Gu Lihong, Zhang Shunjin, Li Boling, Jiang Qicheng, Xu Tieshan, Huang Yongzhen, Lin Dajie, Xing Manping, Huang Lili, Zheng Xinli, Wang Feng, Chao Zhe, Sun Weiping
Tropical Crops Genetic Resources Institute, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, Haikou, China.
Institute of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Hainan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Haikou, China.
Front Vet Sci. 2022 Oct 24;9:933850. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2022.933850. eCollection 2022.
N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is an abundant internal mRNA modification and plays a crucial regulatory role in animal growth and development. In recent years, m6A modification has been found to play a key role in skeletal muscles. However, whether m6A modification contributes to embryonic breast muscle development of Pekin ducks has not been explored. To explore the role of m6A in embryonic breast muscle development of ducks, we performed m6A sequencing and miRNA sequencing for the breast muscle of duck embryos on the 19th (E19) and 27th (E27) days. A total of 12,717 m6A peaks were identified at E19, representing a total of 7,438 gene transcripts. A total of 14,703 m6A peaks were identified, which overlapped with the transcripts of 7,753 genes at E27. Comparing E19 and E27, we identified 2,347 differential m6A peaks, which overlapped with 1,605 m6A-modified genes (MMGs). Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyses revealed that MMGs were enriched in multiple muscle- or fat-related pathways, which was also revealed from our analysis of differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Conjoint analysis of m6A-seq and RNA-seq data showed that pathways related to β-oxidation of fatty acids and skeletal muscle development were significantly enriched, suggesting that m6A modification is involved in the regulation of fat deposition and skeletal muscle development. There were 90 upregulated and 102 downregulated miRNAs identified between the E19 and E27 stages. Through overlapping analysis of genes shared by MMGs and DEGs and the targets of differentially expressed miRNAs (DEMs), we identified six m6A-mRNA-regulated miRNAs. Finally, we found that m6A modification can regulate fat deposition and skeletal muscle development. In conclusion, our results suggest that m6A modification is a key regulator for embryonic breast muscle development and fat deposition of ducks by affecting expressions of mRNAs and miRNAs. This is the first study to comprehensively characterize the m6A patterns in the duck transcriptome. These data provide a solid basis for future work aimed at determining the potential functional roles of m6A modification in adipose deposition and muscle growth.
N6-甲基腺嘌呤（m6A）是一种丰富的内部mRNA修饰，在动物生长发育中起关键调节作用。近年来，已发现m6A修饰在骨骼肌中起关键作用。然而，m6A修饰是否有助于北京鸭胚胎期胸肌发育尚未得到探索。为了探究m6A在鸭胚胎期胸肌发育中的作用，我们对第19天（E19）和第27天（E27）鸭胚胎的胸肌进行了m6A测序和miRNA测序。在E19时共鉴定出12717个m6A峰，代表7438个基因转录本。在E27时共鉴定出14703个m6A峰，与7753个基因的转录本重叠。比较E19和E27，我们鉴定出2347个差异m6A峰，它们与1605个m6A修饰基因（MMG）重叠。基因本体论（GO）和京都基因与基因组百科全书（KEGG）分析表明，MMG在多个与肌肉或脂肪相关的途径中富集，这也从我们对差异表达基因（DEG）的分析中得到揭示。m6A测序和RNA测序数据的联合分析表明，与脂肪酸β-氧化和骨骼肌发育相关的途径显著富集，表明m6A修饰参与脂肪沉积和骨骼肌发育的调节。在E19和E27阶段之间鉴定出90个上调和102个下调的miRNA。通过对MMG和DEG共有的基因以及差异表达miRNA（DEM）的靶标进行重叠分析，我们鉴定出6个m6A- mRNA调控的miRNA。最后，我们发现m6A修饰可以调节脂肪沉积和骨骼肌发育。总之，我们的结果表明，m6A修饰通过影响mRNA和miRNA的表达，是鸭胚胎期胸肌发育和脂肪沉积的关键调节因子。这是第一项全面表征鸭转录组中m6A模式的研究。这些数据为未来旨在确定m6A修饰在脂肪沉积和肌肉生长中的潜在功能作用的工作提供了坚实的基础。
