China Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine ›› 2020, Vol. 47 ›› Issue (7): 2081-2092.doi: 10.16431/j.cnki.1671-7236.2020.07.013

• Genetics and Breeding • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Characterization and Differentially Expression Analysis of Ovine Ovary piRNAs During Different Reproductive Seasons

ZHANG Rensen1, HE Jianning2, WEI Caihong1, LIANG Xiaojun3, MA Qing3, DI Ran1, CHU Mingxing1   

  1. 1. Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China;
    2. College of Animal Science and Technology, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao 266109, China;
    3. Institute of Animal Science, Ningxia Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Yinchuan 750002, China
  • Received:2019-12-18 Online:2020-07-20 Published:2020-07-18

Abstract: In order to analyze the sequence features of piRNAs and the expression difference of piRNAs between anestrus and estrus season in ovine ovary,Solexa high-throughput sequencing technology was used in ovary tissue of Tan sheep during the anestrous and estrus season (include follicular and luteal phases).Then piRNAs in ovine ovary were screened,and the length distribution,the first base bias,genomic distribution,chromosome distribution,strand specificity and ping-pong signature of piRNAs and the types of repetitive sequence which piRNAs mapped to were analyzed by bioinformatics methods.The differentially expressed piRNAs (DE piRNAs) in ovary of Tan sheep between anestrus and estrus season were screened and the target gene of DE piRNAs were subjected to GO and KEGG analysis.The results showed that the first base of different size piRNAs in ovine ovary were various.All of the piRNAs from three stages were mainly mapped to intron,coding sequence and lncRNA while little mapped to repeat sequences.The distribution of piRNAs in ovary were uneven among the chromosomes.piRNAs in ovine ovary had strong strand specificity.piRNAs from three stages had no obvious ping-pong signature.The KEGG enrichment analysis showed that the target genes of DE piRNAs were mainly enriched in those pathways that were correlated with ovine reproduction,such as RNA transport pathway,purine metabolism pathway,focal adhesion,PI3K-Akt signaling pathway and Hippo signaling pathway and so on.In conclusion,the characters of piRNAs from ovine ovary during different reproductive stages were revealed,the results suggested that piRNAs in sheep ovarian tissue might participate in regulation of seasonal reproduction through target genes such as BAD and pathways such as focal adhesion,which provided some reference for further analysis of the molecular mechanism of sheep seasonal estrus.

Key words: piRNAs; small RNA sequencing; sheep; seasonal reproduction; ovary

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