Abstract
Circular RNA (circRNA) is endogenous non-coding RNA (ncRNA) with a covalently closed circular structure. It is mainly generated through RNA alternative splicing or back-splicing. CircRNA is known in the majority of eukaryotes and very stable. However, knowledge of the circRNA involved in regulating cashmere fineness is limited. Skin samples were collected from Liaoning cashmere goats (LCG) and Inner Mongolia cashmere goats (MCG) during the anagen period. For differentially expressed circRNAs, RNA sequencing was performed, and the analysis led to an identification of 17 up-regulated circRNAs and 15 down-regulated circRNAs in LCG compared with MCG skin samples. In order to find the differentially expressed circRNAs in LCG, we carried out qPCRs on 10 candidate circRNAs in coarse type skin of LCG (CT-LCG) and fine type skin of LCG (FT-LCG). Four circRNAs: ciRNA128, circRNA6854, circRNA4154 and circRNA3620 were confirmed to be significantly differential expression in LCG. Also, a regulatory network of circRNAs-miRNAs was bioinformatically deduced and may help to understand molecular mechanisms of potential circRNA involvement in regulating cashmere fineness.
Highlights
The goat (Capra hircus), is economically important livestock, used in the production of cashmere, meat, and milk
We used RNA-seq to identify the circRNAs in Liaoning cashmere goats (LCG) and Mongolia cashmere goats (MCG) skin samples, and hundreds of circRNAs were obtained in goat skins
A total of 13,320 circRNAs were identified from the RNA-seq data, including 610 circular intronic RNAs (Fig. 1a)
Summary
The goat (Capra hircus), is economically important livestock, used in the production of cashmere, meat, and milk. Many studies have demonstrated that circRNAs contribute to the generation of cancer[18,19], regulate gene expression in many biological processes, and participate in the occurrence and development of various diseases[20]. Zheng et al revealed that circRNAs can act as a microRNA sponge to isolate microRNA by competing with targeted mRNA23. Another investigation determined that 151 circRNAs were differently expressed in ORFV-infected goat skin fibroblast cells and uninfected cells[24]. We aim to find differentially expressed circRNAs in cashmere goat skin. Our findings may offer a new insight into cashmere goat circRNAs and their potential involvement in regulation of cashmere fineness
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