School of Life Science and Engineering, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang, 621010, Sichuan, China.
Guangyuan City Animal Husbandry Seed Management Station, Guangyuan, 628107, Sichuan, China.
Theriogenology. 2024 Nov;229:100-107. doi: 10.1016/j.theriogenology.2024.08.020. Epub 2024 Aug 16.
The degenerative process of follicular atresia in hens naturally commences in granulosa cells, significantly impacting laying hens' reproductive performance. Past studies suggested that granulosa cell autophagy and apoptosis work together to cause follicular atresia. Recent research indicates that miRNA regulates granulosa autophagy and apoptosis, which contributes to the development of follicular atresia. However, the role of miR-302c-3p in follicular atresia and development remains unclear. In this study with the RNA-seq approach, we found that miR-302c-3p expression was significantly decreased in atrophic follicles, suggesting its involvement in the follicular atresia process. Following this, we performed in vitro studies to confirm that miR-302c-3p inhibits autophagy and apoptosis in chicken granulosa cells. Mechanistically, LATS2 is considered as the putative target gene of miR-302c-3p, and it has been demonstrated that LATS2 exerts a positive regulatory role in the modulation of autophagy and apoptosis in chicken granulosa cells. Furthermore, we verified the regulatory function of miR-302c-3p in chicken granulosa cells via the LATS2-YAP signaling pathway. Our results collectively demonstrates that miR-302c-3p targets LATS2 to modulate the YAP signaling pathway, impacting autophagy and apoptosis in granulosa cells leading to follicular atresia.
在母鸡中，卵泡闭锁的退化过程通常从颗粒细胞开始，这对蛋鸡的繁殖性能有重大影响。过去的研究表明，颗粒细胞自噬和凋亡共同作用导致卵泡闭锁。最近的研究表明，miRNA 调节颗粒细胞自噬和凋亡，这有助于卵泡闭锁的发展。然而，miR-302c-3p 在卵泡闭锁和发育中的作用尚不清楚。在这项使用 RNA-seq 方法的研究中，我们发现 miR-302c-3p 在萎缩卵泡中的表达显著降低，表明其参与了卵泡闭锁过程。随后，我们进行了体外研究，以证实 miR-302c-3p 抑制鸡颗粒细胞中的自噬和凋亡。从机制上讲，LATS2 被认为是 miR-302c-3p 的假定靶基因，并且已经证明 LATS2 对鸡颗粒细胞中自噬和凋亡的调节具有正向调节作用。此外，我们通过 LATS2-YAP 信号通路验证了 miR-302c-3p 在鸡颗粒细胞中的调节功能。我们的研究结果表明，miR-302c-3p 通过靶向 LATS2 来调节 YAP 信号通路，影响颗粒细胞中的自噬和凋亡，导致卵泡闭锁。
