Bo Dongdong, Jiang Xunping, Liu Guiqiong, Hu Ruixue, Chong Yuqing
Laboratory of Small Ruminant Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction, College of Animal Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China.
Key Laboratory of Agricultural Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Education, Wuhan 430070, China.
Animals (Basel). 2021 Feb 26;11(3):625. doi: 10.3390/ani11030625.
Long intergenic non-coding RNAs (lincRNAs) regulate testicular development by acting on protein-coding genes. However, little is known about whether lincRNAs and protein-coding genes exhibit the same expression pattern in the same phase of postnatal testicular development in goats. Therefore, this study aimed to demonstrate the expression patterns and roles of lincRNAs during the postnatal development of the goat testis. Herein, the testes of Yiling goats with average ages of 0, 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, and 180 days postnatal (DP) were used for RNA-seq. In total, 20,269 lincRNAs were identified, including 16,931 novel lincRNAs. We identified seven time-specifically diverse lincRNA modules and six mRNA modules by weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA). Interestingly, the down-regulation of growth-related lincRNAs was nearly one month earlier than the up-regulation of spermatogenesis-related lincRNAs, while the down-regulation of growth-related protein-coding genes and the correspondent up-regulation of spermatogenesis-related protein-coding genes occurred at the same age. Then, potential lincRNA target genes were predicted. Moreover, the co-expression network of lincRNAs demonstrated that ENSCHIT00000000777, ENSCHIT00000002069, and ENSCHIT00000005076 were the key lincRNAs in the process of testis development. Our study discovered the divergent regulation patterns of lincRNA on spermatogenesis and testis growth, providing a fresh insight into age-biased changes in lincRNA expression in the goat testis.
长链基因间非编码RNA（lincRNAs）通过作用于蛋白质编码基因来调节睾丸发育。然而，关于lincRNAs和蛋白质编码基因在山羊出生后睾丸发育的同一阶段是否表现出相同的表达模式，我们知之甚少。因此，本研究旨在阐明lincRNAs在山羊睾丸出生后发育过程中的表达模式及作用。在此，我们使用了平均年龄分别为出生后0、30、60、90、120、150和180天（DP）的夷陵山羊睾丸进行RNA测序。总共鉴定出20,269个lincRNAs，其中包括16,931个新的lincRNAs。我们通过加权基因共表达网络分析（WGCNA）确定了7个时间特异性不同的lincRNA模块和6个mRNA模块。有趣的是，与生长相关的lincRNAs的下调比与精子发生相关的lincRNAs的上调早了近一个月，而与生长相关的蛋白质编码基因的下调和与精子发生相关的蛋白质编码基因的相应上调则发生在同一年龄。然后，预测了潜在的lincRNA靶基因。此外，lincRNAs的共表达网络表明，ENSCHIT00000000777、ENSCHIT00000002069和ENSCHIT00000005076是睾丸发育过程中的关键lincRNAs。我们的研究发现了lincRNA对精子发生和睾丸生长的不同调控模式，为山羊睾丸中lincRNA表达的年龄偏向性变化提供了新的见解。
