Photoperiod induced the pituitary differential regulation of lncRNAs and mRNAs related to reproduction in sheep

Xiaoyun He; Lin Tao; Yingjie Zhong; Ran Di; Qing Xia; Xiangyu Wang; Xiaofei Guo; Shangquan Gan; Xiaosheng Zhang; Jinlong Zhang; Qiuyue Liu; Mingxing Chu

doi:10.7717/peerj.10953

Photoperiod induced the pituitary differential regulation of lncRNAs and mRNAs related to reproduction in sheep

PeerJ. 2021 Apr 21:9:e10953. doi: 10.7717/peerj.10953. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Xiaoyun He^#¹, Lin Tao^#¹, Yingjie Zhong¹, Ran Di¹, Qing Xia¹, Xiangyu Wang¹, Xiaofei Guo², Shangquan Gan³, Xiaosheng Zhang², Jinlong Zhang², Qiuyue Liu¹, Mingxing Chu¹

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China.
² Tianjin Institute of Animal Sciences, Tianjin, China.
³ Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural and Reclamation Sciences, Xinjiang, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

The pituitary is a vital endocrine organ that regulates animal seasonal reproduction by controlling the synthesis and secretion of the hormone. The change of photoperiod is the key factor affecting the function of the pituitary in animals, but the mechanism is unclear. Here, we studied the transcriptomic variation in pars distalis (PD) of the pituitary between short photoperiod (SP) and long photoperiod (LP) using RNA sequencing based on the OVX+E₂ sheep. 346 differentially expressed (DE) lncRNAs and 186 DE-mRNA were found in the PD. Moreover, function annotation analysis indicated that the reproductive hormones and photoperiod response-related pathways including aldosterone synthesis and secretion, insulin secretion, thyroid hormone synthesis, and circadian entrainment were enriched. The interaction analysis of mRNA-lncRNA suggested that MSTRG.240648, MSTRG.85500, MSTRG.32448, and MSTRG.304959 targeted CREB3L1 and DUSP6, which may be involved in the photoperiodic regulation of the PD. These findings provide resources for further study on the seasonal reproductive in ewes.

Keywords: Photoperiod; Pituitary; RNA sequencing; Sheep; lncRNA; mRNA.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31472078), Tianjin Science and Technology Plan Project (No.19ZXZYSN00030), The Youth Innovative Research and Experimental Project of Tianjin Academy of Agricultural Sciences (No.201902 and No. 201915), the Earmarked Fund for China Agriculture Research System (Grant No. CARS-38), Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Program of China (Grant No. ASTIP-IAS13), China Agricultural Scientific Research Outstanding Talents and Their Innovative Teams Program, China High-level Talents Special Support Plan Scientific and Technological Innovation Leading Talents Program (Grant No. W02020274), Joint Funds of the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Government of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China (U1130302). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.