Transcriptional Specificity Analysis of Testis and Epididymis Tissues in Donkey

Abstract

Donkeys, with high economic value for meat, skin and milk production, are important livestock. However, the current insights into reproduction of donkeys are far from enough. To obtain a deeper understanding, the differential expression analysis and weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) of transcriptomic data of testicular and epididymis tissues in donkeys were performed. In the result, there were 4313 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the two tissues, including 2047 enriched in testicular tissue and 2266 in epididymis tissue. WGCNA identified 1081 hub genes associated with testis development and 6110 genes with epididymal development. Next, the tissue-specific genes were identified with the above two methods, and the gene ontology (GO) analysis revealed that the epididymal-specific genes were associated with gonad development. On the other hand, the testis-specific genes were involved in the formation of sperm flagella, meiosis period, ciliary assembly, ciliary movement, etc. In addition, we found that eca-Mir-711 and eca-Mir-143 likely participated in regulating the development of epididymal tissue. Meanwhile, eca-Mir-429, eca-Mir-761, eca-Mir-200a, eca-Mir-191 and eca-Mir-200b potentially played an important role in regulating the development of testicular tissue. In short, these results will contribute to functional studies of the male reproductive trait in donkeys.

A Comparative Full-Length Transcriptome Analysis Using Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) in Four Tissues of Bovine Origin

“…Tissue-specific transcripts are fundamental for understanding the basis of the differences between tissues. They could serve as valuable biomarkers to explore economically important traits, as they are often implicated in tissue-specific functions, development, and disease resistance [ 41 , 42 , 43 ].…”

Exploring Genetic Markers: Mitochondrial DNA and Genomic Screening for Biodiversity and Production Traits in Donkeys

“…Comprehensive research into their reproductive traits and diligent breeding efforts are vital for the advancement of the industry as a whole. Recently, Yu et al [100] investigated the transcriptional specificity of testis and epididymis tissues in donkeys. They documented some important genes, TEX11, PRM1, and PRM2 and CLDN8, SLC26A8, and SLC22A3, which are upregulated in the testis and epididymis, respectively.…”