Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Biotechnology and Disease Control and Prevention, College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an City, 271014, Shandong Province, China.
Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Non-grain Feed Resources (Co-construction by Ministry and Province), Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an City, 271014, Shandong Province, China.
BMC Genomics. 2024 Sep 4;25(1):832. doi: 10.1186/s12864-024-10735-y.
Exploring the physiological and molecular mechanisms underlying goat sexual maturation can enhance breeding practices and optimize reproductive efficiency and is therefore substantially important for practical breeding purposes. As an essential neuroendocrine organ in animals, the hypothalamus is involved in sexual development and other reproductive processes in female animals. Although microRNAs (miRNAs) have been identified as significant regulators of goat reproduction, there is a lack of research on the molecular regulatory mechanisms of hypothalamic miRNAs that are involved in the sexual development of goats. Therefore, we examined the dynamic changes in serum hormone profiles and hypothalamic miRNA expression profiles at four developmental stages (1 day (neonatal, D1, n = 5), 2 months (prepubertal, M2, n = 5), 4 months (sexual maturity, M4, n = 5), and 6 months (breeding period, M6, n = 5)) during sexual development in Jining grey goats.
Transcriptome analysis revealed 95 differentially expressed miRNAs (DEMs) in the hypothalamus of goats across the four developmental stages. The target genes of these miRNAs were significantly enriched in the GnRH signalling pathway, the PI3K-Akt signalling pathway, and the Ras signalling pathway (P < 0.05). Additionally, 16 DEMs are common among the M2 vs. D1, M4 vs. D1, and M6 vs. D1 comparisons, indicating that the transition from D1 to M2 represents a potentially critical period for sexual development in Jining grey goats. The bioinformatics analysis results indicate that miR-193a/miR-193b-3p-Annexin A7 (ANXA7), miR-324-5p-Adhesion G protein-coupled receptor A1 (ADGRA1), miR-324-3p-Erbb2 receptor tyrosine kinase 2 (ERBB2), and miR-324-3p-Rap guanine nucleotide exchange factor 3 (RAPGEF3) are potentially involved in biological processes such as hormone secretion, energy metabolism, and signal transduction. In addition, we further confirmed that miR-324-3p targets the regulatory gene RAPGEF3.
These results further enrich the expression profile of hypothalamic miRNAs in goats and provide important insights for studying the regulatory effects of hypothalamic miRNAs on the sexual development of goats after birth.
探索山羊性成熟的生理和分子机制可以提高繁殖实践水平，优化繁殖效率，因此对于实际繁殖目的具有重要意义。下丘脑作为动物的重要神经内分泌器官，参与雌性动物的性发育和其他生殖过程。虽然 microRNAs（miRNAs）已被确定为调控山羊繁殖的重要因子，但关于参与山羊性发育的下丘脑 miRNAs 的分子调控机制的研究还很少。因此，我们在济宁青山羊性发育的四个发育阶段（1 天（新生，D1，n=5）、2 个月（青春期前，M2，n=5）、4 个月（性成熟，M4，n=5）和 6 个月（繁殖期，M6，n=5））检查了血清激素谱和下丘脑 miRNA 表达谱的动态变化。
转录组分析显示，在四个发育阶段的山羊下丘脑中共发现 95 个差异表达的 miRNAs（DEMs）。这些 miRNA 的靶基因在 GnRH 信号通路、PI3K-Akt 信号通路和 Ras 信号通路中显著富集（P<0.05）。此外，M2 与 D1、M4 与 D1 和 M6 与 D1 比较中共有 16 个 DEMs，表明从 D1 到 M2 的转变可能是济宁青山羊性发育的一个关键时期。生物信息学分析结果表明，miR-193a/miR-193b-3p-膜联蛋白 A7（ANXA7）、miR-324-5p-黏附 G 蛋白偶联受体 A1（ADGRA1）、miR-324-3p-ErbB2 受体酪氨酸激酶 2（ERBB2）和 miR-324-3p-Rap 鸟苷酸交换因子 3（RAPGEF3）可能参与激素分泌、能量代谢和信号转导等生物学过程。此外，我们进一步证实了 miR-324-3p 靶向调节基因 RAPGEF3。
这些结果进一步丰富了山羊下丘脑 miRNAs 的表达谱，为研究下丘脑 miRNAs 对山羊出生后性发育的调控作用提供了重要线索。
