miR-181a-5p can inhibit the proliferation and promote the differentiation of chicken primary myoblasts

ABSTRACT

1. Myoblast proliferation and differentiation is one of the most important biological processes in the development of skeletal muscle. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play a crucial role in this process.

2. In this study, the expression level of miR-181a-5p was detected, which found that miR-181a-5p was expressed differently in different tissues, different embryonic ages, and different differentiation stages of primary myoblasts in Gushi chickens.

3. The effect of miR-181a-5p was further investigated on chicken primary myoblasts (CPMs). The results of cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8), 5-ethynyl-2’-deoxyuridine (EdU) and cell cycle showed that miR-181a-5p could inhibit the proliferation of CPM. The miR-181a-5p promoted the expression of MYOD, MYOG, and MYHC. MYHC protein immunofluorescence experiments showed that miR-181a-5p increased the area of myotubes.

4. In total, 63 potential target genes of miR-181a-5p in mRNA transcriptome data analysis were identified. Functional enrichment analysis was performed on these target genes, and ASNS, SMYD1, and FOS were found to play regulatory roles in biological processes such as muscle development. It was speculated that miR-181a-5p played a role in myoblast development through these genes.

5. In conclusion, miR-181a-5p can inhibit the proliferation of chicken myoblasts and promote the differentiation of chicken myoblasts. This study laid the foundation for further research on the regulatory mechanism of miR-181a-5p in the development of skeletal muscle and the formation of excellent meat quality traits in Gushi chicken.

KEYWORDS:

• miR-181a-5p
• myoblast
• proliferation
• differentiation
• Gushi chicken

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data and model availability statement

All data can be obtained from the corresponding author. Transcriptomic data have been deposited in the NCBI Database Sequence Read Archive under accession numbers PRJNA516961 (miRNA) and PRJNA516810 (mRNA).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/00071668.2022.2102891

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32072692) and (31572356), the Scientific Studio of Zhongyuan Scholars (30601985), and Supported by China Agriculture Research System of MOF and MARA. (CARS-40). The funding bodies had no role in study design or in any aspect of the collection, analysis and interpretation of data or in writing the manuscript.