Transcriptome Analysis Of Antler Epithelial Tissue Of The Red Deer Cervus Elaphus

Deer antler has been recognized as one of the best models to study mammalian regeneration.To illustrate molecular mechanism underlying antler velvet development and regeneration,we used the long SAGE technique(Serial Analysis of Gene Expression) to analyze total RNA extracted from antler epithelia tissues of the Red deer(Cervus elaphus).The results showed:(1) among totally 4667 SAGE tags sequenced,1394 unique tags were identified from the epithelial SAGE libraries.However,only 703 of the unique tags finally mapped to a UniGene cluster according to reference libraries of Human,mouse and cattle, while 691 unique tags do not match a UniGene cluster suggests that many genes expressed in velvet epithelium are not represented in the current databases of expressed sequence tags (ESTs).(2) Nine of the 10 most abundant,unique tags are all involved into growth and development of keratinocyte.(3) Functional clustering of genes corresponding to tags showed that genes in the clusters cell cycle(24.2%),cellular metabolism(20.1%) and cell proliferation and differentiation(9.3%) were predominantly expressed in velvet epithelium,moreover 12% genes were functionally unknown.These results will provide basic data for further research on mechanisms of deer antler regeneration.