Mandarin fish is an important freshwater economic fish in China, and the genome of mandarin fish population may have specific selection signatures after long-term selection, and studying these selection signatures is one of the important strategies for screening functional genes. In this study, the whole genome was resequenced from five mandarin fish populations (HLJ, HN, AH, FJ, and BJ), and a total of high-quality SNPs with 1659,318 single nucleotide polymorphisms were obtained, and the genetic differentiation index and nucleotide polymorphism ratio between populations were used to detect the selected genomic regions. The results showed that all individuals were divided into two branches, with the HLJ population forming an independent cluster, and the HN, AH, FJ, and BJ populations clustering together. Selection signal analysis on the HLJ mandarin fish population and other mandarin fish populations using the FST and π HLJ/other methods. Finally, we identified 26 important candidate genes based on the enrichment pathways related to fat traits such as Glycerolipid metabolism, acyl-CoA oxidase activity, Wnt signaling pathway, and Notch signaling pathway, including notch3, pla2g12a and acox1. This study explores the genetic diversity and genetic structure of mandarin fish from a whole-genome perspective, identifies candidate genes related to fat traits, and provides references for the protection and utilization of mandarin fish genetic resources.

The biological mechanisms underlying meat quality remain unclear. Currently, many studies report that the gastrointestinal microbiota is essential for animal growth and performance. However, it is uncertain which bacterial species are specifically associated with the meat quality traits. In this study, 16S rDNA and metagenomic sequencing were performed to explore the composition and function of microbes in various gastrointestinal segments of Tan sheep and Dorper sheep, as well as the relationship between microbiota and meat quality (specifically, the fatty acid content of the muscle). In the ruminal, duodenal, and colonic microbiome, several bacteria were uniquely identified in respective breeds, including Agrobacterium tumefaciens, Bacteroidales bacterium CF, and several members of the family Oscillospiraceae. The annotation of GO, KEGG, and CAZYme revealed that these different bacterial species were linked to the metabolism of glucose, lipids, and amino acids. Additionally, our findings suggested that 16 microbial species may be essential to the content of fatty acids in the muscle, especially C12:0 (lauric acid). 4 bacterial species, including Achromobacter xylosoxidans, Mageeibacillus indolicus, and Mycobacterium dioxanotrophicus, were positively correlated with C12:0, while 13 bacteria, including Methanobrevibacter millerae, Bacteroidales bacterium CF, and Bacteroides coprosuis were negatively correlated with C12:0. In a word, this study provides a basic data for better understanding the interaction between ruminant gastrointestinal microorganisms and the meat quality traits of hosts.

Skin color is an important phenotypic feature of vertebrate fitness under natural conditions. Celestial goldfish, a common goldfish breed in China, mainly shows three kinds of skin colors including white, yellow and brown. However, the molecular genetic basis of this phenotype is still unclear. In this study, high-throughput sequencing was carried out on the back skin tissues of celestial goldfish with different skin colors. About 58.46 Gb of original data were generated, filtered and blasted, and 74,297 mRNAs were obtained according to the reference transcriptome. A total of 4653 differentially expressed genes were screened out among the brown, yellow and white groups, and the expression of melanogenesis related genes in brown goldfish was significantly higher than the other two groups. There are 19 common differentially expressed genes among three groups, of which eight genes are related to pigment production, including tyrp1a, slc2a11b, mlana, gch2, loc113060382, loc113079820, loc113068772 and loc113059134. RT-qPCR verified that the expression patterns of randomly selected differentially expressed transcripts were highly consistent with those obtained by RNA sequencing. GO and KEGG annotation revealed that these differentially expressed genes were mostly enriched in pathways of the production of pigment, including melanogenesis, tyrosine metabolism, Wnt signaling pathway, MAPK signaling pathway etc. These results indicated that the external characteristics of goldfish are consistent with the analysis results at transcriptome level. The results of this study will lay a foundation for further study on the expression characteristics and gene network analysis of pigment related genes.

Castration can significantly enhance fat deposition in pigs, and the molecular mechanism of fat deposition caused by castration and its influence on fat deposition in different parts of pigs remain unclear. RNA-seq was performed on adipose tissue from different parts of castrated and intact Yorkshire pigs. Different ceRNA networks were constructed for different fat parts. GO and KEGG pathway annotations suggested that testosterone elevates cell migration and affects differentiation and apoptosis in back fat, while it predisposes animals to glycolipid metabolism disorders and increases the expression of inflammatory cytokines in abdominal fat. The interaction between M-7474, novel_miR_243 and SGK1 was verified by dual fluorescence experiments. This ceRNA relationship has also been demonstrated in porcine preadipocytes. Overexpression of M-7474 significantly inhibited the differentiation of preadipocytes compared to the control group. When 100 nM testosterone was added during preadipocyte differentiation, the expression of M-7474 was increased, and preadipocyte differentiation was significantly inhibited. Testosterone can affect preadipocyte differentiation by upregulating the expression of M-7474, sponging novel-miR-243, and regulating the expression of genes such as SGK1. At the same time, HSD11B1 and SLC2A4 may also be regulated by the corresponding lncRNA and miRNA, which ultimately affects glucose uptake by adipocytes and leads to obesity.

