The effect of lncRNA TCONS_00815878 on differentiation of porcine skeletal muscle satellite cells

Abstract

Porcine skeletal muscle development is a complex biological process, and differentiation of skeletal muscle satellite cells is an important part of skeletal muscle development. In recent years, it has been found that lncRNA plays an important role in the differentiation of skeletal muscle satellite cells. Here we investigate the effect of lncRNA TCONS_00815878 on the differentiation of porcine skeletal muscle satellite cells. We first used qRT-PCR to detect the expression levels of TCONS_00815878 in six tissues (heart, spleen, lung, kidney, back muscles and leg muscles) of Yorkshire piglets within seven days of birth. At the same time, the expression levels of TCONS_00815878 at five different time points from the embryonic stage to the postnatal stage (35 d, 45 d, 55 d of embryos, and 7 d, 200 d of postpartum leg muscles) were examined. The expression of the differentiation marker genes MyoD, MyoG and MyHC was examined by knocking down TCONS_00815878 in porcine skeletal muscle satellite cells using antisense oligonucleotides (ASO). The target gene of TCONS_00815878 was predicted by bioinformatics analysis, and the function and pathway of its target gene were predicted online using DAVID software. The results showed that TCONS_00815878 had the highest expression level in pig myocardium and leg muscles. Within seven days after birth, TCONS_00815878 increased in the muscle tissue of pigs, and reached the peak of expression level on the 7th day. During the process of proliferation and differentiation of porcine skeletal muscle satellite cells, the expression level of TCONS_00815878 increased during the differentiation stage and peaked at 30 h of differentiation. After knocking down TCONS_00815878, the expression levels of MyoD, MyoG and MyHC were decreased, but the expression level of MyoD was significantly decreased (P<0.05). In addition, functional predictions revealed that the target gene of TCONS_00815878 is enriched in multiple biological processes, such as glycolysis and pyruvate metabolism, related to skeletal muscle satellite cell differentiation. This study speculates that lncRNA TCONS_00815878 may promote the differentiation of porcine skeletal muscle satellite cells.