Fig. 1

Overview of the transcriptome analysis. A The control and melatonin groups and sampling time. B Seasonal changing genes (SCGs) in the D and M groups. C The number of coding genes, novel lncRNAs and annotated lncRNAs in the D and M groups. The Venn plot indicates that 759 genes are detected in both D and M groups. D PCA plot of the median-normalized samples in the D group. The circle suggests the direction of samples in hair follicle growth stages. E PCA plot of the median-normalized samples in the M group. F The cashmere length change in the D group. The shedding occurs in May-June. G The cashmere length change in the M group. The first shedding occurs in May-June. Another shedding appears in September-November