Xiong Lin, Pei Jie, Guo Shaoke, Cao Mengli, Ding Zhiqiang, Kang Yandong, Wu Xiaoyun, Guo Xian
Key Laboratory of Yak Breeding in Gansu Province, Lanzhou Institute of Husbandry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou 730050, China.
Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Breeding on Tibetan Plateau, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Lanzhou 730050, China.
Int J Mol Sci. 2025 Jun 3;26(11):5359. doi: 10.3390/ijms26115359.
The yak is a classic grazing livestock species on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and fat deposition is indispensable for its survival and metabolism. Coding and non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) play an important role in regulating fat deposition in livestock. In this study, the expression of mRNAs, lncRNAs, miRNAs, and circRNAs in the subcutaneous fat of yaks under grazing and stall feeding was measured using whole-transcriptome sequencing technology. A total of 677 differentially expressed (DE) mRNAs, 120 DE lncRNAs, 2216 DE circRNAs, and 15 DE miRNAs were identified, and their biological function was explored using Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyses. Co-expression RNA (ceRNA) networks between DE ncRNAs and DE mRNAs were further constructed, and the crucial RNAs and signal pathways regulating fat deposition in yaks were obtained. The effect of mRNAs and ncRNAs on fat deposition in yaks mainly depended on the PPAR, PI3K-Akt, and cAMP signaling pathways, and the regulatory pathways , , and may be critical in this process. This study provides some theoretical basis for breeding yak species and promotes improvements in yak production.
牦牛是青藏高原典型的放牧家畜品种，脂肪沉积对其生存和新陈代谢不可或缺。编码RNA和非编码RNA（ncRNA）在调节家畜脂肪沉积中发挥着重要作用。在本研究中，利用全转录组测序技术测定了放牧和舍饲条件下牦牛皮下脂肪中mRNA、lncRNA、miRNA和circRNA的表达。共鉴定出677个差异表达（DE）mRNA、120个DE lncRNA、2216个DE circRNA和15个DE miRNA，并通过基因本体论（GO）和京都基因与基因组百科全书（KEGG）分析探索了它们的生物学功能。进一步构建了DE ncRNA和DE mRNA之间的共表达RNA（ceRNA）网络，获得了调控牦牛脂肪沉积的关键RNA和信号通路。mRNA和ncRNA对牦牛脂肪沉积的影响主要依赖于PPAR、PI3K-Akt和cAMP信号通路，且调控途径、和可能在此过程中至关重要。本研究为牦牛品种选育提供了一定的理论依据，促进了牦牛生产性能的提升。
