ACTA VETERINARIA ET ZOOTECHNICA SINICA ›› 2017, Vol. 48 ›› Issue (1): 23-30.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2017.01.003

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Analysis of Hypothalamic microRNA Expression Profile during Chicken Puberty Onset

HAN Wei#,SHENG Zhong-wei#, ZHU Yun-fen, LI Guo-hui,WANG Hong-zhi, ZHANG Hui-yong,YIN Jian-mei,SU Yi-jun,WANG Ke-hua,ZOU Jian-min*   

  1. (National Chickens Genetic Resources, Poultry Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Yangzhou 225125, China)
  • Received:2016-07-20 Online:2017-01-23 Published:2017-01-23

Abstract:

The objective of this study was to investigate whether microRNAs play roles in puberty onset of the chicken. The Solexa deep sequencing was performed to analyze the miRNA expression profiles in the hypothalamus of hens before puberty onset (BPO) and after puberty onset (APO). The target genes prediction and functional analysis were also carried out through bioinformatics method. 374 conserved and 46 novel miRNAs were identified in the chicken hypothalamus. 144 conserved miRNAs were differentially expressed (reads>10, P<0.05) from BPO to APO transition. 2 013 putative genes were predicted as the targets of the 15 differentially expressed miRNAs (|log2(fold-change)|>2.0, P<0.01). Functional analysis suggested that these 15 miRNAs played important roles in transcriptional regulation and signal transduction during puberty onset. The results suggest that miRNA as novel partner involve in chicken puberty onset. Considering the characteristics of miRNA functional conservation, the results will provide new theoretical base for studying the molecular regulation mechanism of animals puberty onset.

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