Abstract

Antlers have been widely studied due to their unique physiological characteristics, such as rapid growth, periodic shedding and regeneration. However, little is known about how antler growth is regulated by long non-coding RNA (lncRNA). The aim of the present study was to identify the lncRNAs expression profile and explore the function of lncRNAs during the antler growth. Herein, RNA-sequencing technology (RNA-seq) was performed on the three growth periods (early developmental period: EP, middle developmental period: MP, later developmental period: LP) of male sika deer (Cervus nippon) antler, 16 differentially expressed lncRNAs (DE lncRNAs) and 11 DE lncRNAs were identified in EP vs MP and MP vs LP related to cell proliferation and cell differentiation, respectively. Finally, lncRNAs-mRNAs co-expression networks were constructed based on the identified DE lncRNAs and their potential trans-target genes. The result reveals that lncRNAs may play diverse roles in different periods of antler growth. It provides a novel perspective for revealing the molecular mechanism of antler growth.

摘要

鹿角因其生长迅速、周期性脱落和再生等独特的生理特性而受到广泛研究。然而，人们对长链非编码 RNA (lncRNA) 如何调控鹿茸的生长知之甚少。本研究的目的是确定 lncRNA 表达谱并探索 lncRNA 在鹿茸生长过程中的功能。在此，对雄性梅花鹿（ Cervus nippon）的三个生育期（发育早期：EP、发育中期：MP、发育后期：LP）进行了RNA测序技术（RNA-seq）)鹿角、16个差异表达的lncRNAs(DE lncRNAs)和11个DE lncRNAs在EP vs MP和MP vs LP中分别鉴定出与细胞增殖和细胞分化相关。最后，基于已识别的 DE lncRNA 及其潜在的反式靶基因构建了 lncRNA-mRNA 共表达网络。结果表明，lncRNAs可能在鹿茸生长的不同时期发挥不同的作用。为揭示鹿茸生长的分子机制提供了新的视角。