Institute of Animal Husbandry, Heilongjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Harbin, Heilongjiang, People's Republic of China.
Department of Animal Science, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, People's Republic of China.
PLoS One. 2022 Sep 26;17(9):e0274184. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0274184. eCollection 2022.
The increased sensitivity of pigs to ambient temperature is due to today's intensive farming. Frequent climate disasters increase the pressure on healthy pig farming. Min pigs are an indigenous pig breed in China with desirable cold resistance characteristics, and hence are ideal for obtaining cold-resistant pig breeds. Therefore, it is important to discover the molecular mechanisms that are activated in response to cold stress in the Min pig. Here, we conducted a transcriptomic analysis of the skeletal muscle of Min pigs under chronic low-temperature acclimation (group A) and acute short cold stress (group B). Cold exposure caused more genes to be upregulated. Totals of 125 and 96 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were generated from groups A and B. Sixteen common upregulated DEGs were screened; these were concentrated in oxidative stress (SRXN1, MAFF), immune and inflammatory responses (ITPKC, AREG, MMP25, FOSL1), the nervous system (RETREG1, GADD45A, RCAN1), lipid metabolism (LRP11, LIPG, ITGA5, AMPD2), solute transport (SLC19A2, SLC28A1, SLCO4A1), and fertility (HBEGF). There were 102 and 73 genes that were specifically differentially expressed in groups A and B, respectively. The altered mRNAs were enriched in immune, endocrine, and cancer pathways. There were 186 and 91 differentially expressed lncRNAs generated from groups A and B. Analysis of the target genes suggested that they may be involved in regulating the MAPK signaling pathway for resistance to cold. The results of this study provide a comprehensive overview of cold exposure-induced transcriptional patterns in skeletal muscle of the Min pig. These results can guide future molecular studies of cold stress response in pigs for improving cold tolerance as a goal in breeding programs.
现代集约化养猪方式导致猪对环境温度变化的敏感性增加。频繁发生的气候灾害给健康养猪业带来了更大的压力。民猪是中国的本土品种，具有良好的抗寒特性，因此是获得抗寒猪品种的理想选择。因此，研究民猪在冷应激下激活的分子机制非常重要。本研究对民猪骨骼肌进行了慢性低温驯化（A 组）和急性短期冷应激（B 组）的转录组分析。冷暴露导致更多基因上调。A 组和 B 组分别产生了 125 个和 96 个差异表达基因（DEGs）。筛选出 16 个共同上调的 DEGs，它们集中在氧化应激（SRXN1、MAFF）、免疫和炎症反应（ITPKC、AREG、MMP25、FOSL1）、神经系统（RETREG1、GADD45A、RCAN1）、脂质代谢（LRP11、LIPG、ITGA5、AMPD2）、溶质转运（SLC19A2、SLC28A1、SLCO4A1）和生育能力（HBEGF）。A 组和 B 组分别有 102 个和 73 个基因特异性差异表达。改变的 mRNA 富集在免疫、内分泌和癌症途径中。A 组和 B 组分别产生了 186 个和 91 个差异表达 lncRNA。对靶基因的分析表明，它们可能参与调节冷应激反应中的 MAPK 信号通路。本研究为民猪骨骼肌冷应激诱导的转录模式提供了全面概述。这些结果可以指导未来猪冷应激反应的分子研究，以提高猪的耐寒性作为选育计划的目标。
