China Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine ›› 2021, Vol. 48 ›› Issue (12): 4361-4371.doi: 10.16431/j.cnki.1671-7236.2021.12.004

• Biotechnology • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Gene Expression of miR-18a-5p at Different Growth Stages and Its Bioinformatics Analysis and Target Gene Prediction in Chicken

HUANG Zhengyang, HUANG Huayun, MU Chunyu, LI Chunmiao, WANG Qianbao, LI Shoufeng, ZHAO Zhenhua   

  1. Poultry Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Yangzhou 225009, China
  • Received:2021-06-21 Online:2021-12-20 Published:2021-12-02

Abstract: The object of this study was to explore the bioinformatics characteristics of miR-18a-5p and its changes in tissue expression in different growth stages of chickens.In this study, Suqin No.3 was used as the experimental material to detect the tissue expression of miR-18a-5p in chicken at different growth stages by Real-time quantitative PCR.The miR-18a-5p sequence of vertebrates was retrieved by references and miRBase.The position of miR-18a-5p in the genome was determined using the Ensembl database.Phylogenetic tree was constructed based on the mature sequence.The target genes of miR-18a-5p were predicted using miRmap, microT, miRanda and TargetScan websites, and GO and KEGG analysis was carried out.The results of tissue expression analysis showed that the expression of miR-18a-5p sequence of chicken in heart, spleen, kidney and hypothalamus was significantly higher than that in other tissues except brain (P<0.05).Compared with 3-day-old chicks, the expression of miR-18a-5p in heart, spleen, kidney, leg muscle and hypothalamus increased significantly at 90-day-old chicks (P<0.05).A total of 52 miR-18a-5p sequences were found in 50 vertebrates, and almost all species had only one mature sequence.A total of 52 miR-18a-5p sequences were found in 50 vertebrates, and almost all species had only one mature sequence.Gene mapping analysis showed that chicken miR-18a-5p was located in the gene spacer on chromosome 1.The multiple sequence alignment analysis showed that the mature sequences of miR-18a-5p in different species had high homology and were more conservative among species.Phylogenetic tree analysis showed that chicken miR-18a-5p clustered with other birds such as pigeon and zebra finch, which showed that miR-18a-5p was conservative in the evolution process.Target genes prediction and functional analysis revealed that there were 121 target genes in miR-18a-5p.GO analysis showed that the target genes were mainly enriched in protein ubiquitination, cell cycle arrest, negative regulation of interleukin-6 production and so on.KEGG pathway analysis showed that the target genes were mainly enriched in cell cycle, Wnt and FoxO signaling pathways.Multiple genes were related to muscle growth and cell proliferation were enriched on the related pathways.In conclusion, chicken miR-18a-5p was a miRNA which was widely expressed in different tissues, which might regulate muscle growth and cell proliferation and differentiation through Wnt and FoxO signaling pathway.This study provided a reference for the in-depth research of miR-18a-5p functions and regulatory mechanisms.

Key words: chicken; miR-18a-5p; target gene; expression analysis; bioinformatics

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