Expressed miRNAs target feather related mRNAs involved in cell signaling, cell adhesion and structure during chicken epidermal development

Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. Previous studies have shown that miRNA regulation contributes to a diverse set of processes including cellular differentiation and morphogenesis which leads to the creation of different cell types in multicellular organisms and is thus key to animal development. Feathers are one of the most distinctive features of extant birds and are important for multiple functions including flight, thermal regulation, and sexual selection. However, the role of miRNAs in feather development has been woefully understudied despite the identification of cell signaling pathways, cell adhesion molecules and structural genes involved in feather development. In this study, we performed a microarray experiment comparing the expression of miRNAs and mRNAs among three embryonic stages of development and two tissues (scutate scale and feather) of the chicken. We combined this expression data with miRNA target prediction tools and a curated list of feather related genes to produce a set of 19 miRNA-mRNA duplexes. These targeted mRNAs have been previously identified as important cell signaling and cell adhesion genes as well as structural genes involved in feather and scale morphogenesis. Interestingly, the miRNA target site of the cell signaling pathway gene, Aldehyde Dehydrogenase 1 Family, Member A3 (ALDH1A3), is unique to birds indicating a novel role in Aves. The identified miRNA target site of the cell adhesion gene, Tenascin C (TNC), is only found in specific chicken TNC splice variants that are differentially expressed in developing scutate scale and feather tissue indicating an important role of miRNA regulation in epidermal differentiation. Additionally, we found that β-keratins, a major structural component of avian and reptilian epidermal appendages, are targeted by multiple miRNA genes. In conclusion, our work provides quantitative expression data on miRNAs and mRNAs during feather and scale development and has produced a highly diverse, but manageable list of miRNA-mRNA duplexes for future validation experiments.

miR-927 has pro-viral effects during acute and persistent infection with dengue virus type 2 in C6/36 mosquito cells

“…vectorbase. org/), as reported elsewhere [27]. The predicted binding sites were additionally corroborated with RNAhybrid (http:// bibiserv.…”

Transcriptional profiling of liver in riboflavin-deficient chicken embryos explains impaired lipid utilization, energy depletion, massive hemorrhaging, and delayed feathering

“…Feather-keratin is involved in the elongation of barbule cells in feathers where small proteins (i.e., β-keratins) rich in glycine, serine, and proline have evolved in birds to reinforce the mechanical resistance of feathers [ 57 ]. Interestingly, retinoic acid signaling appears to be important for the timing and expression of FKR and other β-keratins in the avian epidermis [ 58 ]. In the present study, we found differential expression of several enzymes involved in retinol metabolism (see Additional file 5 ), retinol transport and over-representation of RXR signaling in liver of rd / rd chick embryos at e15 (see Table 3 ).…”

Genetic and Molecular Basis of Feather Diversity in Birds

“…2018 ) and miRNAs that target the cell signaling, cell adhesion, and cell structure genes required in feather morphogenesis ( Zhang et al. 2013 ; Bao et al. 2016 ).…”