Institute of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan 430064, China.
Hubei Key Laboratory of Animal Embryo Engineering and Molecular Breeding, Wuhan 430064, China.
Int J Mol Sci. 2024 Oct 19;25(20):11251. doi: 10.3390/ijms252011251.
Transfer RNA-derived small RNAs (tsRNAs) are novel regulatory small non-coding RNAs that have been found to modulate many life activities in recent years. However, the exact functions of tsRNAs in follicle development remain unclear. Follicle development is a remarkably complex process that follows a strict hierarchy and is strongly associated with reproductive performance in ducks. The process of converting small yellow follicles into hierarchal follicles is known as follicle selection, which directly determines the number of mature follicles. We performed small RNA sequencing during follicle selection in ducks and identified tsRNA-00764 as the target of interest based on tsRNA expression profiles in this study. Bioinformatics analyses and luciferase reporter assays further revealed that peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPAR-γ) was the target gene of tsRNA-00764. Moreover, tsRNA-00764 knockdown promoted estrogen and progesterone synthesis and lipid deposition in duck granulosa cells, while a PPAR-γ inhibitor reversed the above phenomenon. Taken together, these results demonstrate that tsRNA-00764, differentially expressed in pre-hierarchal and hierarchy follicles, modulates estrogen and progesterone synthesis and lipid deposition by targeting PPAR-γ in duck granulosa cells, serving as a potential novel mechanism of follicle selection. Overall, our findings provide a theoretical foundation for further exploration of the molecular mechanisms underlying follicle development and production performance in ducks.
转移 RNA 衍生的小 RNA（tsRNA）是近年来发现的新型调节性小非编码 RNA，能够调节多种生命活动。然而，tsRNA 在卵泡发育中的确切功能仍不清楚。卵泡发育是一个非常复杂的过程，遵循严格的层次结构，与鸭子的生殖性能密切相关。将小黄卵泡转化为层次卵泡的过程称为卵泡选择，它直接决定了成熟卵泡的数量。我们在鸭子的卵泡选择过程中进行了小 RNA 测序，根据本研究中小 RNA 表达谱，确定 tsRNA-00764 为感兴趣的目标。生物信息学分析和荧光素酶报告基因检测进一步表明过氧化物酶体增殖物激活受体-γ（PPAR-γ）是 tsRNA-00764 的靶基因。此外，tsRNA-00764 敲低促进了鸭颗粒细胞中雌激素和孕激素的合成和脂质沉积，而 PPAR-γ 抑制剂则逆转了上述现象。综上所述，这些结果表明，tsRNA-00764 在预层次和层次卵泡中差异表达，通过靶向鸭颗粒细胞中的 PPAR-γ 调节雌激素和孕激素的合成和脂质沉积，作为卵泡选择的潜在新机制。总的来说，我们的研究结果为进一步探索鸭子卵泡发育和生产性能的分子机制提供了理论基础。
