Identification and analysis of differentially expressed long non-coding RNAs between multiparous and uniparous goat (Capra hircus) ovaries

PLoS One. 2017 Sep 21;12(9):e0183163. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0183163. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play important roles in almost all biological processes. However, there is little information on the effects of lncRNAs on ovulation and lambing rates. In the present study, we used high-throughput RNA sequencing to identify differentially expressed lncRNAs between the ovaries of multiparous (Mul) and uniparous (Uni) Anhui White goats. Among the 107,255,422 clean reads, 183,754 lncRNAs were significantly differentially expressed between the Uni and Mul. Among them, 455 lncRNAs were co-expressed between the two samples, whereas, 157,523 lncRNAs were uniquely expressed in the Uni, and 25,776 uniquely lncRNAs were expressed in the Mul. Through Cis role analysis, 24 lncRNAs were predicted to overlap with cis-regulatory elements, which involved in Progesterone-mediated oocyte maturation, Steroid biosynthesis, Oocyte meiosis, and gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) signaling pathway. These 4 pathways were related to ovulation, and the KEGG pathway analysis on target genes of the differentially expressed lncRNAs confirmed this results. In addition, 10 lncRNAs harbored precursors of 40 miRNAs, such as TCONS_00320849 related to a mature miRNA sequence, miR-365a, which was reported to be related to proliferation, were annotated in the precursor analysis of miRNAs. The present expand the understanding of lncRNA biology and contribute to the annotation of the goat genome. The study will provide a resource for lncRNA studies of ovulation and lambing.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Female
  • Gene Expression Profiling*
  • Goats / genetics*
  • Goats / physiology*
  • Ovulation / genetics
  • Parity / genetics*
  • RNA, Long Noncoding / genetics*

Substances

  • RNA, Long Noncoding

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31772566, 31472096), the Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Province (1708085MC61), the Key Research Projects of Natural Science in Anhui Colleges and Universities (KJ2017A334) and the Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Program of China (ASTIP-IAS13).