Expression Profiling and Functional Analysis of Circular RNAs in Inner Mongolian Cashmere Goat Hair Follicles

Abstract

BackgroundInner Mongolian cashmere goats have hair of excellent quality and high economic value, and the skin hair follicle traits of cashmere goats have a direct and important effect on cashmere yield and quality. Circular RNA has been studied in a variety of tissues and cells.ResultIn this study, high-throughput sequencing was used to obtain the expression profiles of circular RNA (circRNA) in the hair follicles of Inner Mongolian cashmere goats at different embryonic stages (45, 55, 65, and 75 days). A total of 21,784 circRNAs were identified. At the same time, the differentially expressed circRNA in the six comparison groups formed in the four stages were: d75vsd45, 59 upregulated and 33 downregulated DE circRNAs; d75vsd55, 61 upregulated and 102 downregulated DE circRNAs; d75vsd65, 32 upregulated and 33 downregulated DE circRNAs; d65vsd55, 67 upregulated and 169 downregulated DE circRNAs; d65vsd45, 96 upregulated and 63 downregulated DE circRNAs; and d55vsd45, 76 upregulated and 42 downregulated DE circRNAs. Six DE circRNA were randomly selected to verify the reliability of the sequencing results by quantitative RT-PCR. Subsequently, the circRNA corresponding host genes were analyzed by the Gene Ontology (GO) and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway. The results showed that the biological processes related to hair follicle growth and development enriched by GO mainly included hair follicle morphogenesis and cell development, and the signaling pathways related to hair follicle development included the Notch signaling pathway and NF-κB signaling pathway. We combined the DE circRNA of d75vsd45 with miRNA and mRNA databases (unpublished) to construct the regulatory network of circRNA–miRNA–mRNA, and formed a total of 102 pairs of circRNA–miRNA and 126 pairs of miRNA–mRNA interactions. The binding relationship of circRNA3236–chi-miR-27b-3p and circRNA3236–chi-miR-16b-3p was further verified by dual-luciferase reporter assays, and the results showed that circRNA3236 and chi-miR-27b-3p, and circRNA3236 and chi-miR-16b-3p have a targeted binding relationship.ConclusionTo summarize, we established the expression profiling of circRNA in the fetal skin hair follicles of cashmere goats, and found that the host gene of circRNA may be involved in the development of hair follicles of cashmere goats. The regulatory network of circRNA–miRNA–mRNA was constructed and preliminarily verified using DE circRNAs.

An integrative analysis of the lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA competitive endogenous RNA network reveals potential mechanisms in the murine hair follicle cycle

“…In this study, we reported that 11 miRNAs were upregulated during the catagen phase, peaked in the telogen phase, and were validated using RT-qPCR. Our analysis validated the results of previous studies where the expressions of miR-22, miR-27a/b-3p, mir-30a/e-5p, miR-148a-3p, and miR-200a-3p were upregulated during the telogen phase (Yuan et al, 2015;Bai et al, 2016;Yue et al, 2016;Zhao et al, 2019;Shang et al, 2021). The overexpression of miR-22 in hair follicles led to hair loss by abnormal hair cycling (Yuan et al, 2015).…”

Identification and Molecular Analysis of m6A-circRNAs from Cashmere Goat Reveal Their Integrated Regulatory Network and Putative Functions in Secondary Hair Follicle during Anagen Stage

“…Over the past few years, a considerable number of circRNAs were identified in hair follicles of cashmere goats, and many of them exhibited significantly different expression during SHF cycles [19][20][21]. Moreover, the circRNA-1926 was found to positively regulate the differentiation of SHF stem cells into hair lineages in cashmere goats through the miR-148a/b-3p/CDK19 axis [22].…”

Expression Profile Analysis to Identify Circular RNA Expression Signatures in the Prolificacy Trait of Yunshang Black Goat Pituitary in the Estrus Cycle

“…In GnRH-treated rats, a previous study identified 14 DE circRNAs that may act on the secretion and regulation of reproductive hormones ( Shen et al, 2019 ). In a previous study of dairy goats, differentially expressed circRNAs were found in the endometrium, which may be involved in the formation of endometrial receptivity ( Shang et al, 2021 ). Recent advances in circRNAs in the sheep pituitary have provided new insights into the complexity of reproduction ( Li et al, 2019 ).…”