Anhui Provincial Laboratory of Local Livestock and Poultry Genetical Resource Conservation and Breeding, College of Animal Science and Technology, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China.
Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Embryo Development and Reproduction Regulation, Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Environmental Hormone and Reproduction, School of Biological and Food Engineering, Fuyang Normal University, Fuyang 236037, China.
Genes (Basel). 2022 Nov 23;13(12):2185. doi: 10.3390/genes13122185.
Micro RNAs (miRNAs) have been recognized as important regulators that are indispensable for testicular development and spermatogenesis. miRNAs are endogenous transcriptomic elements and mainly regulate the gene expression at post-transcriptional levels; however, the key role of miRNA in bovine testicular growth is not clearly understood. Thus, supposing to unveil the transcriptomics expression changes in the developmental processes of bovine testes, we selected three immature calves and three sexually mature bulls of the local Wandong breed for testicular-tissue sample collection. The cDNA libraries of experimental animals were established for RNA-sequencing analysis. We detected the miRNA expression in testes by using high-throughput sequencing technology, and bioinformatics analysis followed. The differentially expressed (DE) data showed that 151 miRNAs linked genes were significantly DE between immature and mature bull testes. Further, in detail, 64 were significantly up-regulated and 87 were down-regulated in the immature vs. mature testes (-value < 0.05). Pathway analyses for miRNA-linked genes were performed and identified , and ; these genes were involved in biological pathways such as TNF signaling, T cell receptor, PI3KAkt signaling, and functions affecting testes development and spermatogenesis. The DE miRNAs including MIR425, MIR98, MIR34C, MIR184, MIR18A, MIR136, MIR15A, MIR1388 and MIR210 were associated with cattle-bull sexual maturation and sperm production. RT-qPCR validation analysis showed a consistent correlation to the sequencing data findings. The current study provides a good framework for understanding the mechanism of miRNAs in the development of testes and spermatogenesis.
微小 RNA（miRNA）已被认为是在睾丸发育和精子发生中不可或缺的重要调节因子。miRNA 是内源性转录组元件，主要在转录后水平调节基因表达；然而，miRNA 在牛睾丸生长中的关键作用尚不清楚。因此，为了揭示牛睾丸发育过程中的转录组表达变化，我们选择了三个未成熟的小牛和三个本地 Wandong 品种的性成熟公牛进行睾丸组织样本采集。为 RNA-seq 分析建立了实验动物的 cDNA 文库。我们使用高通量测序技术检测睾丸中的 miRNA 表达，并进行了生物信息学分析。差异表达（DE）数据显示，151 个 miRNA 相关基因在未成熟和成熟公牛睾丸之间存在明显的 DE。进一步详细分析表明，在未成熟与成熟睾丸之间，有 64 个 miRNA 相关基因显著上调，87 个下调（-值<0.05）。对 miRNA 相关基因进行了通路分析，并鉴定出这些基因参与了 TNF 信号、T 细胞受体、PI3KAkt 信号等生物通路，以及影响睾丸发育和精子发生的功能。DE miRNAs 包括 MIR425、MIR98、MIR34C、MIR184、MIR18A、MIR136、MIR15A、MIR1388 和 MIR210，与牛公牛性成熟和精子产生有关。RT-qPCR 验证分析与测序数据结果一致。本研究为了解 miRNA 在睾丸发育和精子发生中的作用机制提供了良好的框架。
