Acta Veterinaria et Zootechnica Sinica ›› 2025, Vol. 56 ›› Issue (9): 4303-4314.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2025.09.015

• Animal Genetics and Breeding • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Down-regulation of Gene Expression by SINE Insertion in the 3'UTR of the ENTPD1 Gene in the Xiang Pig

TIAN Jiao1(), LONG Juyan1, CHEN Xia1, CEN Xiaoli1, NIU Xi1, HUANG Shihui2, WANG Jiafu1,*(), RAN Xueqin2,*()   

  1. 1. Key Laboratory of Mountain Plant Resources Conservation and Germplasm Innovation of Ministry of Education, Co-built by the Ministry and the Province, College of Life Sciences/Institute of Agricultural Bioengineering, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China
    2. College of Animal Science, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China
  • Received:2025-02-20 Online:2025-09-23 Published:2025-09-30
  • Contact: WANG Jiafu, RAN Xueqin E-mail:1037436332@qq.com;jfwang@gzu.edu.cn;xqran@gzu.edu.cn

Abstract:

The study aimed to investigate the population polymorphism of short interspersed nuclear element (SINE) insertions/deletions in the 3'UTR of the ENTPD1 gene and their effect on gene expression in the Xiang pig. Xiang pigs were used as research subjects and Large White pigs were used as controls. The detection of population polymorphism of SINE insertions/deletions in the 3'UTR region of the ENTPD1 gene in Xiang pig and Large White pig populations was performed by PCR. The functional elements in SINE sequences was analyzed using databases and softwares such as UCSC, SINE Base, miRNA Base, PITA and RBP suite; The mRNA levels of ENTPD1 in different tissues (heart, liver, spleen, lung and kidney) of individuals of 6-month-old and mRNA levels of ENTPD1 in lung tissues of individuals with different genotypes of healthy adult Xiang pig was detected using Real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) technology. The protein levels of ENTPD1 in lung tissues of individuals with different genotypes was detected using Western blotting technique. The results showed that there was a 297 bp SINE polymorphism site in the 3'UTR of ENTPD1 in Xiang pig, it was located at 466 bp downstream of the terminator codon. Bioinformatic analysis revealed that the SINE belonged to the Pre0_SS tRNA family and contained the RNA polymerase Ⅲ promoter, multiple RNA-binding proteins, and binding sites for miRNAs; Three genotypes, insertion (SINE+/+), deletion (SINE-/-) and heterozygote (SINE+/-), were detected in Xiang pigs and Large White pigs. The frequency of deletion (SINE-/-) genotype in Xiang pigs was significantly higher than that in Large White pigs (P < 0.01), and the frequency of SINE- allele was significantly higher than that in Large White pigs (P < 0.05). The variation showed moderate polymorphism in both populations, but only in Xiang pig population conformed to Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Detection of ENTPD1 mRNA in different tissues of Xiang pig showed higher mRNA levels in spleen and lung tissues. The mRNA and protein assays of ENTPD1 in lung tissues of individuals with different genotypes of Xiang pigs showed that the mRNA levels of SINE-/- and SINE+/- genotypes were highly significantly higher than those of SINE+/+, and the protein levels of SINE-/- genotypes were highly significantly higher than those of SINE+/- and SINE+/+. The results suggest that SINE insertion negatively regulates the expression of ENTPD1 gene.

Key words: ENTPD1, 3'UTR, SINE, gene expression, Xiang pig

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