Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China.
College of Animal Science and Technology, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou 730070, China.
Genes (Basel). 2020 Mar 12;11(3):301. doi: 10.3390/genes11030301.
Photoperiod is one of the important factors leading to seasonal reproduction of sheep. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the photoperiod regulation of seasonal reproduction remain poorly understood. In this study, we compared the expression profiles of mRNAs, lncRNAs, and circRNAs in uterine tissues from Sunite sheep during three different photoperiods, namely, the short photoperiod (SP), short transfer to long photoperiod (SLP), and long photoperiod (LP). The results showed that 298, 403, and 378 differentially expressed (DE) mRNAs, 171, 491, and 499 DE lncRNAs, and 124, 270, and 400 DE circRNAs were identified between SP and LP, between SP and SLP, and between LP and SLP, respectively. Furthermore, functional enrichment analysis showed that the differentially expressed RNAs were mainly involved in the GnRH signaling pathway, thyroid hormone synthesis, and thyroid hormone signaling pathway. In addition, co-expression networks of lncRNA-mRNA were constructed based on the correlation analysis between the differentially expressed RNAs. Our study provides new insights into the expression changes of RNAs in different photoperiods, which might contribute to understanding the molecular mechanisms of seasonal reproduction in sheep.
光周期是导致绵羊季节性繁殖的重要因素之一。然而，光周期对季节性繁殖的调控机制仍知之甚少。在这项研究中，我们比较了苏尼特羊在三个不同光周期（短光周期、短光周期到长光周期和长光周期）下子宫组织中 mRNA、lncRNA 和 circRNA 的表达谱。结果表明，在 SP 和 LP、SP 和 SLP、LP 和 SLP 之间分别鉴定出 298、403 和 378 个差异表达（DE）mRNA、171、491 和 499 个 DE lncRNA 以及 124、270 和 400 个 DE circRNA。此外，功能富集分析表明，差异表达的 RNA 主要参与 GnRH 信号通路、甲状腺激素合成和甲状腺激素信号通路。此外，还基于差异表达 RNA 之间的相关性分析构建了 lncRNA-mRNA 的共表达网络。我们的研究为不同光周期下 RNA 表达变化提供了新的见解，这可能有助于理解绵羊季节性繁殖的分子机制。
