Acta Agriculturae Boreali-Sinica ›› 2025, Vol. 40 ›› Issue (3): 190-198. doi: 10.7668/hbnxb.20195458

Special Issue: Animal husbandry

• Animal Husbandry·Fisheries·Veterinarian • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Screening of Key Genes in Tail Fat Deposition and Analysis of lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA Network in Sheep

ZHANG Yuxin1,2, ZHANG Long1,3, GUO Yanyan1,2, SHI Xiaodi1, LI Boyu1,3, RUAN Weibin2, YAO Dawei1, , ZHANG Xiaosheng1,   

  1. 1 Institute of Animal Science and Veterinary,Tianjin Academy of Agricultural Sciences,Tianjin Key Laboratory of Animal Molecular Breeding and Biotechnology,Tianjin Engineering Research Center of Animal Healthy Farming,Tianjin 300381,China
    2 College of Life Sciences,Nankai University,Tianjin 300071,China
    3 College of Animal Science and Animal Medicine,Tianjin Agricultural University,Tianjin 300384,China
  • Received:2024-09-27 Published:2025-07-04

Abstract:

The objective of this study was to identify differentially expressed mRNAs,miRNAs,and lncRNAs between different tail types of sheep in their tail fat tissues,and to construct a critical ceRNA(competing endogenous RNAs)regulatory network involved in the regulation of fat deposition in the tails of sheep.Three 2-year-old(24-month-old)Dorper sheep and three Tianjin large-tail sheep were randomly selected.Tail fat tissues were collected for H&E staining and whole transcriptome sequencing.Bioinformatics approaches were employed to screen for differentially expressed RNAs,predict target genes,and conduct functional enrichment analyses.The regulatory network and targeting relationships were further analyzed from the perspective of lipid deposition regulation.The results demonstrated that the tail fat cell area of Tianjin large-tail sheep was significantly larger than that of Dorper sheep.There were a total of 1 156 differentially expressed mRNAs between the tail fat tissues of Dorper sheep and Tianjin large-tail sheep(with 403 upregulated and 753 downregulated),72 differentially expressed miRNAs(46 upregulated and 26 downregulated),and 392 differentially expressed lncRNAs(142 upregulated and 250 downregulated).Additionally,216 target genes were predicted from the differentially expressed lncRNAs.These target genes were involved in biological processes related to lipid metabolism,such as the tetrahydrofolate metabolic process,GAIT complex,and coenzyme catabolic process,as well as signaling pathways like glycerolipid metabolism,biotin metabolism,fat digestion and absorption,and the phosphatidylinositol signaling system.The study successfully constructed a ceRNA network closely associated with sheep tail fat deposition by predicting the targeting relationships between differentially expressed mRNAs and lncRNAs and miRNAs.Among them,24 lncRNAs and 6 miRNAs were predicted to regulate genes closely related to lipid metabolism,including PROX1,LPL,and LRP1B.In summary,PROX1,LPL,and LRP1B play a key role in the deposition of tail fat in sheep.This study predicts that four lncRNAs,including MSTRG.9916.7,positively regulate fat metabolism through PROX1,while MSTRG.7563.1 and MSTRG.4729.1 positively regulate fat metabolism through LPL.

Key words: Dorper sheep, Tianjin large-tail sheep, Tail fat, RNA-seq, ceRNA

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Cite this article

ZHANG Yuxin, ZHANG Long, GUO Yanyan, SHI Xiaodi, LI Boyu, RUAN Weibin, YAO Dawei, ZHANG Xiaosheng. Screening of Key Genes in Tail Fat Deposition and Analysis of lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA Network in Sheep[J]. Acta Agriculturae Boreali-Sinica, 2025, 40(3): 190-198. doi: 10.7668/hbnxb.20195458.

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