007/s00484-023-02602-4

The skin plays an important role in thermoregulation. Identification of genes on the skin that contribute to increased heat tolerance can be used to select animals with the best performance in warm environments. Our objective was to identify candidate genes associated with the heat stress response in the skin of Santa Ines sheep. A group of 80 sheep assessed for thermotolerance was kept in a climatic chamber for 8 days at a stress level temperature of 36 °C (10 am to 04 pm) and a maintenance temperature of 28 °C (04 pm to 10 am). Two divergent groups, with seven animals each, were formed after ranking them by thermotolerance using rectal temperature. From skin biopsy samples, total RNA was extracted, quantified, and used for RNA-seq analysis. 15,989 genes were expressed in sheep skin samples, of which 4 genes were differentially expressed (DE; FDR