Authors : Yihui Liu, Jideng Ma, Li Chen, Pengbo Lou, Jun Zhou, Mingzhou Li and Xuewei Li
Abstract: High-throughput sequencing of two small RNA libraries derived from immature (20 days old) and mature (210 day old) porcine testis samples yielded over 20 million high-quality reads. Researchers detected 461 mature microRNAs (miRNAs) encoded by 277 precursor (pre)-miRNAs of which 428 were unique. In total, 303 unique miRNAs of (428, 70.79%) were differentially expressed between immature and mature porcine testes. Compared with immature testis, 95 unique miRNAs were up-regulated and 208 unique miRNAs were down-regulated in mature testis. Strikingly, researchers found that most miRNAs and differentially expressed miRNAs were preferentially located on the X chromosome which implied their crucial roles in the sex-determination system. Furthermore, GO and KEGG analyses of the target genes that were predicted from the highly abundant differentially expressed miRNAs between mature and immature porcine testes illustrate the likely roles for these miRNAs in spermatogenesis. The study indicates that miRNAs are extensively involved in spermatogenesis and that unraveling miRNA functions in the testis will further the understanding of regulatory mechanisms of mammalian spermatogenesis and male infertility treatment.
Yihui Liu, Jideng Ma, Li Chen, Pengbo Lou, Jun Zhou, Mingzhou Li and Xuewei Li, 2014. Comparison of microRNA Transcriptomes Between Immature and Mature Porcine Testes. Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances, 13: 132-138.