Comparison of miRNA and mRNA Expression in Sika Deer Testes With Age

Boyin Jia; Linlin Zhang; Fuquan Ma; Xue Wang; Jianming Li; Naichao Diao; Xue Leng; Kun Shi; Fanli Zeng; Ying Zong; Fei Liu; Qinglong Gong; Ruopeng Cai; Fuhe Yang; Rui Du; Zhiguang Chang

doi:10.3389/fvets.2022.854503

Comparison of miRNA and mRNA Expression in Sika Deer Testes With Age

Front Vet Sci. 2022 Apr 5:9:854503. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2022.854503. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Boyin Jia^{1

2}, Linlin Zhang¹, Fuquan Ma¹, Xue Wang¹, Jianming Li^{2

3}, Naichao Diao^{1

2}, Xue Leng^{2

3}, Kun Shi^{2

3}, Fanli Zeng^{2

3}, Ying Zong^{2

3}, Fei Liu^{1

2}, Qinglong Gong^{1

2}, Ruopeng Cai^{1

2}, Fuhe Yang⁴, Rui Du^{2

3}, Zhiguang Chang⁵

Affiliations

¹ College of Animal Medicine/College of Animal Science and Technology, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, China.
² Laboratory of Production and Product Application of Sika Deer of Jilin Province, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, China.
³ College of Chinese Medicine Materials, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, China.
⁴ Institute of Wild Economic Animals and Plants and State Key Laboratory for Molecular Biology of Special Economical Animals, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changchun, China.
⁵ The Seventh Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, China.

Abstract

To elucidate the complex physiological process of testis development and spermatogenesis in Sika deer, this study evaluated the changes of miRNA and mRNA profiles in the four developmental stages of testis in the juvenile (1-year-old), adolescence (3-year-old), adult (5-year-old), and aged (10-year-old) stages. The results showed that a total of 198 mature, 66 novel miRNAs, and 23,558 differentially expressed (DE) unigenes were obtained; 14,918 (8,413 up and 6,505 down), 4,988 (2,453 up and 2,535 down), and 5,681 (2,929 up and 2,752 down) DE unigenes, as well as 88 (43 up and 45 down), 102 (44 up and 58 down), and 54 (18 up and 36 down) DE miRNAs were identified in 3- vs. 1-, 5- vs. 3-, and 10- vs. 5-year-old testes, respectively. By integrating miRNA and mRNA expression profiles, we predicted 10,790 mRNA-mRNA and 69,883 miRNA-mRNA interaction sites. The target genes were enriched by GO and KEGG pathways to obtain DE mRNA (IGF1R, ALKBH5, Piwil, HIF1A, BRDT, etc.) and DE miRNA (miR-140, miR-145, miR-7, miR-26a, etc.), which play an important role in testis development and spermatogenesis. The data show that DE miRNAs could regulate testis developmental and spermatogenesis through signaling pathways, including the MAPK signaling pathway, p53 signaling pathway, PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, Hippo signaling pathway, etc. miR-140 was confirmed to directly target mutant IGF1R-3'UTR by the Luciferase reporter assays. This study provides a useful resource for future studies on the role of miRNA regulation in testis development and spermatogenesis.

Keywords: mRNA; miRNA; sika deer; spermatogenesis; testis development.