Abstract
Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) play a key role in spermatogenesis. Here, we describe the piRNAs profiling of primordial germ cells (PGCs), spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs), and the spermatogonium (Sp) during early-stage spermatogenesis in chicken. We obtained 31,361,989 reads from PGCs, 31,757,666 reads from SSCs, and 46,448,327 reads from Sp cells. The length distribution of piRNAs in the three samples showed peaks at 33 nt. The resulting genes were subsequently annotated against the Gene Ontology (GO) database. Five genes (RPL7A, HSPA8, Pum1, CPXM2, and PRKCA) were found to be involved in cellular processes. Interactive pathway analysis (IPA) further revealed three important pathways in early-stage spermatogenesis including the FGF, Wnt, and EGF receptor signaling pathways. The gene Pum1 was found to promote germline stem cell proliferation, but it also plays a role in spermatogenesis. In conclusion, we revealed characteristics of piRNAs during early spermatogonial development in chicken and provided the basis for future research.
Highlights
Great losses have been reported for farms due to the large number of chickens that suffer from azoospermia; it has so far been difficult to elucidate the mechanism of spermatogenesis in chicken
Focusing on the 5 genes we acquired from the Gene Ontology (GO) analysis (PRKCA, EGFR, GNB2L1, APP, and MAPK), we found that several key elements combined these 5 genes (Fig 10)
We found several Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) that are associated with early-stage spermatogenesis, and we
Summary
Great losses have been reported for farms due to the large number of chickens that suffer from azoospermia; it has so far been difficult to elucidate the mechanism of spermatogenesis in chicken. Researchers have suggested that Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) play a key role in this process. PiRNAs are non-coding RNAs of 24–35 nucleotides (nt) in length that were first discovered in 2006 and are enriched in animal gonads, where they repress transposons to maintain genome integrity [1,2]. The Piwi/piRNA-mediated post-transcriptional silencing pathway plays a conserved role in mammalian spermatogenesis [3,4]. Lim et al defined a critical role for HEN methyltransferase 1 and piRNAs in the maintenance of transposable element repression in adult germ cells and in setting the spermatogenic program [5]. In developing Drosophila ovaries, secondary piRNA-guided target slicing is the predominant mechanism that specifies transcripts, including those from piRNAs clusters, as primary piRNAs precursors and defines the spectrum of Piwi-bound piRNAs in PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0151780. In developing Drosophila ovaries, secondary piRNA-guided target slicing is the predominant mechanism that specifies transcripts, including those from piRNAs clusters, as primary piRNAs precursors and defines the spectrum of Piwi-bound piRNAs in PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0151780 April 5, 2016
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