title: Systematic analysis of the regulatory functions of microRNAs in chicken hepatic lipid metabolism.
abstract: Laying performance is an important economic trait in hens, and this physiological process is largely influenced by the liver function. The livers of hens at 20- and 30-week-old stages were investigated using the next generation sequencing to identify the differences of microRNA expression profiles. Compared with the 20-week-old hens, 67 down- and 13 up-regulated microRNAs were verified to be significant differentially expressed (false discovery rate, FDR ≤ 0.05) (SDE) in the 30-week-old. We also identified 13 down- and 6 up-regulated novel differentially expressed (DE) microRNAs. miR-22-3p and miR-146b-5p, which exhibit critical roles in mammalian lipid metabolism, showed the most abundant expression and the highest fold-change, respectively. A total of 648 potential target genes of the SDE microRNAs were identified through an integrated analysis of microRNAs and the DE genes obtained in previous RNA-sequencing, including FADS1, FADS2, ELOVL6 and ACSL5, which are critical lipid metabolism-related regulators. Bioinformatic analyses revealed that target genes were mainly enriched in lipid-related metabolism processes. This work provides the first study of the expression patterns of hepatic microRNAs between 20- and 30-week old hens. The findings may serve as a fundamental resource for understanding the detailed functions of microRNAs in the molecular regulatory systems of lipid metabolism.
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450002, China.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450002, China.
authors.forename: Zheng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450002, China.
authors.forename: Lijuan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450002, China.
authors.forename: Yanmin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450002, China.
authors.forename: Chunlin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450002, China.
authors.forename: Taian
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450002, China.|Henan Innovative Engineering Research Center of Poultry Germplasm Resource, Zhengzhou 450002, China.|International Joint Research Laboratory for Poultry Breeding of Henan, Zhengzhou 450002, China.
authors.forename: Ruili
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450002, China.|Henan Innovative Engineering Research Center of Poultry Germplasm Resource, Zhengzhou 450002, China.|International Joint Research Laboratory for Poultry Breeding of Henan, Zhengzhou 450002, China.
authors.forename: Ruirui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450002, China.|Henan Innovative Engineering Research Center of Poultry Germplasm Resource, Zhengzhou 450002, China.|International Joint Research Laboratory for Poultry Breeding of Henan, Zhengzhou 450002, China.
authors.forename: Zhuanjian
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450002, China.|Henan Innovative Engineering Research Center of Poultry Germplasm Resource, Zhengzhou 450002, China.|International Joint Research Laboratory for Poultry Breeding of Henan, Zhengzhou 450002, China.
authors.forename: Guirong
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450002, China.|Henan Innovative Engineering Research Center of Poultry Germplasm Resource, Zhengzhou 450002, China.|International Joint Research Laboratory for Poultry Breeding of Henan, Zhengzhou 450002, China.
authors.forename: Xiangtao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450002, China.|Henan Innovative Engineering Research Center of Poultry Germplasm Resource, Zhengzhou 450002, China.|International Joint Research Laboratory for Poultry Breeding of Henan, Zhengzhou 450002, China.
authors.forename: Xiaojun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D030161:Avian Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D002645:Chickens / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000502:physiology*; D050356:Lipid Metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D008099:Liver / Q000378:metabolism*; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D030161:Avian Proteins; D035683:MicroRNAs