Functional analyses of miRNA-146b-5p during myogenic proliferation and differentiation in chicken myoblasts

Abstract

Background: In the poultry and livestock industries, precise genetic information is crucial for improving economic traits. Thus, functional genomic studies help to generate faster, healthier, and more efficient animal production. Chicken myoblast cells, which are required for muscle development and regeneration, are particularly important because chicken growth is closely related to muscle mass. Results: In this study, we induced expression of microRNA-146b-5p mediated by the piggyBac transposon system in primary chicken myoblast (pCM) cells. Subsequently, we analyzed and compared the proliferation and differentiation capacity and also examined the expression of related genes in regular pCM (rpCM) cells and pCM cells overexpressing miRNA-146b-5p (pCM-146b OE cells). pCM-146b OE cells showed increased proliferation and upregulated gene expression related to cell proliferation. In addition, next-generation sequencing analyses were performed to compare global gene expression patterns between rpCM cells and pCM-146b OE cells. We found that the higher proliferation in pCM-146b OE cells was the result of upregulation of gene sets related to the cell cycle. Moreover, miRNA-146b-5p overexpression had inhibitory effects on myotube differentiation in pCM cells. Conclusions: Collectively these results demonstrate that miR-146b-5p is closely related to the proliferation and differentiation of chicken myogenic cells as a modulator of post-transcription.

MicroRNA profiling reveals miR‐145‐5p inhibits goat myoblast differentiation by targeting the coding domain sequence of USP13

“…Embryonic and postnatal skeletal muscle development is a complex biological process requiring highly coordinated interactions between multiple factors, including specific signaling pathways and transcription factors that govern myoblast proliferation, cell cycle exit, and subsequent differentiation into multinucleated myotubes. 4,6,[19][20][21][22][23] Several reports have revealed ncRNA function in skeletal muscle development and disorder in animals providing novel biomarkers or targets for improving muscular abilities and therapeutic strategies. 5,6,24 Of which, miRNAs could binding to target mRNAs which results in target mRNA degradation or protein translation inhibition, regulating skeletal muscle development via a variety of molecular factors such as myoblast proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis.…”

“…Embryonic and postnatal skeletal muscle development is a complex biological process requiring highly coordinated interactions between multiple factors, including specific signaling pathways and transcription factors that govern myoblast proliferation, cell cycle exit, and subsequent differentiation into multinucleated myotubes 4,6,19–23 . Several reports have revealed ncRNA function in skeletal muscle development and disorder in animals providing novel biomarkers or targets for improving muscular abilities and therapeutic strategies 5,6,24 .…”