1. There has been substantial research focused on the roles of microRNAs (miRNAs) and Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) derived from mammalian spermatozoa; however, comparatively little is known about the role of spermatozoa-derived miRNAs and piRNAs within breeding cockerels’ spermatozoa.
2. A small RNA library of cockerels’ spermatozoa was constructed using Illumina high-throughput sequencing technology. Unique sequences with lengths of 18–26 nucleotides were mapped to miRBase 21.0 and unique sequences with lengths of 25–37 nucleotides were mapped to a piRNA database. A total of 1311 miRNAs and 2448 potential piRNAs were identified. Based on stem-loop qRT-PCR, 8 miRNAs were validated.
3. Potential target genes of the abundant miRNAs were predicted, and further Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes database (KEGG) and Gene Ontology (GO) analyses were performed, which revealed that some candidate miRNAs were involved in the spermatogenesis process, spermatozoa epigenetic programming and further embryonic development.
5. GO and KEGG analyses based on mapping genes of expressed piRNAs were performed, which revealed that spermatozoal piRNAs could play important regulatory roles in embryonic development of offspring.
6. The search for endogenous spermatozoa miRNAs and piRNAs will contribute to a preliminary database for functional and molecular mechanistic studies in embryonic development and spermatozoa epigenetic programming. 相似文献
Discovery of epigenetic modifications associated with feed efficiency or other economically important traits would increase our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying these traits. In combination with known genetic markers, this would provide opportunity to improve genomic selection accuracy in cattle breeding programs. It would also allow cattle to be managed to improve favorable gene expression. The objective of this study was to identify variation in DNA methylation between beef cattle of differential pre-natal nutrition and divergent genetic potential for residual feed intake (RFI). Purebred Angus offspring with the genetic potential for either high (HRFI) or low (LRFI) RFI were prenatally exposed to either a restricted maternal diet of 0.5 kg/d average daily gain (ADG) or a moderate maternal diet of 0.7 kg/d ADG from 30 to 150 d of gestation. We performed DNA methylation analysis of differentially methylated regions (DMR) of imprinted genes (Insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF2) DMR2, IGF2/H19 imprinting control region (ICR) and IGF2 receptor (IGF2R) DMR2) using post-natal samples of longissimus dorsi (LD) muscle taken from male and female calves at birth and weaning, and of LD muscle, semimembranosus (SM) muscle, and liver samples collected from steers at slaughter (17 months of age). Interestingly, for all three DMR investigated in liver, LRFI steers had higher levels of methylation than HRFI steers. In LD muscle, IGF2/H19 ICR methylation differences for heifers at birth were due to pre-natal diet, while for steers at birth they were mostly the result of genetic potential for RFI with LRFI steers again having higher levels of methylation than HRFI steers. While results from repeated measures analysis of DNA methylation in steers grouped by RFI revealed few differences, in steers grouped by diet, we found higher methylation levels of IGF2 DMR2 and IGF2R DMR2 in LD muscle of restricted diet steers at weaning and slaughter than at birth, as well as increased methylation in LD muscle of restricted diet steers compared with moderate diet steers at weaning and/or slaughter. Our results suggest that differential pre-natal nutrition, and divergent genetic potential for RFI, induces tissue- and sex-specific alterations in post-natal IGF2 and IGF2R methylation patterns and that these patterns can vary with age in Angus beef cattle. 相似文献
组蛋白修饰作为表观遗传修饰的一种主要形式,对基因表达和表型调控具有重要作用。组蛋白修饰的N端尾区可通过乙酰化、甲基化、磷酸化等修饰来改变染色质的状态以及调控基因的表达。与脊椎动物相比,昆虫种类繁多,且有变态发育、表型复杂等特征,可以成为探索动物社会行为、发育调控和毒理作用等表观遗传基础的模型。本文总结了昆虫组蛋白修饰的主要类型(乙酰化和甲基化修饰)及修饰酶的研究进展,对染色质免疫共沉淀测序技术(chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by sequencing,ChIP-seq)、染色质转座酶可及性测序技术(assay for transposase-accessible chromatin with high-throughput sequencing,ATAC-seq)、转录组测序技术(RNA-seq)、组蛋白修饰酶功能验证以及Western blot、免疫细胞化学(immunocytochemistry,ICC)、免疫组织化学(immunohistochemistry,IHC)、酶联免疫吸附测定(enzyme linked immunosor... 相似文献