Identification of a novel antisense RNA that regulates growth hormone receptor expression in chickens

Abstract

Natural antisense transcripts (NATs) are widely present in mammalian genomes and act as pivotal regulator molecules of gene expression. However, studies on NATs in the chicken are relatively rare. We identified a novel antisense transcript in the chicken, designated GHR-AS-EST , transcribed from the growth hormone receptor ( GHR ) locus, which encodes a well-known regulatory molecule of muscle development and fat deposition. GHR-AS-EST is predominantly expressed in the chicken liver and muscle tissues. GHR-AS-EST sequence conservation among vertebrates is weak. GHR-AS-EST forms an RNA–RNA duplex with GHBP to increase its stability, and regulates the expression of GHR sense transcripts at both the mRNA and protein levels. Further, GHR-AS-EST promotes cell proliferation by stimulating the expression of signaling factors in the JAK2/STAT pathway, and contributes to fat deposition via downregulating the expression of signaling factors in the JAK2/SOCS pathway in LMH hepatocellular carcinoma cells. We expect that the discovery of a NAT for a regulatory gene associated with cell proliferation and lipolysis will further our understanding of the molecular regulation of both muscle development and fat deposition.

Genome-Wide Association Studies Provide Insight Into the Genetic Determination for Hyperpigmentation of the Visceral Peritoneum in Broilers

“…The visceral peritoneum tissues were collected from adult chicken with extremely different HVP performance with no peritoneal pigmentation ( n = 5) (absent HVP control group) and five HVP-positive (severe HVP) chickens. The total RNA was extracted with RNA TRIzol ( Lin et al, 2019 ) reagents according to standard protocols. An M-MLV RTase cDNA Synthesis Kit was used to prepare cDNA.…”

Identification cloning and functional analysis of novel natural antisense lncRNA CFL1-AS1 in cattle

“…NATs have been gradually confirmed to be widely present in the transcriptomes of many common species, such as humans [ 10 , 11 ], mice [ 12 , 13 ], pigs [ 14 ], and chickens [ 15 , 16 ], suggesting that they may play an important role in gene expression and regulatory functions in these species. However, compared with human and mouse NATs, relevant studies in livestock are lacking.…”