title: Identification of male-biased microRNA-107 as a direct regulator for nuclear receptor subfamily 5 group A member 1 based on sexually dimorphic microRNA expression profiling from chicken embryonic gonads.
abstract: Several studies indicate that sexual dimorphic microRNAs (miRNAs) in chicken gonads are likely to have important roles in sexual development, but a more global understanding of the roles of miRNAs in sexual differentiation is still needed. To this end, we performed miRNA expression profiling in chicken gonads at embryonic day 5.5 (E5.5). Among the sex-biased miRNAs validated by qRT-PCR, twelve male-biased and six female-biased miRNAs were consistent with the sequencing results. Bioinformatics analysis revealed that some sex-biased miRNAs were potentially involved in gonadal development. Further functional analysis found that over-expression of miR-107 directly inhibited nuclear receptor subfamily 5 group A member 1 (NR5a1), and its downstream cytochrome P450 family 19 subfamily A, polypeptide 1 (CYP19A1). However, anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) was not directly or indirectly regulated by miR-107. Overall results indicate that miR-107 may specifically mediate avian ovary-development by post-transcriptional regulation of NR5a1 and CYP19A1 in estrogen signaling pathways.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Agricultural Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Ministry of Education, College of Animal Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Nan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Miao
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Agricultural Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Ministry of Education, College of Animal Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Agricultural Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Ministry of Education, College of Animal Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yue
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Agricultural Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Ministry of Education, College of Animal Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, People's Republic of China. Electronic address: fengyanping594@mail.hzau.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yanping
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Agricultural Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Ministry of Education, College of Animal Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, People's Republic of China. Electronic address: poultry@mail.hzau.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yanzhang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gong
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002642:Chick Embryo; D002645:Chickens / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D053263:Gene Regulatory Networks; D006066:Gonads / Q000196:embryology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D054339:Steroidogenic Factor 1 / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs; D054339:Steroidogenic Factor 1
keywords: Chicken; Gonadal development; NR5a1; Sex-biased miRNAs; miR-107