Bioinformatics Analysis Of MicroRNA In Skeletal Muscle Of Mice Related To Aerobic Exercise

Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are increasingly being studied as regulators for biological processes in skeletal muscle. However, little information relating to biological process regulated by aerobic exercise-affected miRNA is available. Bioinformatics analysis provides a perspective on the direction of future research. PURPOSE: To analyze the functions of miRNAs which were affected by 8-week aerobic exercise in skeletal muscle of mice. METHODS: Twenty C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into exercise (E) and control (C) groups. The E group were trained on a treadmill with a program of slope 0°, 12m/min, 60min/day, and 5 days/week. The C group lived normally without training. After 8-week of training, skeletal muscles were harvested for RNA extraction. Subsequently, miScript miRNA PCR Arrays was conducted to identify the differentially expressed miRNAs between two groups. Target gene prediction was performed by using TargetScan and microT-CDS tools. Gene Ontology analysis (GO) on the target gene was performed with Cytoscape Bingo. MirPath v.3 from the DIANA tools was used to execute the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyses. RESULTS: 44 miRNAs were upregulated (Fold Change≥2.0, P<0.05) and 14 miRNAs were downregulated (Fold Change<-2.0, P<0.05) after the aerobic exercise. Prediction of target genes showed that there were a total of 9122 target genes (Ptpn9, Gria3, Zfp219, etc.) for the up-regulated miRNAs, while 3636 target genes (Nrf1, Lmbr1l, Zbp1, etc.) for the down-regulated miRNAs. GO analysis revealed that the differentially expressed miRNAs participated in a variety of molecular functions and biological processes including nucleic acid binding, protein binding, regulation of gene expression, macromolecule metabolic process and others. KEGG analysis showed that the up-regulated miRNAs were significantly enriched in MAPK, Wnt and mTOR signaling pathway. The down-regulated miRNAs were mainly enriched in MAPK, Wnt signaling pathway. CONCLUSION: MiRNAs induced by aerobic exercise potentially regulate the biological processes of skeletal muscle mainly through MAPK and Wnt signaling pathways. Supported by Key R&D Projects of the Ministry of Science and Technology (grant no 2018YFC2000600), and Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (grant no. 2016SYS002).