Allele-specific expression analyses reveal immune divergences between ibex and goat species

DEAR EDITOR, Understanding the different immune responses of wild and domestic caprid species is critical for addressing certain zoonotic diseases.In this study,we generated blood transcriptomes of 13 Siberian ibex and domestic goat hybrids and performed allele-specific expression and splicing analyses.Results showed that genes exhibiting significant imbalance between the ibex and goat were highly related to the Toll-like receptor(TLR),antigen recognition,and immune activation pathways.Comparative genomic analysis of the species revealed that immune function-related genes were under strong selection pressure in the domestic goat.These allelic imbalances in gene expression may be related to fixed divergent sites in cis-regulatory elements,which may affect the expression of immune-related genes and contribute to the adaptive diversity between ibex and goat species.