Transcriptional Characteristics Showed That miR-144-y/FOXO3 Participates in Embryonic Skin and Feather Follicle Development in Zhedong White Goose

Abstract

Skin and feather follicle development are essential processes for goose embryonic growth. Transcriptome and next-generation sequencing (NGS) network analyses were performed to improve the genome of Zhedong White goose and discover the critical genes, miRNAs, and pathways involved in goose skin and feather follicle morphogenesis. Sequencing output generated 6,002,591,668 to 8,675,720,319 clean reads from fifteen libraries. There were 1234, 3024, 4416, and 5326 different genes showing differential expression in four stages, E10 vs. E13, E10 vs. E18, E10 vs. E23, and E10 vs. E28, respectively. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were found to be implicated in multiple biological processes and pathways associated with feather growth and development, such as the Wnt signaling pathway, cell adhesion molecules, ECM–receptor interaction signaling pathways, and cell cycle and DNA replication pathways, according to functional analysis. In total, 8276 DEGs were assembled into twenty gene profiles with diverse expression patterns. The reliability of transcriptome results was verified by real-time quantitative PCR by selecting seven DEGs and five miRNAs. The localization of forkhead box O3 (FOXO3), connective tissue growth factor (CTGF), protein parched homolog1 (PTCH1), and miR-144-y by in situ hybridization showed spatial-temporal expression patterns and that FOXO3 and miR-144-y have an antagonistic targeting relationship. The correlation coefficient of FOXO3 and miR-144-y was -0.948, showing a strong negative correlation. Dual-luciferase reporter assay results demonstrated that miR-144-y could bind to the expected location to suppress the expression of FOXO3, which supports that there is a targeting relationship between them. The detections in this report will provide critical insight into the complex molecular mechanisms and breeding practices underlying the developmental characteristics of skin and feather follicles in Zhedong white geese.

Dermal FOXO3 activity in response to Wnt/β-catenin signaling is required for feather follicle development of goose embryos (Anser cygnoides)

“…It is well established that FOXO3 has been shown to have the potential to affect feather follicle growth and development at the embryonic stage ( Mabrouk et al, 2022 ; Wang et al, 2023 ). However, the in vivo function of dermal FOXO3 activity during embryonic skin development remains largely uncharacterized, especially in poultry animals.…”

“…To analyze morphology, The dorsal skin samples were paraformaldehyde-fixed and paraffin-embedded-blocks were made. The fixed Sections (7 µm each) were placed on slides and stained with hematoxylin and eosin ( H&E ) using previous report ( Mabrouk et al, 2022 ).…”

“…Forkhead box O ( FOXO ) transcription factors, sharing a common conserved DNA-binding domain, induce cell growth arrest, DNA damage repair, differentiation, and apoptosis upon activation, whereas growth factors, such as platelet-derived growth factor ( PDGF ) and insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I ) inhibit cell growth arrest and apoptosis by inducing FOXO phosphorylation via AKT ( Essaghir et al, 2009 ). FOXO3, a member of the FOXO group, was found as a crucial gene in regulating the skin and feather follicle aspect ( Mabrouk et al, 2022 ). A promotion of FOXO3 in feather growth and development in different goose species has been demonstrated ( Wang et al, 2023 ), which is consistent with the results reported previously.…”

Physiological, metabolomic, and transcriptomic reveal metabolic pathway alterations in Gymnocypris przewalskii due to cold exposure

“…Then, the fragments were reverse-transcribed into cDNA with random primers [ 44 ]. Subsequently, second-strand cDNA was synthesized from first-strand cDNA by DNA polymerase I, RNase H, dNTP, and buffer [ 44 , 45 ]. The purified cDNA fragments were obtained using a QiaQuick PCR extraction kit (Qiagen, Venlo, The Netherlands) [ 44 ].…”

miR-140-y targets TCF4 to regulate the Wnt signaling pathway and promote embryonic feather follicle development in Hungarian white goose

“…Based on preliminary studies conducted by our research team on feather follicles, 5 key developmental stages were selected for this study: Embryonic d 10 ( E10 ), d 13 ( E13 ), d 18 ( E18 ), d 23 ( E23 ) and d 28 ( E28 ), to cover all the important moments of embryonic skin and feather follicles of goose ( Mabrouk et al, 2022 ; Song et al, 2022 ).…”