Background

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been identified as important contributors to the regulation of early fetal cardiopulmonary development. However, miRNA expression profiles during late gestation and the early neonatal period are not fully elaborated in large mammals such as sheep (ovis aries). The aim of this study was to sequence miRNA from cardiopulmonary tissues in late gestation and neonate sheep to identify changes in miRNA expression.

Methods

Illumina HiSeq next-generation deep sequencing (NGS) was performed on ovine tissues from the left (LV) and right ventricles (RV), lungs and pulmonary artery (PA) of preterm fetuses (128 days), near-term fetuses (140 days) (term = 148 days) and neonatal lambs (5 days). NGS reads were mapped to the sheep genome (OviAri) and published miRNA sequences.

Results

Of 1345 cardiopulmonary miRNAs that were sequenced, relatively few major shifts in miRNA expression were detected with increased age from near term to neonates, and were confirmed by quantitative real-time PCR: bta-miR-146a (lung), bta-miR-22-3p (lung, LV), hsa-miR-335* (lung, PA), and miR-210 (lung, PA, LV).

Conclusions

Sequencing of miRNA led to identification of four predominant miRNA in ovine cardiopulmonary tissues which alter expression during late gestation and the early neonatal period, concurrent with important functional changes in heart and lungs.

中文翻译：

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妊娠晚期和围产期绵羊心肺微RNA表达的变化

背景

微小RNA（miRNA）已被确定为早期胎儿心肺发育调节的重要贡献者。然而，妊娠晚期和新生儿早期期间miRNA表达谱并没有完全在大型哺乳动物，如羊（阐述绵羊白羊座）。这项研究的目的是对妊娠晚期和新生绵羊心肺组织中的miRNA进行测序，以鉴定miRNA表达的变化。

方法

Illumina HiSeq下一代深度测序（NGS）在早产胎儿（128天），近期胎儿（140天）的左心室（LV）和右心室（RV），肺和肺动脉（PA）的绵羊组织上进行）（足月148天）和新生羔羊（5天）。将NGS读图定位到绵羊基因组（OviAri），并发布miRNA序列。

结果

在1345个经测序的心肺miRNA中，随着年龄的增长，从短期到新生儿的年龄增加，miRNA表达的主要变化相对较少，并通过实时定量PCR得以证实：bta-miR-146a（肺），bta-miR-22 -3p（肺，LV），hsa-miR-335 *（肺，PA）和miR-210（肺，PA，LV）。

结论

miRNA的测序导致鉴定出绵羊心肺组织中的四种主要miRNA，这些miRNA在妊娠后期和新生儿早期改变了表达，同时还改变了心脏和肺的重要功能。