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Updated: Jan 2, 2026
Cell-Specific Paired Interrogation of the Mouse Ovarian Epigenome and Transcriptome
Published on: February 24, 2023
Genome-Wide Differential Expression Profiling of Ovarian circRNAs Associated With Litter Size in Pigs
Gaoxiao Xu1,2, Huifang Zhang1, Xiao Li1
1Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Shaanxi Province, College of Animal Sciences and Technologies, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China.
Abstract:
Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been emerging as an important regulator in mammalian reproduction via acting as miRNA sponges. However, the circRNAs in porcine ovaries related with litter size remains largely unknown. In this study, porcine ovaries with smaller or larger litter size (LLS) were subjected to high-throughput RNA sequencing. In total, 38,722 circRNAs were identified, of which 1,291 circRNAs were commonly expressed in all samples. There were 56 circRNAs significantly down-regulated and 54 circRNAs up-regulated in LLS pig (|log2 (fold change) | > 1, FDR < 0.05). Bioinformatics predicted that most of circRNAs harbored miRNA binding sites, and the expression patterns of circRNAs and their putative binding miRNAs were validated by qPCR. Moreover, the expression of circ-TCP11/miR-183 was significantly reversely correlated and their direct interaction was confirmed by dual-luciferase assay. Our study indicates that circRNAs may play potential effects on modulating porcine litter size.
