Acta Veterinaria et Zootechnica Sinica ›› 2021, Vol. 52 ›› Issue (9): 2452-2463.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2021.09.008

• ANIMAL GENETICS AND BREEDING • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Cloning and Analysis of Bioinformatics and Tissue Expression Characteristics of Yak StAR Gene

LIU Yu, WU Jianfei, LI Heng, JING Tian, LU Jianyuan, ZI Xiangdong*   

  1. Key Laboratory of Animal Science of State Ethnic Affairs Commission, Southwest Minzu University, Chengdu 610041, China
  • Received:2021-01-28 Online:2021-09-23 Published:2021-09-26

Abstract: The objective of this study was to obtain the coding sequence (CDS) of yak StAR gene, conduct bioinformatics analysis and investigate its mRNA expression characteristics in different tissues. Yak samples were collected from local slaughter house, including heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidney, ovary, oviduct and uterus of adult female yaks (n=5), ovary of yaks at different ages (fetal, 1-year-old and 2-years-old) (n=3), ovary of yaks during different periods of estrous cycles (follicular phase and luteal phase) (n=3), the luteal phase ovary of cattle (n=3). Granulosa cells of yaks were cryopreserved previously. StAR gene was cloned using yak ovarian cDNA as template during luteal phase by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and its bioinformatics properties were analyzed by bioinformatics software such as MEGA7.0 and ExPASy-ProtParam etc. The tissue expression characteristics of yak StAR gene were detected by quantitative real-time PCR. The results showed that the CDS of yak StAR gene was 858 bp, encoding 285 amino acids. StAR protein was positively charged and belonged to alkaline hydrophilic stable protein, which had no transmembrane structure and signal peptide. It mainly existed in cytoplasm and mitochondria. StAR gene was highly conserved between different species, which accorded with the law of species evolution. The expression level of yak StAR gene was the highest in ovary (P<0.01). The expression level of StAR gene in the ovary of 2-years-old was significantly higher than that of fetal and 1-year-old (P<0.01). Its expression in yak ovary during luteal phase was significantly higher than that during follicular phase (P<0.01), and was significantly higher in cattle ovary than in yak ovary during luteal phase(P<0.01). During the in vitro culture (IVC) of granulosa cells, the expression of StAR gene increased gradually and reached the peak level at 24 h IVC (P<0.01), and then significantly decreased. The results showed that StAR gene was relatively conservative in the course of animal evolution. Its expression level was greatest in the ovary of yak, and changing with age- and estrous cycle-specific characteristics, which indicate that StAR gene may be involved in the regulation of yak reproduction associated with ovary and corpus luteum function.

Key words: yak, StAR gene, gene cloning, tissue expression, ovary

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