Novel splice isoforms of dairy goat DBC1 and their diverse mRNA expression profiles

As a critical regulator of nuclear factors affecting adipogenesis, deleted in breast cancer 1 (DBC1) leads to the hyperacetylation of p53, a target of the NAD+-dependent histone deacetylase Sirtuin 1, and activation of the apoptotic pathway. To date, the transcript variants of DBC1 and their functions have never been reported in dairy goats. Herein, we identified two novel transcripts of dairy goat DBC1, namely, DBC1 and DBC1a. DBC1 was 42 base pairs longer than DBC1a, and the splice site of the 42- nucleotide deletion complied with the classic “GT-AG” rule. The goat DBC1a in this study had a high degree of homology with other predicted goat DBC1 variants as well as the only known bovine DBC1 variant, DBC1-X4. DBC1 and DBC1a were widely expressed in different tissues and highly expressed in the pancreas, spleen, lung, liver, kidney, and mammary gland. Moreover, DBC1 has a significantly higher expression than DBC1a in the pancreas, kidney, liver, heart, muscle, brain, and testis. Interestingly, in mammary gland, DBC1 and DBC1a demonstrated similar mRNA expression levels, implying that DBC1a variant plays an important role in milk production. This is the first report on the alternative splicing of goat DBC1 and its mRNA expression profile, which will provide a foundation for further study the function of DBC1 in dairy goat industry.