Chicken sine oculis binding protein homolog (sobp), a novel gene that may regulate feather development.

Feathers are appendages of skin in avians and provide a model for analyzing skin appendage morphogenesis. The feathers of Chinese Silky (CS) and White Leghorn (WL) chickens have distinct phenotypes. Based on preliminary genetic results, we cloned the chicken gene sobp (encoding sine oculis binding protein homolog, which is expressed at a higher level in the dorsal skin and in the feather follicle in the WL compared with the CS. The reverse-transcription PCR and quantitative real-time PCR indicated that sobp was expressed in many tissues and was continuously expressed during embryonic development in both strains. Northern and Western blotting indicated that the mRNA of sobp was approximately 5 kb and the SOBP protein was approximately 96 kDa. The expressions of signaling molecules that affect feather development were similar. This study is the first report of sobp expression in chickens. Our results suggest that sobp might regulate distinct feather type.