Abstract
BACKGROUND: Hungarian white goose has excellent down production performance and was introduced to China in 2010. The growth and development of feather follicles has an important impact on down production. Goose feather follicles can be divided into primary and secondary feather follicles, both of which originate in the embryonic stage. Msx2 (Msh Homeobox 2) plays a regulatory role in tissues and organs such as eyes, teeth, bones and skin. However, its regulatory mechanism on goose feather follicles development remains unclear. RESULTS: Msx2 gene first increased, then decreased and increased at the end (E13, E18, E23, E28) during embryonic feather follicle development, and the expression level was the highest at E18. The pEGFP-N1-Msx2 overexpression vector and si-Msx2 siRNA vector were constructed to transfect goose embryo dermal fibroblasts. The results showed that the cell viability of ov-Msx2 group was significantly increased, and the gene expression levels of FGF5 and TGF-β1 genes were significantly down-regulated (P < 0.05), the expressions of PCNA, Bcl2, CDK1, FOXN1 and KGF genes were significantly up-regulated (P < 0.05). After transfection of siRNA vector, the cell viability of the si-Msx2 group was significantly decreased (P < 0.01) compared with the si-NC group. TGF-β1 expression was significantly up-regulated (P < 0.05), FGF5 expression was extremely significantly up-regulated (P < 0.01), while PCNA, Bcl2, CDK1, FOXN1 and KGF gene expression was significantly down-regulated (P < 0.05). High-throughput sequencing technology was used to mine the exon SNPs of Msx2. A total of 11 SNP loci were screened, four of the SNPs located in exon 1 were missense mutations. The feather follicle diameter of the GC genotype at the G78C site is significantly larger than that of the other two genotypes. CONCLUSIONS: Msx2 maybe inhibit the apoptosis of goose dermal fibroblasts and promotes their proliferation. G78C can be used as a potential molecular marker for downy Variety.