Comparison of MicroRNA Transcriptomes Reveals the Association between MiR-148a-3p Expression and Rumen Development in Goats

Abstract

The rumen is an important digestive organ of ruminants. From the fetal to adult stage, the morphology, structure and function of the rumen change significantly. However, the knowledge of the intrinsic genetic regulation of these changes is still limited. We previously reported a genome-wide expression profile of miRNAs in pre-natal goat rumens. In this study, we combined and analyzed the transcriptomes of rumen miRNAs during pre-natal (E60 and E135) and post-natal (D30 and D150) stages. A total of 66 differentially expressed miRNAs (DEMs) were identified in the rumen tissues from D30 and D150 goats. Of these, 17 DEMs were consistently highly expressed in the rumens at the pre-weaning stages (E60, E135 and D30), while down-regulated at D150. Noteworthy, annotation analysis revealed that the target genes regulated by the DEMs were mainly enriched in MAPK signaling pathway, Jak-STAT signaling pathway and Ras signaling pathway. Interestingly, the expression of miR-148a-3p was significantly high in the embryonic stage and down-regulated at D150. The potential binding sites of miR-148a-3p in the 3′-UTR of QKI were predicted by the TargetScan and verified by the dual luciferase report assay. The co-localization of miR-148a-3p and QKI through in situ hybridization was observed in the rumen tissues but not in the intestinal tracts. Moreover, the expression of miR-148a-3p in the epithelium was significantly higher than that in the other layers of the rumen, suggesting that miR-148a-3p is involved in the development of the rumen epithelial cells by targeting QKI. Subsequently, miR-148a-3p inhibitor was found to induce the proliferation of GES-1 cells. Taken together, our study identified DEMs involved in the development of the rumen and provides insights into the regulation mechanism of rumen development in goats.

Differentially Expressed MiRNAs of Goat Submandibular Glands Among Three Developmental Stages Are Involved in Immune Functions

“…MiR-148a can negatively regulate cell proliferation, migration, and invasion by downregulating MTA2 in salivary adenoid cystic carcinoma cells (Li et al, 2018 ). In goat rumen, the expression of miR-148a-3p was significantly different between stages, and involved in the development of the rumen epithelial cells by targeting QKI , meanwhile proliferation of GES-1 cells were induced by miR148a-3p inhibitor (Zhong et al, 2020 ). So we hypothesize the stable expression of chi-miR-148a-3p in goat SMGs is also related to the growth and development of SMGs cells, which need further study.…”

Genome-Wide Identification of Reference Genes for Reverse-Transcription Quantitative PCR in Goat Rumen

“…Carbohydrates are degraded into volatile fatty acids and absorbed by the rumen epithelial cells [ 29 ]. Many studies have reported related gene expression profiles during rumen development in goats [ 24 , 28 , 42 , 43 , 44 ]. To date, few studies have assessed the applicability of HKG standardization in this tissue, and the identification of RGs has not been based on genome-wide identification.…”

“…Numerous studies have pointed out the main mechanisms related to the absorption and transport of nutrients, such as passive diffusion [ 21 ], acid anion exchange [ 22 ], proton-coupled volatile fatty acid (VFA) transport [ 23 ], and electrically mediated VFA transport [ 20 ]. Many candidate genes and noncoding RNAs have been investigated to explore their functions during rumen development [ 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 ]. Therefore, the selection and validation of RGs are necessary prior to assessing the expression levels of candidate genes without bias.…”

Identification of microRNAs in Silver Carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) Response to Hypoxia Stress

“…When the expression of let-7f increased, the expression of NDRG3 decreased. Under hypoxic conditions, stable NDRG3 protein could promote angiogenesis and cell growth by activating the Raf-ERK pathway [ 28 ]. The experimental results confirmed the new mechanism of let-7f regulating the expression of NDRG3.…”