Possibilities of skin coat color-dependent risks and risk factors of squamous cell carcinoma and deafness of domestic cats inferred via RNA-seq data

Abstract

The ribonucleic acid-sequencing (RNA-seq) data of skin cells from domestic cats with brown, orange, and white coats were analyzed using a public database to investigate the relationship between coat color-related gene expression and squamous cell carcinoma risk, as well as the mechanism of deafness in white cats. We found that the ratio of the expression level of genes suppressing squamous cell carcinoma to that of genes promoting squamous cell carcinoma was significantly lower than the theoretical estimation in skin cells with orange coats in white-spotted cat. We also found frequent production of KIT lacking the first exon (d1KIT) in skin cells with white coats, and d1KIT production exhibited a significant negative correlation with the expression of SOX10, which is essential for melanocyte formation and adjustment of hearing function. Additionally, the production of d1KIT was expected to be due to the insulating activity of the feline endogenous retrovirus 1 (FERV1) LTR in the 1st intron of KIT and its CTCF binding sequence repeat. These results are expected to contribute to basic veterinary research to understand the relationship between cat skin coat and disease risk, as well as the underlying mechanism.