Comprehensive transcriptome analysis of hypothalamus reveals genes associated with disorders of sex development in pigs

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XX sex reversal, also called XX disorders of sex development (XX-DSD), is a condition affecting the development of the gonads or genitalia, and is relatively common in pigs. However, its genetic etiology and transcriptional regulation mechanism in the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis (HPGA) remain mostly unknown. XX-DSD (SRY-negative) pigs and normal sows were selected by external genitalia observation. The hypothalamus, which is the integrated center of the HPGA was sampled for whole-transcriptome RNA-seq. The role of DEmiRNA was validated by its overexpression and knockdown in vitro. A total of 1,258 lncRNAs, 1,086 mRNAs, and 61 microRNAs differentially expressed in XX-DSD pigs compared with normal female pigs. Genes in the hormone biosynthesis and secretion pathway significantly up-regulated, and the up-regulation of GNRH1, KISS1 and AVP may associate with the abnormal secretion of GnRH. We also predicted the lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA co-expression triplets and constructed three competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) potentially associated with XX-DSD. Functional enrichment studies suggested that TCONS_00340886, TCONS_00000204 and miR-181a related to GnRH secretion. Further, miR-181a inhibitor up-regulated GNRH1, PAK6, and CAMK4 in the GT1-7 cells. Conversely, transfection of miR-181a mimics obtained the opposite trends. The expression levels of FSHR, LHR, ESR1 and ESR2 were significantly higher in XX-DSD gondas than those in normal sows. Taken together, we proposed that the balance of endocrine had broken in XX-DSD pigs. The current study is the first to examine the transcriptomic profile in the hypothalamus of XX-DSD pigs. It provides new insight into coding and non-coding RNAs that may be associated with DSD in pigs.