The pituitary gland is the most important endocrine organ that mainly regulates animal estrus by controlling the hormones synthesis. There is a significant difference between the estrus state and anestrus state of sheep pituitary system. Here, we studied the circular RNA (circRNA) expression profiles of the anterior pituitary of estrus and anestrus sheep using RNA-seq technology. Through this study, we identified a total of 12,468 circRNAs and 9,231 differentially expressed circRNAs in the estrus and anestrus pituitary system of sheep. We analyzed some differentially expressed circRNAs by reverse transcription quantitative-PCR (RT-qPCR), and some circRNAs were demonstrated using RNase-R+ resistance experiments. CircRNAs involving the regulation of estrus-related terms and pathways are enriched by using gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis. In addition, we also predicted partial microRNA-circRNA interaction network for circRNAs that regulate sheep estrus. Overall, this study explored a potential substantial role played by circRNAs involved in pituitary regulation on sheep estrus and proposed new questions for further study.
Keywords: anestrus; anterior pituitary; circRNAs; estrus; sheep.