Identification and molecular analysis of cashmere goat lncRNAs reveal their integrated regulatory network and potential roles in secondary hair follicle

Abstract

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) is a class of eukaryotic transcripts with length of more than 200 bp. They contribute to the regulation of gene expressions involved in multiple processes including the skin cell proliferation, differentiation, and reconstruction of the secondary hair follicles (SHFs). In this study, firstly, we identified 16 putative lncRNAs from SHFs of cashmere goat based on the EST sequences from NCBI database. Secondly, we investigated their transcriptional pattern in SHFs of cashmere goat, and constructed their ceRNA regulatory networks. The RT-qPCR results showed four lncRNAs (lncRNA-475074, -052149, -052140, and -051789) were significantly up-regulated, and nine lncRNAs (lncRNA-711032, -475083, -475070, -052139, -052127, -052037, -051903, -051847, and -051804) were significantly down-regulatd in anagen SHFs of cashmere goat. CeRNA networks analysis revealed complex interactional relationship among lncRNAs, miRNAs and mRNAs. Further, the KEGG pathway enrichment was performed for the potential target genes of the identified lncRNAs based on bioinformatics technique, and the results indicated that differentially expressed lncRNAs directly or indirectly might regulate potential target genes. Our results from this study will provide a significant information for further exploring the functions and possible mechanisms of the identified lncRNAs in SHFs of cashmere goat.

Keywords:

• Cashmere goat
• secondary hair follicle
• LncRNAs
• expressed sequence tags
• regulatory network

Acknowledgments

Data curation, Qian Jiao; Formal analysis, Qian Jiao and Yan R.Wang; Funding acquisition, Wen L. Bai; Methodology, Wen L. Bai, Ze Y. Wang; Project administration, Wen L. Bai; Resources, Dan Guo; Software, Qian Jiao; Supervision, Wen L. Bai; Validation, Qian Jiao, and Jun Y. Zhao; Writing – original draft, Qian Jiao; Writing – review & editing, Qian Jiao, and Wen L. Bai.

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported financially by grants from National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31672388 and No. 31872325); Foundation of Natural Science Project of Liaoning Province, China (No. 2015020758); Key Project Foundation of Education Department of Liaoning Province, China (No.LSNZD201606); Innovative Talent Support Program Foundation of Universities and Colleges in Liaoning Province, China (LR2016035); Science and Technology Innovation Talent Support Foundation for Young and Middle-aged People of Shenyang City, China (RC170447); Tianzhushan Scholar foundation of Shenyang Agricultural University (2018, Shenyang, Liaoning, China).