MicroRNA (miRNA) is a type of highly conserved nucleotide sequence composed of 18 to 25 nucleotides, which can specifically bind to the 3'-noncoding regions of mRNA, and then play a negative regulatory role in degrading mRNA or inhibiting translation. Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) is a type of nucleotide sequence that exceeds 200 nucleotides in length and cannot encode proteins or can only encode protein peptides. It regulates gene expression at the levels of epigenetic, transcriptional and post-transcriptional. As an important energy storage organ, fat plays an important role in regulating the energy balance of animals, and is closely related to meat production traits such as meat production and meat quality. And the disorder of fat function can lead to hyperlipidemia, type 2 diabetes and a series of cardiovascular diseases, so the molecular regulation mechanism of animal fat deposition has attracted more attention. In recent years, more and more studies have found that miRNA and lncRNA play a crucial role in animal fat deposition. We review here the current research progresses in the role of miRNA and lncRNA in animal fat deposition, to provide theoretical guidance and new ideas for further revealing the molecular regulation mechanism of animal fat deposition.
微小RNA (MicroRNA，miRNA) 是一类由18–25 个核苷酸组成的高度保守的核苷酸序列，它可以特异性结合信使RNA (mRNA) 的3′-非编码区域，进而发挥降解mRNA 或阻遏mRNA 翻译的负调控作用。长链非编码RNA (Long non-coding RNA，lncRNA) 是一类长度超过200 个核苷酸、不能编码蛋白质或只能编码蛋白质微肽的核苷酸序列，它可以在表观遗传、转录水平和转录后水平调控基因表达。脂肪作为一种重要的储能物质，在调节动物体能量平衡过程中发挥着重要的作用，并与动物产肉量、肉品质等产肉性状密切相关。而脂肪功能的紊乱可导致高血脂、Ⅱ型糖尿病以及一系列心血管疾病发生，因此动物脂肪沉积的分子调控机制备受人们关注。近年来，越来越多的研究发现miRNA 和lncRNA 在动物脂肪沉积中发挥重要作用。文中就现阶段miRNA 和lncRNA在动物脂肪沉积中的研究进展进行综述，以期为进一步揭示动物脂肪沉积的分子调控机制提供理论指导和新思路。.
Keywords: adipocyte; fat deposition; gene expression regulation; lncRNA; miRNA.