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Integrative analysis of miRNAs and mRNAs revealed regulation of lipid metabolism in dairy cattle

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Abstract

Lipid metabolism in bovine mammary epithelial cells has been the primary focus of the research of milk fat percentage of dairy cattle. Functional microRNAs can affect lipid metabolism by regulating the expression of candidate genes. The purpose of the study was to screen and identify differentially expressed miRNAs, candidate genes, and co-regulatory pathways related to the metabolism of milk fat. To achieve this aim, we used miRNA and transcriptome data from the mammary epithelial cells of dairy cattle with high (H, 4.85%) and low milk fat percentages (L, 3.41%) during mid-lactation. One hundred ninety differentially expressed genes and 33 differentially expressed miRNAs were significantly enriched in related regulatory networks, of which 27 candidate genes regulated by 18 differentially expressed miRNAs significantly enriched in pathways related to lipid metabolism (p < 0.05). Target relationships between PDE4D and bta-miR-148a, PEG10 and bta-miR-877, SOD3 and bta-miR-2382-5p, and ADAMTS1 and bta-miR-2425-5p were verified using luciferase reporter assays and quantitative RT-PCR. The detection of triglyceride production in BMECs showed that bta-miR-21-3p and bta-miR-148a promote triglyceride synthesis, whereas bta-miR-124a, bta-miR-877, bta-miR-2382-5p, and bta-miR-2425-5p inhibit triglyceride synthesis. The conjoint analysis could identify functional miRNAs and regulatory candidate genes involved in lipid metabolism within the co-expression networks of the dairy cattle mammary system, which contributes to the understanding of potential regulatory mechanisms of genetic element and gene signaling networks involved in milk fat metabolism.

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Data availability

The data sets used and analyzed during the current study are available. The RNA-seq and miRNA-seq data have been submitted to the GenBank databases under accession number GSE137488.

Code availability

Not applicable.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31772562, 31802034, and 31972993), and the Jilin Scientific and Technological Development Program (20180101275JC).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Animal Science, Jilin University, Changchun, 130062, People’s Republic of China

    Lixin **a, Zhihui Zhao, **anzhong Yu, **ang Yu, **bi Fang & Runjun Yang

  2. College of Coastal Agricultural Sciences, Guangdong Ocean University, Zhanjiang, 524088, People’s Republic of China

    Zhihui Zhao, ** Jiang, Haibin Yu & Juan Liu

  3. Department of Biological Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, 29634, USA

    **anzhong Yu

  4. College of Basic Medical, Jilin University, Changchun, 130062, People’s Republic of China

    Chunyan Lu & **aohui Li

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  1. Lixin **a
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  5. ** Jiang
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  9. Juan Liu
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  10. **bi Fang
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  11. Runjun Yang
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Contributions

Lixin **a, Zhihui Zhao, RunjunnYang, and **bi Fang conceived and designed the research. Lixin **a, ** Jiang, and Juan Liu carried out most experiments. Lixin **a, **anzhong Yu, and **aohui Li wrote the manuscript. Chunyan Lu, Haibin Yu, and **ang Yu analyzed the data. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to **bi Fang or Runjun Yang.

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Lixin **a and Zhihui Zhao contributed equally to this work and share the first authorship.

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**a, L., Zhao, Z., Yu, X. et al. Integrative analysis of miRNAs and mRNAs revealed regulation of lipid metabolism in dairy cattle. Funct Integr Genomics 21, 393–404 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10142-021-00786-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10142-021-00786-9

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