N<sup>6</sup>-Methyladenosine RNA Modification Regulates the Differential Muscle Development in Large White and Ningxiang Pigs
Hao Gu,
Kang Xu,
Zhao Yu,
Zufeng Ren,
Fan Chen,
Changfan Zhou,
Wei Zeng,
Hongyan Ren,
Yulong Yin,
Yanzhen Bi
Affiliations
Hao Gu
Key Laboratory of Animal Embryo Engineering and Molecular Breeding of Hubei Province, Institute of Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan 430070, China
Kang Xu
Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changsha 410125, China
Zhao Yu
Key Laboratory of Animal Embryo Engineering and Molecular Breeding of Hubei Province, Institute of Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan 430070, China
Zufeng Ren
Key Laboratory of Animal Embryo Engineering and Molecular Breeding of Hubei Province, Institute of Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan 430070, China
Fan Chen
Key Laboratory of Animal Embryo Engineering and Molecular Breeding of Hubei Province, Institute of Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan 430070, China
Changfan Zhou
Key Laboratory of Animal Embryo Engineering and Molecular Breeding of Hubei Province, Institute of Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan 430070, China
Wei Zeng
Key Laboratory of Animal Embryo Engineering and Molecular Breeding of Hubei Province, Institute of Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan 430070, China
Hongyan Ren
Key Laboratory of Animal Embryo Engineering and Molecular Breeding of Hubei Province, Institute of Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan 430070, China
Yulong Yin
Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changsha 410125, China
Yanzhen Bi
Key Laboratory of Animal Embryo Engineering and Molecular Breeding of Hubei Province, Institute of Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan 430070, China
N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is the most common modification in eukaryotic RNAs. Growing research indicates that m6A methylation is crucial for a multitude of biological processes. However, research on the m6A modifications in the regulation of porcine muscle growth is lacking. In this study, we identified differentially expressed genes in the neonatal period of muscle development between Large White (LW) and NingXiang (NX) pigs and further reported m6A methylation patterns via MeRIP-seq. We found that m6A modification regulates muscle cell development, myofibrils, cell cycle, and phosphatase regulator activity during the neonatal phase of muscle development. Interestingly, differentially expressed genes in LW and NX pigs were mainly enriched in pathways involved in protein synthesis. Furthermore, we performed a conjoint analysis of MeRIP-seq and RNA-seq data and identified 27 differentially expressed and m6A-modified genes. Notably, a typical muscle-specific envelope transmembrane protein, WFS1, was differentially regulated by m6A modifications in LW and NX pigs. We further revealed that the m6A modification accelerated the degradation of WFS1 in a YTHDF2-dependent manner. Noteworthy, we identified a single nucleotide polymorphism (C21551T) within the last exon of WFS1 that resulted in variable m6A methylation, contributing to the differing WFS1 expression levels observed in LW and NX pigs. Our study conducted a comprehensive analysis of the m6A modification on NX and LW pigs during the neonatal period of muscle development, and elucidated the mechanism by which m6A regulates the differential expression of WFS1 in the two breeds.
