The Role of MicroRNAs in Muscle Tissue Development in Beef Cattle

Abstract

In this review, we highlight information on microRNA (miRNA) identification and functional characterization in the beef for muscle and carcass composition traits, with an emphasis on Qinchuan beef cattle, and discuss the current challenges and future directions for the use of miRNA as a biomarker in cattle for breeding programs to improve meat quality and carcass traits. MicroRNAs are endogenous and non-coding RNA that have the function of making post-transcriptional modifications during the process of preadipocyte differentiation in mammals. Many studies claim that diverse miRNAs have an impact on adipogenesis. Furthermore, their target genes are associated with every phase of adipocyte differentiation. It has been confirmed that, during adipogenesis, several miRNAs are differentially expressed, including miR-204, miR-224, and miR-33. The development of mammalian skeletal muscle is sequentially controlled by somite commitment into progenitor cells, followed by their fusion and migration, the proliferation of myoblasts, and final modification into fast- and slow-twitch muscle fibers. It has been reported that miRNA in the bovine MEG3-DIO3 locus has a regulatory function for myoblast differentiation. Likewise, miR-224 has been associated with controlling the differentiation of bovine adipocytes by targeting lipoprotein lipase. Through the posttranscriptional downregulation of KLF6, miR-148a-3p disrupts the proliferation of bovine myoblasts and stimulates apoptosis while the miR-23a~27a~24-2 cluster represses adipogenesis. Additional to influences on muscle and fat, bta-mir-182, bta-mir-183, and bta-mir-338 represent regulators of proteolysis in muscle, which influences meat tenderness.

microRNA‐148a‐3p in extracellular vesicles derived from bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells suppresses SMURF1 to prevent osteonecrosis of femoral head

“…32 The down-regulation of miR-148a-3p diminishes the bovine myoblast proliferation. 33 Therefore, miR-148a-3p in EVs derived from BMSCs improved ONFH.…”

“…Overexpressed miR‐148a‐3p target gene, lysine‐specific demethylase 6b, could promote the osteoblast differentiation 32 . The down‐regulation of miR‐148a‐3p diminishes the bovine myoblast proliferation 33 . Therefore, miR‐148a‐3p in EVs derived from BMSCs improved ONFH.…”

Bovine Pre-adipocyte Adipogenesis Is Regulated by bta-miR-150 Through mTOR Signaling

“…MicroRNA are non-coding RNA with a maturity length of 18–25 nt; they are ubiquitous in the animal kingdom and are produced by RNA polymerase II transcription. MicroRNA are involved in many different physiological processes in animals (Raza et al, 2020 ), including inhibition of the translation of target genes, affecting mRNA degradation, and regulating the transcription of target genes (Twayana et al, 2013 ). Differentiation of adipocytes is regulated by many miRNA, which are the focus of the current investigation.…”

“…Previous studies have already revealed the regulatory effects of human miRNA, including miR-204 (Zhang Z. et al, 2020 ), miR-27a (Kim et al, 2010 ), miR-210 (Ren et al, 2020 ), miR-24 (Liu et al, 2020 ), miR-378 (Duarte et al, 2020 ), miR-149-5p (Khan et al, 2020 ), miR-143 (Zhang L. et al, 2020 ), and miR-145 (Wang et al, 2020 ), on adipogenesis. These classic mechanisms also occur in the adipose tissue, where they have a large impact on the surrounding tissue (Arcidiacono et al, 2020 ; Raza et al, 2020 ). For example, miR-143 promotes the differentiation of adipocytes by directly acting on its target gene, MAP2K5 .…”

Bta-miR-376a Targeting KLF15 Interferes with Adipogenesis Signaling Pathway to Promote Differentiation of Qinchuan Beef Cattle Preadipocytes

“…It is named after the “eight hundred miles of Qinchuan” produced in the Guanzhong region of Shaanxi Province [ 25 ]. Compared with other cattle, it has the advantages of tender meat, rich meat taste, and good marble pattern, but it has a slow growth rate, low meat production, and lack of fat deposition [ 26 ]. This study intended to reduce bovine body fat deposition and increase intramuscular fat deposition through molecular level regulation, which is expected to solve the problems of slow growth, low meat production, and insufficient fat deposition in Qinchuan beef cattle [ 27 ].…”