GSE61984
Identification and Characterization of MicroRNAs in Zebrafish Spermatozoa by Illumina Sequencing
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are involved in nearly every biological process examined to date. Mounting evidence show that some spermatozoa specific miRNAs play important roles in the regulation of spermatogenesis and germ cells development, but little is known of the exact identity and function of miRNA in sperm cells or their potential involvement in spermatogenesis and germ cells development. Here, we investigated the spermatozoa miRNA profiles using illumina deep sequencing combined with bioinformatic analysis using zebrafish as a model system. Deep sequencing of small RNAs yielded 12 million raw reads from zebrafish spermatozoa. Analysis showed that the noncoding RNA of the spermatozoa included tRNA, rRNA, snRNA, snoRNA and miRNA. By mapping to the zebrafish genome, we identified 400 novel and 204 conserved miRNAs which could be grouped into 104 families, including zebrafish specific families, such as mir-731, mir-724, mir-725, mir-729 and mir-2185. We report the first characterization of the miRNAs profiling in zebrafish spermatozoa. The obtained spermatozoa miRNAs profiling will serve as valuable resources to systematically study spermatogenesis in fish and vertebrate. Overall design: Examination of small RNA populations in zebrafish spermatozoa