ACTA VETERINARIA ET ZOOTECHNICA SINICA ›› 2019, Vol. 50 ›› Issue (11): 2235-2243.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2019.11.007

• ANIMAL BIOTECHNOLOGY AND REPRODUCTION • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Identification and Analysis of Relevant piRNA during Testicular Development in Yak of Three Stages

YIN Shi1,2,3, QIN Wenchang1,2,3, WANG Bin1,2,3, ZHOU Jingwen1,2,3, YANG Liuqing1,2,3, LI Jian1,2,3*   

  1. 1. College of Life Science and Technology, Southwest Minzu University, Chengdu 610041, China;
    2. Key Laboratory of Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau Animal Genetic Resource Reservation and Utilization of Ministry of Education, Chengdu 610041, China;
    3. Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau Animal Genetic Resource Reservation and Utilization Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu 610041, China
  • Received:2019-05-22 Online:2019-11-23 Published:2019-11-23

Abstract: This research was conducted to identify and analyze piRNA in the testicular development of yaks of different ages. A total of 6 healthy male yaks (two in each group) in the fetal (4-5 months old), calves (1 year old) and juvenile (3 years old) stages were selected. Testis were separated for piRNA sequencing and two samples from yak at the same age were considered as biological duplications. The number, base preference, source and function of piRNA, as well as the chromosome distribution and expression levels of piRNA clusters in the samples were analyzed. The expression of PIWI gene family(PIWIL1-PIWIL4) in the testis of yak at 3 stages were detected by fluorescence quantitative PCR. The results showed that the number of piRNAs in testis of yaks in calves and juvenile was significantly more than that in fetal stage (P<0.01). piRNAs from yak testis showed a strong preference for uracil (U) at their 5' ends, and the most of the piRNA came from the other regions than the intergenic and gene regions. More than 60% piRNA clusters in fetal testes were at low abundance, while more than 70% clusters in testes of calves and juvenile yaks were at high abundance. The expressions of PIWIL1 and PIWIL4 in fetal testes were significantly different compared with those in the other two stages (P<0.05). GO function analysis result showed that the number of piRNA source genes ranked first in biological process, cell component and molecular function were metabolic process, cell and binding, respectively. The structure, function and source of piRNA in yak testes were specific. The number and expression abundance of piRNA in the post-embryonic stage (calves and juvenile) was significantly different from that in the fetal stage, which may be related to the expression difference of PIWIL1 and PIWIL4 between two stages.This research provides a theoretical basis for further studying the mechanism of piRNA regulating yak testicular development and improving yak production performance.

CLC Number: