Abstract
Our research explores serum extracellular circulating miRNAs (ecmiRNAs) involved in dog stress response immediately after the search and rescue (SAR) of missing people. The experimental plan considers four arduous SAR simulations. The SAR dogs are trained by the Alpine School of the Military Force of Guardia di Finanza (Passo Rolle, Italy). The First SAR Trial analyzed dog serum samples at rest time (T0), and immediately after SAR performance (T1) using the miRNome-wide screening next-generation sequencing (NGS). T1 versus T0 NGS results revealed a different expression level of let-7a and let-7f. Subsequently, in a large sample size including: 1st (n = 6), 2nd (n = 6), 3rd (n = 6), and 4th (n = 4) trials, let-7a and let-7f were validated by qPCR. Bioinformatics analysis with TarBase (v.8) and the Diana-mirPath (v.3) revealed a functional role of let-7a and let-7f in the p53 pathway to restore cellular homeostasis. Let-7a and let-7f, highly expressed at T1, could stop MDMs-p53 inhibition inducing the p53 increase in level. In addition, let-7a and let-7f, via p53 post-transcriptional regulation, buffers p53 transcription spikes. During SAR stress, the possibility of p53 preconditioning could explain the phenomenon of “stress hardening” where the tolerance of particular stress increases after preconditioning.
Highlights
Our research explores serum extracellular circulating miRNAs involved in dog stress response immediately after the search and rescue (SAR) of missing people
Physiological stress responses are an adaptive system to cope with environmental changes, but a metabolic imbalance can be incurred if stress severity increases
The stress levels were monitored by measuring SAR dog cortisol blood level; all dogs showed at T1 higher cortisol levels than at T0 (140.33 ± 4.52 ng/mL and 80.61 ± 1.38 ng/mL, respectively)
Summary
Our research explores serum extracellular circulating miRNAs (ecmiRNAs) involved in dog stress response immediately after the search and rescue (SAR) of missing people. He focuses on the smell of missing people, and while mild stress helps him focus on the goal, prolonged or too intense stress could negatively affect his performance or compromise his health. MiRNAs are small single-stranded non-coding RNAs of approximately 22 nucleotides that can regulate gene expression in the post-transcriptional stage through interaction with target mRNAs, leading to translational inhibition or gene silencing. MiRNAs seem to have a high impact on stress signaling to restore homeostasis in sudden environmental changes, de facto stress conditions, altering miRNA biogenesis, modifying the expression of miRNA targets, and buffering transcription peaks[12]. Each miRNA can potentially regulate several hundred mRNAs, and tens of miRNAs may regulate each targeted mRNA
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