Abstract
Simple SummaryIn this study, three miRNA modules were identified in a cattle short-distance transportation stress model, and the turquoise module showed key miRNA sets according to their correlation with hub genes. Further, hub miRNAs were identified based on their targeting relationship with hub genes in our previous study. This finding provides the potential utility for predicting and treatment of short-distance transportation stress in beef cattle.Transportation is a crucial phase in the beef cattle industry, and the annual losses caused by beef cattle transport stress are substantial. Because of its huge economic losses, such as lower growth rate and even death, long-distance transportation stress has attracted more attention from beef production practitioners because of its huge economic losses. Compared with the long-distance transportation stress, the short-distance transportation stress was ignored for the reason of no obvious symptoms in cattle. Our previous study showed that the disorder of B cell function could be a potential health risk after short-distance transportation. However, the transcriptome details of the changes in the cattle blood after short-distance transportation and the molecular mechanisms for the regulation of the developmental process are not clearly known. In this study, a total of 10 Qinchuan cattle were used to compare the molecular characteristics of blood before and after short-distance transportation. The miRNA-seq showed that 114 differentially expressed miRNAs (DEMs) were found (40 upregulated and 74 downregulated) between two groups before and after transportation. Furthermore, more than 90% of the miRNAs with counts of more than 10 were used to construct a co-expression network by weighted correlation network analysis (WGCNA), and four independent modules were identified. According to their relationship with 30 hub genes, the turquoise module was the key module in this study. The regulator network of hub genes and miRNAs in the turquoise module was constructed by miRNAs targeting genes predicting, and the miRNAs had targeting sites within hub genes that could be identified as hub-miRNAs. Further, it showed that CD40 and ITPKB had the same targeting miRNAs (miR-339a/b), and the newly discovered hub miRNAs filled the gaps in our previous study about the relationship between hub genes in short-distance transportation stress and provided the potential utility for predicting and treatment of short-distance transportation stress in beef cattle.
Highlights
With the improvement of social productivity, animal welfare issues have become increasingly prominent
Transportation stress has brought huge economic losses to the beef cattle industry, which could be divided into long-distance transportation stress and short-distance transportation stress [2,3]
This study aimed to explore the change in blood transcriptome of miRNAs after short-distance transportation, thereby updating the theoretical basis for the diagnosis of
Summary
With the improvement of social productivity, animal welfare issues have become increasingly prominent. Long-distance transportation stress has attracted more attention from beef production practitioners, because it can slow down the growth rate and even cause death of beef cattle [4,5]. Our previous study showed that the disorder of B cell differentiation, proliferation, survival, and apoptosis were the potential molecular mechanisms in short-distance transportation stress [11]. It suggested that beef cattle are susceptible to the attack of pathogenic bacteria after short-distance transportation. Considering the production efficiency and animal welfare of beef cattle, attention should be paid to the transportation stress of short-distance transport of beef cattle
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