MicroRNA (miRNA) cloning analysis reveals sex differences in miRNA expression profiles between adult mouse testis and ovary.
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous non-coding small RNAs that can regulate the expression of complementary mRNA targets. Identifying tissue-specific miRNAs is the first step toward understanding the biological functions of miRNAs, which include the regulation of tissue differentiation and the maintenance of tissue identity. In this study, we performed small RNA library sequencing in adult mouse testis and ovary to reveal their characteristic organ- and gender-specific profiles and to elucidate the characteristics of the miRNAs expressed in the reproductive system. We obtained 10,852 and 11 744 small RNA clones from mouse testis and ovary respectively (greater than 10,000 clones per organ), which included 6630 (159 genes) and 10,192 (154 genes) known miRNAs. A high level of efficiency of miRNA library sequencing was achieved: 61% (6630 miRNA clones/10,852 small RNA clones) and 87% (10,192/11,744) for adult mouse testis and ovary respectively. We obtained characteristic miRNA signatures in testis and ovary; 55 miRNAs were detected highly, exclusively, or predominantly in adult mouse testis and ovary, and discovered two novel miRNAs. Male-biased expression of miRNAs occurred on the X-chromosome. Our data provide important information on sex differences in miRNA expression that should facilitate studies of the reproductive organ-specific roles of miRNAs.
Mishima
Takuya
T
Departments of, Molecular Anatomy and Medicine Surgery for Organ Function and Biological Regulation, Nippon Medical School, Tokyo, Japan.
Takizawa
Takami
T
Luo
Shan-Shun
SS
Ishibashi
Osamu
O
Kawahigashi
Yutaka
Y
Mizuguchi
Yoshiaki
Y
Ishikawa
Tomoko
T
Mori
Miki
M
Kanda
Tomohiro
T
Goto
Tadashi
T
Takizawa
Toshihiro
T
D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D019295:Computational Biology; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010053:Ovary / Q000378:metabolism*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017385:Sequence Homology; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D013737:Testis / Q000378:metabolism*
D035683:MicroRNAs