Abstract
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play pivotal roles in growth, development, and stress responses. However, the regulatory function of miRNAs in early weaned goats remains unclear. Deep sequencing comparison of mRNA and miRNA expression profiles showed that 18 miRNAs and 373 genes were differentially expressed in pre- and post-weaning Chongming white goats. Bioinformatics analysis indicated that these differentially expressed genes are involved in cellular processes, developmental processes, and growth in terms of biological process analysis. KEGG analysis showed that downregulated genes were enriched in salivary secretion, bile secretion, vascular smooth muscle contraction, and calcium signaling pathways. Additionally, a miRNA-mRNA co-expression network of the 18 dysregulated miRNAs and their 107 target mRNAs was constructed using a combination of Pearson’s correlation analysis and prediction by miRanda software. Among the downregulated miRNAs, two (chi-miR-206 and chi-miR-133a/b) were muscle development-related and the others were cell proliferation associated. Further RT-qPCR analysis confirmed that downregulated miRNAs (chi-miR-99b-3p, chi-miR-224, and chi-miR-10b-5p) were highly expressed in muscle tissues (heart, spleen, or kidney) of the rapid growth period (7-month old) in Chongming white goats. The results of the present study suggested that weaning induced cell proliferation repression in post-weaning goats, providing new insight into the mechanism of muscle development of goats, although additional details remain to be elucidated in the future.
Highlights
In Chongming island in Shanghai (China), under the background of continuous optimization of meat production for consumers, the requirements for the quality of goat meat are increasing, especially regarding the demand for goat meat with high protein and low cholesterol
Twelve single reared male lambs of the Chongming white goat breed with an average body weight of 9.53 ± 0.39 kg were chose for the study
To evaluate the effect of weaning stress on miRNA and mRNA expression in Chongming white goats, miRNA and mRNA profiles were investigated in pre- (Control) and post-weaning miRNA chi-miR-206 chi-miR-99b-3p chi-miR-224-3p chi-miR-143-5p chi-miR-133a-3p chi-miR-133b chi-miR-199a-5p chi-miR-100-5p chi-miR-10b-5p chi-miR-145-3p chi-miR-144-5p chi-miR-485 chi-miR-22-5p chi-miR-147-5p chi-miR-671-3p chi-miR-380-3p chi-miR-493-5p chi-miR-433 chi-miR-545-5p log2(Fold change)
Summary
In China, under the background of continuous optimization of meat production for consumers, the requirements for the quality of goat meat are increasing, especially regarding the demand for goat meat with high protein and low cholesterol. Goat meat is increasingly favored by consumers because of its lower cholesterol content compared with that of sheep meat.
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