Wang He, Chen Yanmei, Li Xinzhong, Chen Guojun, Zhong Lintao, Chen Gangbing, Liao Yulin, Liao Wangjun, Bin Jianping
Department of Cardiology, State Key Laboratory of Organ Failure Research, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China.
Department of Cardiology, Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Jiangxi 330006, China.
Sci Rep. 2016 Oct 18;6:35520. doi: 10.1038/srep35520.
Alternative splicing (AS) drives determinative changes during mouse heart development. Recent high-throughput technological advancements have facilitated genome-wide AS, while its analysis in human foetal heart transition to the adult stage has not been reported. Here, we present a high-resolution global analysis of AS transitions between human foetal and adult hearts. RNA-sequencing data showed extensive AS transitions occurred between human foetal and adult hearts, and AS events occurred more frequently in protein-coding genes than in long non-coding RNA (lncRNA). A significant difference of AS patterns was found between foetal and adult hearts. The predicted difference in AS events was further confirmed using quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis of human heart samples. Functional foetal-specific AS event analysis showed enrichment associated with cell proliferation-related pathways including cell cycle, whereas adult-specific AS events were associated with protein synthesis. Furthermore, 42.6% of foetal-specific AS events showed significant changes in gene expression levels between foetal and adult hearts. Genes exhibiting both foetal-specific AS and differential expression were highly enriched in cell cycle-associated functions. In conclusion, we provided a genome-wide profiling of AS transitions between foetal and adult hearts and proposed that AS transitions and deferential gene expression may play determinative roles in human heart development.
可变剪接(AS)在小鼠心脏发育过程中驱动决定性变化。近期高通量技术的进步推动了全基因组范围内的可变剪接研究,然而其在人类胎儿心脏向成人阶段转变过程中的分析尚未见报道。在此,我们展示了对人类胎儿和成人心脏之间可变剪接转变的高分辨率全局分析。RNA测序数据表明,人类胎儿和成人心脏之间发生了广泛的可变剪接转变,且可变剪接事件在蛋白质编码基因中比在长链非编码RNA(lncRNA)中更频繁发生。胎儿和成人心脏之间的可变剪接模式存在显著差异。使用人类心脏样本的定量逆转录-聚合酶链反应分析进一步证实了可变剪接事件的预测差异。功能性胎儿特异性可变剪接事件分析显示,其与包括细胞周期在内的细胞增殖相关途径富集有关,而成人特异性可变剪接事件则与蛋白质合成有关。此外,42.6%的胎儿特异性可变剪接事件在胎儿和成人心脏之间的基因表达水平上显示出显著变化。同时表现出胎儿特异性可变剪接和差异表达的基因在细胞周期相关功能中高度富集。总之,我们提供了胎儿和成人心脏之间可变剪接转变的全基因组概况,并提出可变剪接转变和差异基因表达可能在人类心脏发育中起决定性作用。