Abstract
BackgroundMicroRNAs (miRNAs), a family of small non-coding RNA molecules, appear to regulate animal lipid metabolism and preadipocyte conversion to form lipid-assimilating adipocytes (i.e. adipogenesis). However, no miRNA to date has been reported to modulate adipogenesis and lipid deposition in beef cattle.ResultsThe expression patterns of 89 miRNAs including four bovine specific miRNAs in subcutaneous adipose tissues from three groups of crossbred steers differing in backfat thickness were compared using qRT-PCR analysis. Eighty-six miRNAs were detectable in all samples, with 42 miRNAs differing among crossbreds (P < 0.05) and 15 miRNAs differentially expressed between tissues with high and low backfat thickness (P < 0.05). The expression levels of 18 miRNAs were correlated with backfat thickness (P < 0.05). The miRNA most differentially expressed and the most strongly associated with backfat thickness was miR-378, with a 1.99-fold increase in high backfat thickness tissues (r = 0.72).ConclusionsMiRNA expression patterns differed significantly in response to host genetic components. Approximately 20% of the miRNAs in this study were identified as being correlated with backfat thickness. This result suggests that miRNAs may play a regulatory role in white adipose tissue development in beef animals.
Highlights
MicroRNAs, a family of small non-coding RNA molecules, appear to regulate animal lipid metabolism and preadipocyte conversion to form lipid-assimilating adipocytes
The expression of miRNAs differed significantly in response to host genetic components Analysis of the expression of 89 miRNAs including four bovine specific miRNAs (Additional file 1) in beef cattle back subcutaneous adipose tissues confirmed the expression of 86 miRNAs
Since PGC-1β has been shown to be induced during brown adipocyte differentiation [21] and to increase lipogenesis and lipoprotein transport in the liver [22,23], we suggest that PGC-1β may play a role in white adipose tissue development
Summary
MicroRNAs (miRNAs), a family of small non-coding RNA molecules, appear to regulate animal lipid metabolism and preadipocyte conversion to form lipid-assimilating adipocytes (i.e. adipogenesis). No miRNA to date has been reported to modulate adipogenesis and lipid deposition in beef cattle. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small regulatory molecules (18~25 nucleotides) that are important in many biological processes including development, differentiation, apoptosis, and metabolism [1,2,3,4,5]. Thereafter, several miRNAs were shown to promote preadipocyte differentiation in the human and mouse [7,8,9]. Analysis of the 3' UTR from 395 ESTs expressed in 3T3-L1 preadipocytes during conversion into lipid-assimilating adipocytes showed that >70% of the differentially expressed genes may be potentially regulated by miRNAs [10]. A recent study on the expression of 155 miRNAs in human omental and subcutaneous adipose tissues found that the expression of miRNAs was adipose depot specific and that some miRNAs
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