Abstract
BackgroundNon-human primates (NHPs) are important models of medical research on obesity and cardiovascular diseases. As two of the most commonly used NHPs, cynomolgus macaque (CM) and African green monkey (AGM) own different capacities in lipid metabolism of which the mechanism is unknown. This study investigated the expression profiles of lipid metabolism-related microRNAs (miRNAs) in CM and AGM and their possible roles in controlling lipid metabolism-related gene expression.MethodsBy small RNA deep sequencing, the plasma miRNA expression patterns of CM and AGM were compared. The lipid metabolism-related miRNAs were validated through quantitative reverse-transcription (RT) polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Related-target genes were predicted by TargetScan and validated in Vero cells.ResultsCompared to CM, 85 miRNAs were upregulated with over 1.5-fold change in AGM of which 12 miRNAs were related to lipid metabolism. miR-122, miR-9, miR-185, miR-182 exhibited the greatest fold changes(fold changes are 51.2, 3.8, 3.7, 3.3 respectively; all P < 0.01). And 77 miRNAs were downregulated with over 1.5-fold change in AGM of which 3, miR-370, miR-26, miR-128 (fold changes are 9.3, 1.8, 1.7 respectively; all P < 0.05) were related to lipid metabolism. The lipid metabolism-related gene targets were predicted by TargetScan and confirmed in the Vero cells.ConclusionWe report for the first time a circulating lipid metabolism-related miRNA profile for CM and AGM, which may add to knowledge of differences between these two non-human primate species and miRNAs’ roles in lipid metabolism.
Highlights
Non-human primates (NHPs) are important models of medical research on obesity and cardiovascular diseases
This study aims to identify the differently expressed miRNAs and their potential targets related to lipid metabolism between African green monkey (AGM) and cynomolgus macaque (CM)
The present study demonstrates that AGM possess a significantly different miRNA expression profile from CM
Summary
Non-human primates (NHPs) are important models of medical research on obesity and cardiovascular diseases. As two of the most commonly used NHPs, cynomolgus macaque (CM) and African green monkey (AGM) own different capacities in lipid metabolism of which the mechanism is unknown. In many pathological conditions such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension and cancers, the concentration of miRNA in circulation has been found to be altered [2], suggesting regulatory role in maintaining metabolism homeostasis in humans [3,4,5]. Two of the most commonly used NHPs are Cynomolgus macaque (Macaca fascicularis) and African green monkey (Chlorocebus Sabaeus), which can both be used in studies of neuroscience, infectious diseases and drug safety testing [6,7,8,9,10]. Research has shown that genetic factors influence the atherogenic response of lipoproteins to dietary fat
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