Integrated microRNA–mRNA analysis reveals the roles of microRNAs in the muscle fat metabolism of Yanbian cattle

Abstract

Summary Fat deposition is an important economic trait in farm animals. However, it is difficult to genetically improve intramuscular fat deposition via trait‐based cattle breeding. The main objectives of this study were to analyze the factors about beef flavor, and to detect functional microRNA (miRNA, miR) associated with intramuscular fat deposition in Yanbian cattle. Longissimus dorsi samples from six steers were separated into high‐ and low‐fat groups (n = 3 each) based on the marbling score, and transcriptomic analysis was performed using miRNA sequencing. A total of 33 miRNAs and 38 genes were found to be differentially expressed in the high‐ and low‐fat groups. Quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction was performed to validate the sequencing results. Integrated miRNA–mRNA analysis revealed that miRNA‐associated target genes were primarily associated with skeletal muscle development. However, some of the miRNAs (miR‐424 etc.) and genes (ATF3 etc.) were also associated with fat metabolism. A targeted relationship between miR‐22‐3p and the WFIKKN2 gene and its involvement in adipocyte differentiation were confirmed experimentally. The study findings may provide potential candidate molecular targets for the selection of cattle with improved meat quality.

Comprehensive Analysis of mRNA, lncRNA, circRNA, and miRNA Expression Profiles and Their ceRNA Networks in the Longissimus Dorsi Muscle of Cattle-Yak and Yak

“…The miR-183 and miR-96 were found to negatively regulate fat usage in the skeletal muscle via targeting FoxO1 and PDK4 ( Wang et al, 2021a ). Zhang et al (2021) experimentally confirmed that miR-22-3p regulated the WFIKKN2 gene in adipocyte differentiation in muscle fat metabolism of Yanbian cattle. A targeted relationship between the oar-miR-655-3p and oar-miR-381-5p with ACSM3 and ABAT has been found to have crucial roles in sheep muscle organogenesis, myoblast migration ( Sun et al, 2019 ).…”

CircRNA Profiling Reveals an Abundant circBDP1 that Regulates Bovine Fat Development by Sponging miR-181b/miR-204 Targeting Sirt1/TRARG1

“…8−10 miR-204 was involved in the proliferation and differentiation of adipocytes by targeting SIRT1, TGFBR2, and ELOVL6. 11−13 Several miRNA-mRNAs pairs have been found to be involved in the regulation of fat development of Yanbian cattle, such as miR-22-3P and WFIKKN2 14 and miR-381 and KCTD15. 15 circRNAs, as a kind of competitive endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs), have the ability to adsorb miRNAs, thereby preventing miRNA inhibition on target genes.…”

“…Besides, researchers are not limited to the study of the interactions between individual ncRNAs and mRNAs, but to the construction of the interaction network . For instance, miR-378 was found to inhibit the proliferation and promote the differentiation of bovine intramuscular preadipocytes by targeting E2F2 , RANBP10 , and CaMKK2 . − miR-204 was involved in the proliferation and differentiation of adipocytes by targeting SIR T 1 , TGFBR2 , and ELOVL6 . − Several miRNA-mRNAs pairs have been found to be involved in the regulation of fat development of Yanbian cattle, such as miR-22-3P and WFIKKN2 and miR-381 and KCTD15 …”

Integrated analysis of expression profiles with meat quality traits in cattle

“…In cattle, miRNAs are considered to relate to embryonic development 26 – 28 , skeletal muscle function 29 – 31 , adipose 32 – 34 , and fat cell metabolism 35 – 37 . For example, miR-378 promotes the differentiation of bovine preadipocytes 38 ; miR-2373-5p and miR-23b-3p are expressed highly in intramuscular fat 39 ; miR-1 and miR-133 are muscle-specific and involved in the modulation of muscle proliferation 40 .…”