1. There has been substantial research focused on the roles of microRNAs (miRNAs) and Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) derived from mammalian spermatozoa; however, comparatively little is known about the role of spermatozoa-derived miRNAs and piRNAs within breeding cockerels’ spermatozoa.
2. A small RNA library of cockerels’ spermatozoa was constructed using Illumina high-throughput sequencing technology. Unique sequences with lengths of 18–26 nucleotides were mapped to miRBase 21.0 and unique sequences with lengths of 25–37 nucleotides were mapped to a piRNA database. A total of 1311 miRNAs and 2448 potential piRNAs were identified. Based on stem-loop qRT-PCR, 8 miRNAs were validated.
3. Potential target genes of the abundant miRNAs were predicted, and further Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes database (KEGG) and Gene Ontology (GO) analyses were performed, which revealed that some candidate miRNAs were involved in the spermatogenesis process, spermatozoa epigenetic programming and further embryonic development.
5. GO and KEGG analyses based on mapping genes of expressed piRNAs were performed, which revealed that spermatozoal piRNAs could play important regulatory roles in embryonic development of offspring.
6. The search for endogenous spermatozoa miRNAs and piRNAs will contribute to a preliminary database for functional and molecular mechanistic studies in embryonic development and spermatozoa epigenetic programming. 相似文献
Effects of adding different concentrations of melatonin (10?7, 10?9 and 10?11 M) to maturation (Experiment 1; Control, IVM + 10?7, IVM + 10?9, IVM + 10?11) and culture media (Experiment 2; Control, IVC + 10?7, IVC + 10?9, IVC + 10?11) were evaluated on in vitro bovine embryonic development. The optimal concentration of melatonin (10?9 M) from Experiments 1–2 was tested in both maturation and/or culture media of Experiment 3 (Control, IVM + 10?9, IVC + 10?9, IVM /IVC + 10?9). In Experiment 1, maturated oocytes from Control and IVM + 10?9 treatments showed increased glutathione content, mitochondrial membrane potential and percentage of Grade I blastocysts (40.6% and 43%, respectively). In Experiment 2, an increase in the percentage of Grade I blastocysts was detected in IVC + 10?7 (43.5%; 56.7%) and IVC + 10?9 (47.4%; 57.4%). Moreover, a lower number and percentage of apoptotic cells in blastocysts were observed in the IVC + 10?9 group compared to Control (3.8 ± 0.6; 3.6% versus 6.1 ± 0.6; 5.3%). In Experiment 3, the IVC + 10?9 treatment increased percentage of Grade I blastocysts with a lower number of apoptotic cells compared to IVM /IVC + 10?9 group (52.6%; 3.0 ± 0.5 versus 46.0%; 5.4 ± 1.0). The IVC + 10?9 treatment also had a higher mRNA expression of antioxidant gene (SOD 2) compared to the Control, as well as the heat shock protein (HSPB 1) compared to the IVM + 10?9. Reactive oxygen species production was greater in the IVM /IVC + 10?9 treatment group. In conclusion, the 10?9 M concentration of melatonin and the in vitro production phase in which it is used directly affected embryonic development and quality. 相似文献