In order to improve the production and quality of Chinese cashmere, the research of hair follicle development has aroused more and more attention; the regulation mechanism of miRNA in hair follicle development has become a hot spot. A survey of transcriptome profiling screened 10 hair follicle-related miRNAs that were differentially expressed, including miR-let7a. In this study, the expression of miR-let7a was lower in anagen of hair follicle of cashmere goats than that in catagen of hair follicle of cashmere goats (p < 0.01). Results were in accordance with transcriptome data. The expression patterns of miR-let7a target genes (IGF-1R, C-myc, and FGF5) were verified by qRT-PCR, which were consistent with the results of Western blot and showed a downward trend. The dual-luciferase reporter gene system was used to verify the correlation between the expression of miR-let7a and its target genes, and it showed that miR-let7a negatively correlates with C-myc and FGF5. Present study offers new information on miRNAs and their related target genes in the regulation of hair follicle development mechanism.
Keywords: Differential expression; Hair follicle development; Liaoning cashmere goats; miR-let7a.