ObjectiveCircular RNAs (circRNAs) are a newfound class of non-coding RNA in animals and plants. Recent studies have revealed that circRNAs play important roles in cell proliferation, differentiation, autophagy and apoptosis during development. However, there are few reports about muscle development-related circRNAs in livestock.MethodsRNA sequencing analysis was employed to identify and annotate circRNAs from longissimus dorsi of sheep. Reverse transcription followed by real-time quantitative (q) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis verified the presence of these circRNAs. Targetscan7.0 and miRanda were used to analyse the interaction of circRNA-microRNA (miRNA). To investigate the function of circRNAs, an experiment was conducted to perform enrichment analysis hosting genes of circRNAs using gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) pathways.ResultsAbout 75.5 million sequences were obtained from RNA libraries of sheep skeletal muscle. These sequences were mapped to 729 genes in the sheep reference genome. We identified 886 circRNAs, including numerous circular intronic RNAs and exonic circRNAs. Reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) and DNA sequencing analysis confirmed the presence of several circRNAs. Real-Time RT-PCR analysis exhibited resistance of sheep circRNAs to RNase R digestion. We found that many circRNAs interacted with muscle-specific miRNAs involved in growth and development of muscle, especially circ776. The GO and KEGG enrichment analysis showed that hosting genes of circRNAs was involved in muscle cell development and signaling pathway.ConclusionThe study provides comprehensive expression profiles of circRNAs in sheep skeletal muscle. Our study offers a large number of circRNAs to facilitate a better understanding of their roles in muscle growth. Meanwhile, we suggested that circ776 could be analyzed in future study.
Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a class of animal non-coding RNAs and play an impor-tant role in animal growth and development. However, the expression and function of circRNAs in the pituitary gland of sheep are unclear. Transcriptome profiling of circRNAs in the pituitary gland of sheep may enable us to understand their biological functions. In the present study, we identified 10,226 circRNAs from RNA-seq data in the pituitary gland of prenatal and postnatal sheep. Reverse transcription PCR and DNA sequencing analysis confirmed the presence of several circRNAs. Real-time RT-PCR analysis showed that sheep circRNAs are resistant to RNase R digestion and are expressed in prenatal and postnatal pituitary glands. GO and KEGG enrichment analysis showed that host genes of differentially expressed circRNAs are involved in the regulation of hormone secretion as well as in several pathways related to these processes. We determined that numerous circRNAs interact with pituitary-specific miRNAs that are involved in the biologic functions of the pituitary gland. Moreover, several circRNAs contain at least one IRES element and open reading frame, indicating their potential to encode proteins. Our study provides comprehensive expression profiles of circRNAs in the pituitary gland, thereby offering a valuable resource for circRNA biology in sheep.
Vaginal
atrophy (VA) is the thinning and drying of the vaginal
walls, which can lead to a variety of symptoms. VA is usually initiated
by decreasing estrogen levels in post-menopausal women; so, the traditional
treatment of VA is hormone therapy (HT). Here, we sought nonhormonal
therapies aimed at treating this condition safely and effectively.
Collagen is an excellent biomaterial and has important biological
functions in skin and mucosal tissues. In particular, collagen can
bind to epithelial cells to promote proliferation and differentiation.
In this study, recombinant protein T16, which was derived from human
type III collagen to provide potent cell-adhesion activity, was used
as a safe alternative therapy to treat VA in ovariectomy rat models.
After T16 was administered intravaginally for 2 weeks, the autologous
collagen arrangement was improved in the epithelium and muscle layer
of the rat vagina, and the thickness of epithelium tissue also increased
significantly. Compared with the sham group, collagen therapy was
found to influence the expression levels of several important proteins
in the vaginal tissue, resulting in the upregulation of TIMP-1, Collagen
I, Collagen III, Ki-67, VEGF, and AQP-2 and the downregulation of
MMP-1 and IL-6. Cells in the collagen treatment group exhibited better
proliferation and less apoptosis properties. These results not only
provide support for additional animal experiments to further evaluate
collagen therapy in VA treatment but also suggest the potential for
wide applications of collagen biomaterials with high cell-adhesion
activities.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.