Comparative Transcriptomics Identify Key Pituitary Circular RNAs That Participate in Sheep (<i>Ovis aries</i>) Reproduction
Jianqi Yang,
Jishun Tang,
Xiaoyun He,
Ran Di,
Xiaosheng Zhang,
Jinlong Zhang,
Xiaofei Guo,
Mingxing Chu,
Wenping Hu
Affiliations
Jianqi Yang
State Key Laboratory of Animal Biotech Breeding, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing 100193, China
Jishun Tang
Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, Anhui Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hefei 230031, China
Xiaoyun He
State Key Laboratory of Animal Biotech Breeding, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing 100193, China
Ran Di
State Key Laboratory of Animal Biotech Breeding, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing 100193, China
Xiaosheng Zhang
Tianjin Key Laboratory of Animal Molecular Breeding and Biotechnology, Tianjin Engineering Research Center of Animal Healthy Farming, Institute of Animal Science and Veterinary, Tianjin Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Tianjin 300381, China
Jinlong Zhang
Tianjin Key Laboratory of Animal Molecular Breeding and Biotechnology, Tianjin Engineering Research Center of Animal Healthy Farming, Institute of Animal Science and Veterinary, Tianjin Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Tianjin 300381, China
Xiaofei Guo
Tianjin Key Laboratory of Animal Molecular Breeding and Biotechnology, Tianjin Engineering Research Center of Animal Healthy Farming, Institute of Animal Science and Veterinary, Tianjin Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Tianjin 300381, China
Mingxing Chu
State Key Laboratory of Animal Biotech Breeding, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing 100193, China
Wenping Hu
State Key Laboratory of Animal Biotech Breeding, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing 100193, China
CircRNAs have been found to play key roles in many biological processes and have diverse biological functions. There have been studies on circRNAs in sheep pituitary, and some important circRNAs have been found. But there are still few studies on circRNAs in sheep pituitary with different fecundity. In this study, we obtained the circRNAs expression profiles in the pituitary of FecB ++ genotype Small Tail Han sheep with different fecundity and estrous phases. A total of 34,878 circRNAs were identified in 12 pituitary samples, 300 differentially expressed circRNAs (DE circRNAs) (down: 104; up: 196) were identified in polytocous sheep in the follicular phase (PF) and monotocous sheep in the follicular phase (MF) (PF vs. MF), and 347 DE circRNAs (down: 162; up: 185) were identified in polytocous sheep in the luteal phase (PL) and monotocous sheep in the luteal phase (ML) (PL vs. ML). Cortisol synthesis and secretion pathway (follicular phase) and estrogen signaling pathway (luteal phase) were obtained by functional enrichment analysis of circRNAs source genes. Competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network analysis of key DE circRNAs revealed that oar-circ-0022776 (source gene ITPR2, follicular phase) targeted oar-miR-432, oar-circ-0009003 (source gene ITPR1, luteal phase) and oar-circ-0003113 (source gene PLCB1, luteal phase) targeted oar-miR-370-3p. We also explored the coding ability of DE circRNAs. In conclusion, our study shows that changes in the pituitary circRNAs may be related to the response of the pituitary to steroid hormones and regulate the reproductive process of sheep by affecting the pituitary function. Results of this study provide some new information for understanding the functions of circRNAs and the fecundity of FecB ++ genotype sheep.
