ABSTRACT
Increased cashmere yield and improved quality are some goals of cashmere goat breeding. Thymosin beta-4 (Tß4) plays a key role in the growth and development of hair follicles. For the past ten years, we have evaluated the role of Tß4 by establishing a flock of 15 cashmere goats that specifically overexpress the Tß4 gene in the hair follicles. These Tß4 overexpression (Tß4-OE) cashmere goats had more secondary hair follicles than the WT goats and produced more cashmere. Meanwhile, combined analysis of the skin transcriptome and proteome in cashmere goats suggested that Tß4 may affect hair growth by interacting with keratin type II cytoskeletal 4 epidermal (KRT4) to mediate the extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase (ERK) signaling pathway, thereby promoting the development of secondary hair follicles, and consequently, increasing cashmere yield. Thus, the specific overexpression of Tß4 in the hair follicles of cashmere goats effectively increased the cashmere yield.
