College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology for Agriculture, Yangling 712100, China.
Biological Science Department, Dezhou University, Dezhou, Shandong 253023, China.
Comp Biochem Physiol Part D Genomics Proteomics. 2014 Jun;10:1-8. doi: 10.1016/j.cbd.2014.01.001. Epub 2014 Jan 16.
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of endogenous small non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression by post-transcriptional repression of messenger RNA. The echinoderm, Strongylocentrotus nudus, is an excellent model organism for studying development and commercially important as a food source. However, to date no miRNAs have been reported to modulate sex gonad differentiation in S. nudus. In this study, we constructed two small RNA libraries from male and female S. nudus gonad respectively for Solexa sequencing. A total of 184 miRNAs including 60 known and 124 novel miRNAs were identified from the two libraries. Furthermore, the nucleotide bias and end variation of the known miRNAs were also analyzed. In addition, 67 differently expressed of the 86 co-expressed and 98 gender-specific (47 male-specific and 51 female-specific) miRNAs that may be involved in sexual differentiation were found by comparing the miRNA expression profiles in the two libraries. This study reveals the first miRNA profile related to the gonad differentiation of the S. nudus. This study gives a first insight into sex differences in miRNA expression of sea urchin which could facilitate studies of the reproductive organ-specific roles of miRNAs.
微小 RNA（miRNAs）是一类内源性的小非编码 RNA，通过信使 RNA 的转录后抑制来调节基因表达。海胆是一种研究发育的优秀模式生物，也是一种重要的商业食品来源。然而，迄今为止，尚未有报道表明 miRNAs 可以调节海胆 S. nudus 的性别性腺分化。在这项研究中，我们分别从雄性和雌性 S. nudus 性腺中构建了两个小 RNA 文库，用于 Solexa 测序。从两个文库中鉴定出了 184 个 miRNAs，包括 60 个已知和 124 个新的 miRNAs。此外，还分析了已知 miRNAs 的核苷酸偏好性和末端变化。此外，通过比较两个文库中的 miRNA 表达谱，发现了 67 个差异表达的 co-expressed miRNAs（86 个 co-expressed miRNAs 中有 67 个）和 98 个性别特异性（47 个雄性特异性和 51 个雌性特异性）miRNAs，这些 miRNAs 可能参与了性分化。本研究揭示了与 S. nudus 性腺分化相关的第一个 miRNA 图谱。本研究首次揭示了海胆中 miRNA 表达的性别差异，这有助于研究 miRNA 在生殖器官特异性中的作用。
