Profile of microRNA in Giant Panda Blood: A Resource for Immune-Related and Novel microRNAs

The giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is one of the world's most beloved endangered mammals. Although the draft genome of this species had been assembled, little was known about the composition of its microRNAs (miRNAs) or their functional profiles. Recent studies demonstrated that changes i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2015-11, Vol.10 (11), p.e0143242-e0143242
Main Authors: Yang, Mingyu, Du, Lianming, Li, Wujiao, Shen, Fujun, Fan, Zhenxin, Jian, Zuoyi, Hou, Rong, Shen, Yongmei, Yue, Bisong, Zhang, Xiuyue
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
1-Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase
Adults
Age
Aging
Ailuropoda melanoleuca
AKT protein
Analysis
Animals
Apoptosis
Blood
Breast cancer
Cell cycle
Conservation biology
Education
Encyclopedias
Female
Gene expression
Genes
Genomes
Genomics
Giant panda
Immune system
Immunity
Kinases
Laboratories
Life sciences
Male
MAP kinase
MicroRNA
MicroRNAs
MicroRNAs - genetics
miRNA
Neurosciences
Pandas
Pathogenesis
Predictions
Proteins
Ribonucleic acid
RNA
Signal transduction
Signaling
Ursidae - genetics
Wildlife conservation
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Summary:The giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is one of the world's most beloved endangered mammals. Although the draft genome of this species had been assembled, little was known about the composition of its microRNAs (miRNAs) or their functional profiles. Recent studies demonstrated that changes in the expression of miRNAs are associated with immunity. In this study, miRNAs were extracted from the blood of four healthy giant pandas and sequenced by Illumina next generation sequencing technology. As determined by miRNA screening, a total of 276 conserved miRNAs and 51 novel putative miRNAs candidates were detected. After differential expression analysis, we noticed that the expressions of 7 miRNAs were significantly up-regulated in young giant pandas compared with that of adults. Moreover, 2 miRNAs were up-regulated in female giant pandas and 1 in the male individuals. Target gene prediction suggested that the miRNAs of giant panda might be relevant to the expressions of 4,602 downstream genes. Subseuqently, the predicted target genes were conducted to KEGG (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes) pathway analysis and we found that these genes were mainly involved in host immunity, including the Ras signaling pathway, the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, and the MAPK signaling pathway. In conclusion, our results provide the first miRNA profiles of giant panda blood, and the predicted functional analyses may open an avenue for further study of giant panda immunity.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0143242