How multiple ovulations happen in prolific goats is still unknown even though studies on ovarian physiology and folliculogenesis have made extensive progress. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of endogenous regulatory factors and regulate structural gene expression mainly at the post-transcriptional level. In this study, in the follicular phase, six large follicles were collected from prolific Dazu black goat and used to generate RNA libraries for RNA sequencing. Based on the litter size and average number of ovulatory follicles in Dazu black goats, the largest three follicles were sorted as ovulatory follicles, and the remaining as subordinate ones. In total, 418 known miRNAs and 110 novel miRNAs were found, and the expression of six randomly selected miRNAs was validated by quantitative PCR analysis. Nine miRNAs were differently expressed between the ovulatory and subordinate follicles (p < 0.01). Chi-miR-582-5p, novel-130, chi-miR-214-3p, and chi-miR-500-5p were upregulated in the ovulatory group, and chi-miR-383, chi-miR-130b-5p, chi-miR-92a-3p, chi-miR-125b-5p, and novel-9 were downregulated in the same group. Chi-miR-130b-5p and chi-miR-214-3p were predicted to target at LHR (XM_013967581.1), GDF9 (NM_001285708.1), BMP15 (NM_001285588.1), and CYP19A1 (XM_013967046.1). In conclusion, nine miRNAs were differently expressed between ovulatory and subordinate follicles, and chi-miR-130b-5p and chi-miR-214-3p were predicted to regulate the expression of genes involved in gonadotropin hormone signaling and oocyte-derived growth factors. Additional studies are needed to confirm these findings.
Keywords: Goat; follicle; microRNAs.