Dataset Information

Identification of microRNAs in wool follicles during anagen, catagen, and telogen phases in Tibetan sheep.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Wool quality is one of the most important economic traits in sheep. The wool fiber is derived from specialized skin cells that are referred to as wool follicles. To understand the roles of microRNAs (miRNAs) in wool fiber growth, we detected the expression patterns of miRNAs in wool follicles at the anagen, catagen, and telogen stages from Tibetan sheep through Solexa sequencing.

Results

A total of 244 mature miRNAs were identified. Of these, only five miRNAs are listed in the database of sheep miRNAs (miRBase Database V19), and the other 239 miRNAs have not been previously described in this species. Further analyses indicated that 204 miRNAs are evolutionarily conserved among mammal species, whereas 35 of the identified miRNAs were first found specifically in sheep. The expression pattern analyses showed that the expression levels of 39, 34, and 20 of the miRNAs significantly change between anagen and catagen, between anagen and telogen, and between catagen and telogen, respectively. The results of the bioinformatics analysis show that these differentially expressed miRNAs might regulate wool follicle development by targeting genes in many different pathways, such as the MAPK and Wnt pathways, as well as the pathways that regulate the actin cytoskeleton, focal adhesion, and tight junctions. Furthermore, we identified six differentially expressed miRNAs (oar-miR-103-3P, oar-miR-148b-3P, oar-miR-320-3P, oar-miR-31-5P, oar-novel-1-5P, and oar-novel-2-3P) that might target the key genes of the Wnt pathway. It has been reported that the Wnt pathway is critical for wool follicle development. Therefore, these miRNAs may regulate wool development through the Wnt pathway.

Conclusions

Our results provide new information on the identification and expression pattern of miRNAs in wool follicles. Our data might therefore aid in the understanding of the mechanisms of wool follicle development in sheep.

SUBMITTER: Liu G

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3804049 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Identification of microRNAs in wool follicles during anagen, catagen, and telogen phases in Tibetan sheep.

Liu Guangbin G Liu Ruize R Li Qinqun Q Tang Xiaohui X Yu Mei M Li Xinyun X Cao Jianhua J Zhao Shuhong S

PloS one 20131017 10

<h4>Background</h4>Wool quality is one of the most important economic traits in sheep. The wool fiber is derived from specialized skin cells that are referred to as wool follicles. To understand the roles of microRNAs (miRNAs) in wool fiber growth, we detected the expression patterns of miRNAs in wool follicles at the anagen, catagen, and telogen stages from Tibetan sheep through Solexa sequencing.<h4>Results</h4>A total of 244 mature miRNAs were identified. Of these, only five miRNAs are listed ...[more]

PMID: 24204975

Similar Datasets

Project description:Sheep provide considerable materials for the animal fibre industry. Identifying genes of major effect for wool growth would offer strategies for improving the quality and increasing the yield of fine wool. In this study, we employed Agilent Sheep Gene Expression Microarray and proteomic technology to investigate the gene expression patterns of body side skin (more wool growing) in Aohan fine wool sheep (a Chinese indigenous breed) in comparison with groin skin (no wool growing) at the anagen stage of wool follicle. Microarray study revealed that 4772 probes were differentially expressed, including 2071 upregulated and 2701 downregulated probes in the comparisons of body side skin versus groin skin (S/G). The microarray results were verified by means of quantitative PCR. 1099 probes were assigned to unique genes/transcripts. The number of distinct genes/transcripts (annotated) was 926, of which 352 were up-regulated and 574 were down-regulated. In S/G, 13 genes were up-regulated by more than 10-fold, while 60 genes were down-regulated by more than 10-fold. Further analysis revealed that the majority of the genes possibly related to the wool growth could be assigned into the categories including regulation of cell division, intermediate filament, cytoskeletal part and growth factor activity. Several potential gene families might participate in hair growth regulation, including fibroblast growth factors, transforming growth factor-Î², WNTs, insulin-like growth factor, vascular endothelial growth factors and so on. Proteomic analysis also got 196 differentially expressed protein points, of which 121 were identified as single protein points. Furthermore, according to the results at both mRNA and protein levels, similar regulation mechanism of gene activity might be engaged during skin development and embryo development. One ram and two ewes of 12-month-old Aohan fine wool sheep were used in the microarray study. These animals were half sibs (sharing the same father). In August 2010, two areas of full-thickness skin were sampled from the same animal under local anaesthesia: body side skin (wool bearing) and groin skin (non-wool bearing) for microarray and proteomic experiments. The area of each sample was about 1 cm2. All samples were immediately put into collection tubes and stored in liquid nitrogen for RNA and protein extraction. A total of 15, 208 probes were spotted on this Agilent Sheep Gene Expression Microarray (Santa Clara, CA, USA).

Dataset Information

Identification of microRNAs in wool follicles during anagen, catagen, and telogen phases in Tibetan sheep.

Background

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Identification of microRNAs in wool follicles during anagen, catagen, and telogen phases in Tibetan sheep.

Similar Datasets

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