biostudies-literatureUnknown13(2)Wang KCastration of male pigs is a common practice used to reduce boar taint in commercial pork production, but it also significantly results in fat accumulation in carcass. Our previous study revealed a miRNA gene, ssc-miR-7134-3p that was implicated in adipogenesis. However, the relationship between ssc-miR-7134-3p and fat deposition due to castration is unknown. In the present study, we observed that ssc-miR-7134-3p targets the coding sequence (CDS) region of MARK4 based on bioinformatics analysis and dual-luciferase assays. Experiments using silent mutations and sub-cloning showed that ssc-miR-7134-3p binds independently to two adjacent sites in the MARK4 CDS. Subsequently, ssc-miR-7134-3p inhibits MARK4 protein expression in pig fibroblast cells, being consistent with the targeting demonstrInternational journal of biological sciences189-197https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC5332873biostudies-literaturessc-miR-7134-3p regulates fat accumulation in castrated male pigs by targeting <i>MARK4</i> gene.PMC5332873Li WYang WLing YBai YFang MWang Kfalsessc-miR-7134-3p regulates fat accumulation in castrated male pigs by targeting <i>MARK4</i> gene.Castration of male pigs is a common practice used to reduce boar taint in commercial pork production, but it also significantly results in fat accumulation in carcass. Our previous study revealed a miRNA gene, ssc-miR-7134-3p that was implicated in adipogenesis. However, the relationship between ssc-miR-7134-3p and fat deposition due to castration is unknown. In the present study, we observed that ssc-miR-7134-3p targets the coding sequence (CDS) region of MARK4 based on bioinformatics analysis and dual-luciferase assays. Experiments using silent mutations and sub-cloning showed that ssc-miR-7134-3p binds independently to two adjacent sites in the MARK4 CDS. Subsequently, ssc-miR-7134-3p inhibits MARK4 protein expression in pig fibroblast cells, being consistent with the targeting demonstr2017-01-01T00:00:00Z20172025-04-04T18:44:13.273Z2019-03-27T02:37:39ZS-EPMC53328732825527110.7150/ijbs.17386