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

PLoS One. 2015 Nov 23;10(11):e0143242. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0143242. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

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.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Female
  • Male
  • MicroRNAs / genetics*
  • Ursidae / genetics*

Substances

  • MicroRNAs

Associated data

  • SRA/SRP059993

Grants and funding

The authors thank the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding for their help in collecting the samples for this study. This work was supported by the Chengdu Panda Breeding Research Foundation (CPF-2012-14) and the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Project: 2012CB722207). Gooddoctor pharmaceutical group employee YMS provided data analysis, but the company did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific role of this author is articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section.