虎的毛色多样性和白虎性状的遗传机制研究

项目名称： 虎的毛色多样性和白虎性状的遗传机制研究

项目编号： No.31271320

项目类型： 面上项目

立项/批准年度： 2013

项目学科： 生物科学

项目作者： 罗述金

作者单位： 北京大学

项目金额： 80万元

中文摘要： 毛色和斑纹是哺乳动物显著的表型性状, 对物种的隐蔽性和适应性具有关键作用。褐黄底色黑条纹作为虎标志性的毛色特征，其遗传和调控机制至今仍未确定。白虎，不同于白化虎，是野生孟加拉虎自然存在的一种单基因隐性突变性状（白底色黑条纹），一直受到公众的关注并被广泛地圈养繁育，同时也是研究哺乳动物尤其是虎的毛色决定机制的独特体系，具有极高的科研价值。本课题已从动物园采集特有的具有谱系遗传关系和性状分离的突变型和野生型的虎样品，将整合基因组学和分子遗传学方法，利用第二代高通量测序技术，对导致虎毛色变异的基因进行遗传连锁精确定位, 并检测白虎和黄虎皮肤组织中白虎决定基因和其它黑色素合成关键基因的表达差异。本研究不仅将在分子水平揭示虎毛色多样性和白虎性状的遗传机制，为虎的遗传多样性保护奠定坚实的基础，同时也将进一步丰富和完善我们对哺乳动物毛色和肤色形成机理的认知，并对其在生物进化和适应中的意义提供重要的启示。

中文关键词： 虎；毛色；黑色素合成；全基因组关联分析；全基因组重测序

英文摘要： Coat color and pattern are prominent morphological features in mammals and play essential roles in species' camouflage and survival. The tiger is symbolized by its black stripes and orange fur background, yet the genetic basis underlying this remarkable coat formation remains unknown. White tiger, different from "albino tiger", is an elusive autosomal recessive variant of wild Bengal tiger and exhibits dark stripes against white coat. It has fascinated general public and scientific community ever since its discovery and serves as a unique genetic model to study mammalian coat color formation particularly the tiger's morphogenesis. Based on a pedigree of captive tigers with phenotype segregation, the goal of this project is to fine-map the mutations responsible for the white tiger coat color with state-of-art technologies in genomics and molecular genetics, by applying next-generation genome sequencing platform and linkage mapping. Subsequent functional studies of the identified mutations will be carried out to detect differential expressions of the related genes in the melanin synthesis pathway in white vs. orange tiger skin. This study will contribute to understanding the genetic basis that leads to coat color phenotype in the white tiger and tiger in general, thus supporting the current efforts to conserve tig

英文关键词： tiger；coat color；melanogenesis；GWAS；whole genome re-sequencing