Miao Xiangyang, Luo Qingmiao, Zhao Huijing, Qin Xiaoyu
Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100193, China.
Sci Rep. 2016 Oct 12;6:35299. doi: 10.1038/srep35299.
miRNAs and lncRNAs, which represent one of the most highly expressed classes of ncRNAs in development, are attracting increasing interest. A variety of regulators is considered to be implicated in sheep species with different fecundity. However, interactions between miRNAs and lncRNAs and changes in the expression of regulatory lncRNAs in sheep fecundity have not yet been reported. To characterize the important roles of miRNAs and lncRNAs and elucidate their regulating networks in sheep prolificacy, a genome-wide analysis of miRNAs and lncRNAs from Small Tail Han sheep of genotypes FecBFecB (Han BB) and FecB FecB (Han++) and from Dorset sheep (Dorset) was performed. An integrated analysis of miRNAs and lncRNAs was performed to study the regulatory function of miRNAs and lncRNAs in fecundity, revealing significantly correlated patterns of expression. Dramatic changes of miRNAs and lncRNAs suggest their critical roles in sheep fecundity. In conclusion, this is the first study performing thorough investigations of regulatory relationships among lncRNAs, miRNA and mRNAs, which will provide a novel view of the regulatory mechanisms involved in sheep fecundity. These results may provide further insight into sheep fecundity and help us to improve sheep prolificacy.
微小RNA（miRNA）和长链非编码RNA（lncRNA）是发育过程中表达量最高的非编码RNA类别之一，正吸引着越来越多的关注。多种调控因子被认为与不同繁殖力的绵羊品种有关。然而，miRNA与lncRNA之间的相互作用以及调控性lncRNA在绵羊繁殖力中的表达变化尚未见报道。为了表征miRNA和lncRNA的重要作用并阐明它们在绵羊多产性中的调控网络，对基因型为FecBFecB（汉BB）和FecB FecB（汉++）的小尾寒羊以及多赛特羊的miRNA和lncRNA进行了全基因组分析。对miRNA和lncRNA进行了综合分析，以研究miRNA和lncRNA在繁殖力中的调控功能，揭示了显著相关的表达模式。miRNA和lncRNA的显著变化表明它们在绵羊繁殖力中起关键作用。总之，这是首次对lncRNA、miRNA和mRNA之间的调控关系进行全面研究，这将为绵羊繁殖力的调控机制提供新的视角。这些结果可能会为绵羊繁殖力提供进一步的见解，并帮助我们提高绵羊的多产性。
