Abstract
Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have stable structures, being a covalently closed loop without 5 and 3 free ends. They can function as “miRNA sponges” in regulating the expression of their target genes. It was thought that circRNAs are involved in the development of the secondary hair follicle (SHF) in cashmere goats. In our previous investigation, a new circRNA named circRNA-0100 was identified from the SHF of cashmere goats, but its function is unknown. In this work, we found that circRNA-0100 exhibited significantly higher expression at anagen SHF bulge than its counterpart at telogen in cashmere goats. Based on the use of both overexpression and siRNA interference assays, our data indicated that circRNA-0100 promoted the differentiation of cashmere goat SHF stem cells (SHF-SCs) into hair follicle lineage, which was evaluated by analyzing the transcriptional level changes of six indicator genes in SHF-SCs of cashmere goats. Using the RNA pull-down technique, we showed that circRNA-0100 served as “molecular sponges” of miR-153-3p in SHF-SCs. Through the use of dual-luciferase reporter assays, our data indicated that circRNA-0100 positively regulated the transcriptional expression of the KLF5 gene via the miR-153-3p-mediated pathway. Ultimately, we showed that circRNA-0100 promoted the differentiation of SHF-SCs into hair lineage, which might be achieved via sequestering miR-153-3p to heighten the KLF5 expression in SHF-SCs of cashmere goats. Our results provide novel scientific evidence for revealing the potential molecular regulatory mechanisms on the differentiation of SHF-SCs into hair lineage in cashmere goats.
Highlights
Cashmere, a precious natural protein fiber, is a high-end textile material
Based on in-silicon analysis, we found that circRNA-0100 contained potential binding sites of five miRNAs, including miR-20b-5p, miR-29a-3p, miR-153-3p, miR-24-3p, and let7c-3p (Fig. 1b), which suggests that circRNA-0100 may play roles via miRNA-mediated pathways in secondary hair follicle (SHF) of cashmere goats
We found that the overexpression of circRNA-0100 led to a significant decrease in miR-153-3p in secondary hair follicle stem cells (SHF-SCs) (Fig. 3d), whereas the knockdown of circRNA-0100 led to a significant increase in miR-153-3p in SHF-SCs (Fig. 3e)
Summary
A precious natural protein fiber, is a high-end textile material. The products made from cashmere have been favored by consumers due to its unique lightness, softness, smoothness, delicate feel, and good warmth retention (Jiao et al, 2020). The functional role of CHD9 in SHF-SC fate still needs to be clarified in cashmere goats, it was demonstrated that CHDs play important roles in regulating the differentiation of various stem cells, including embryonic stem cells (Bulut-Karslioglu et al, 2018), neural stem cells (Feng et al, 2017), and mesenchymal stem cells (Mohd-Sarip et al, 2017) To this end, we speculated that circRNA-0100, as a circular RNA molecule transcribed from the CHD9 gene, might be involved in the differentiation of SHF-SCs into hair follicle lineage through certain mechanisms in cashmere goats. Our result from this study will provide novel scientific evidence revealing the potential molecular regulatory mechanisms in the differentiation of SHF-SCs into hair lineage in cashmere goats
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
