Acta Veterinaria et Zootechnica Sinica ›› 2024, Vol. 55 ›› Issue (9): 3864-3875.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2024.09.012

• Animal Genetics and Breeding • Previous Articles     Next Articles

miR-127 Regulated the Proliferation and Differentiation of Sheep Skeletal Myoblasts and Its Transcription Factor PAX3 Screening

Yuhang JIA1,2(), Liangfu GUO3, Runan ZHANG1, Ayong ZHAO2, Yufang LIU1,*(), Mingxing CHU1,*()   

  1. 1. State Key Laboratory of Animal Biotech Breeding, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China
    2. College of Animal Science and Technology· College of Veterinary Medicine, Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry University, Hangzhou 311300, China
    3. Yuncheng County Animal Husbandry Service Center, Yuncheng 274700, China
  • Received:2024-03-04 Online:2024-09-23 Published:2024-09-27
  • Contact: Yufang LIU, Mingxing CHU E-mail:15645551808@163.com;aigaiy@126.com;mxchu@263.net

Abstract:

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of miR-127 on the skeletal myoblast proliferation and differentiation in sheep, and to screen for transcription factors that regulate the expression of miR-127 by identifying its upstream core promoter region. In this study, primary skeletal muscle myoblasts of small-tailed Han fetal sheep were used as experimental materials. After overexpression or inhibition of miR-127, the RT-qPCR, EdU staining, flow cytometry analysis, and immunofluorescence staining were used to detect the effects of miR-127 on the proliferation, apoptosis and differentiation of sheep myoblasts. The bioinformatics analysis and dual luciferase reporting assay were used to predict and identify the sheep miR-127 core promoter region and its transcription factors. The results showed that overexpression of miR-127 in sheep myoblasts promoted the expression of cell proliferation related genes PCNA and CDK4 (P < 0.01), and inhibited the expressions of cell apoptosis related genes Caspase3 and BAX (P < 0.05). EdU results showed that the positive rate of sheep myoblasts was significantly increased after miR-127 overexpression (P < 0.05). Flow cytometry analysis showed that overexpression of miR-127 significantly increased the proportion of S and G2 phase myoblasts and decreased the apoptosis of myoblasts. In the cell differentiation assay, overexpression of miR-127 significantly increased the mRNA expression levels of myoblast differentiation related genes MYOD1 and MYHC (P < 0.05), and significantly increased the MYHC positive myotube area (P < 0.05). The opposite result was found after miR-127 inhibition. In order to further reveal the regulatory factors regulating the expression of miR-127, the dual luciferase activity assay showed that the 1 500-1 800 bp (miR-127-P6) region upstream of miR-127 had the highest activity, which was inferred to be the core promoter region of miR-127. Bioinformatics predictions revealed a site in the core promoter region of miR-127 that bound to the transcription factor PAX3. Overexpression of the transcription factor PAX3 in sheep myoblasts significantly increased the promoter activity and the expression of miR-127 (P < 0.01). This study showed that sheep miR-127 significantly promoted the proliferation and differentiation of skeletal muscle myoblasts and reduced their apoptosis, which participated in their development process. Further studies showed that 1 500-1 800 bp upstream was the core promoter region of sheep miR-127, and the transcription factor PAX3 positively regulated the transcription of miR-127. This study provided a theoretical reference for further exploring the molecular mechanism of sheep muscle growth and development.

Key words: sheep, myoblast proliferation and differentiation, miR-127, transcription factor PAX3

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