CircRNAs play an important role in fat deposition, and testosterone-deficient boars exhibit significantly increased fat deposition; however, the mechanism by which testosterone regulates fat deposition through circRNAs remains unclear. In this study, circRNA-seq of backfat and abdominal fat from castrated and intact full-sib Yorkshire pigs was performed. The GO and KEGG enrichment analyses revealed that the host genes of the dorsal DE circRNAs were mainly involved in fatty acid transport, while in abdominal tissues, these genes were mainly involved in adipogenesis and inflammation. The interaction among sus_circPAPPA2, ssc-miR-2366 and GK was verified by dual fluorescence experiments and in porcine preadipocytes. The overexpression of sus_circPAPPA2 significantly inhibited the differentiation of preadipocytes. The expression of sus_circPAPPA2 was increased after adding 100 nM of testosterone, and preadipocyte differentiation was significantly inhibited. Testosterone can affect preadipocyte differentiation by upregulating the expression of sus_circPAPPA2, sponging miR-2366 and regulating the expression of genes, such as GK. These results indicate that testosterone can regulate the expression of adipocyte differentiation- and lipid metabolism-related genes by regulating the expression of circRNA, and ceRNA networks are different in the testosterone regulation of adipose deposition in different parts. This study provides basic data enhancing the understanding of the interaction between the hormone environment and mir-2366/GK to regulate trait performance in pigs.

Meat quality is highly influenced by the kind of muscle fiber, and it can be significantly improved by increasing the percentage of slow-twitch fibers. It is still not known which genes control the formation of muscle fibers or how those genes control the process of forming in sheep until now. In this study, we used high-throughput RNA sequencing to assess the expression profiles of coding and noncoding RNAs in muscle tissue of Tan sheep and Dorper sheep. To investigate the molecular processes involved in the formation of muscle fibers, we collected two different muscle tissues, longissimus dorsi and biceps femoris, from Tan sheep and Dorper sheep. The longissimus dorsi of Tan sheep and Dorper sheep displayed significantly differential expression levels for 214 lncRNAs, 25 mRNAs, 4 miRNAs, and 91 circRNAs. Similarly, 172 lncRNAs, 35 mRNAs, 12 miRNAs, and 95 circRNAs were differentially expressed in the biceps femoris of Tan sheep and Dorper sheep according to the expression profiling. GO and KEGG annotation revealed that these differentially expressed genes and noncoding RNAs were related to pathways of the formation of muscle fiber, such as the Ca2+, FoxO, and AMPK signaling pathways. Several key genes are involved in the formation of muscle fibers, including ACACB, ATP6V0A1, ASAH1, EFHB, MYL3, C1QTNF7, SFSWAP, and FBXL5. RT-qPCR verified that the expression patterns of randomly selected differentially expressed transcripts were highly consistent with those obtained by RNA sequencing. A total of 10 lncRNAs, 12 miRNAs, 20 circRNAs, and 19 genes formed lncRNA/circRNA-miRNA-gene networks, indicating that the formation of muscle fiber in Tan sheep is controlled by intricate regulatory networks of coding and noncoding genes. Our findings suggested that specific ceRNA subnetworks, such as circ_0017336-miR-23a-FBXL5, may be critical in the regulation of the development of muscle fibers, offering a valuable resource for future study of the development of muscle fibers in this animal species. The findings increase our understanding of the variety in how muscle fibers originate in various domestic animals and lay the groundwork for future research into new systems that regulate the development of muscle.

德州驴是我国优秀的地方驴品种,近年来出现存栏量持续下降、品种不断退化等问题,对德州驴进行选育提高已经成为一项迫切的工作.本研究旨在估计德州驴目标性状的边际效益,初步确定数量化的育种目标性状,将德州驴选育为皮肉兼用型的东阿黑驴,为东阿黑驴的育种方案制定及优化奠定基础.研究在对山东东阿集团黑驴育种核心群2016—2018年生产和育种状况深入调研的基础上,结合市场情况,构建了东阿黑驴的生物经济模型,利用差额法估算了育种目标性状的边际效益,并确定了目标性状的经济权重.研究结果中各育种目标性状的边际效益分别为:断奶重(kg)12.61元、18月龄体重(kg)5.52元、初产年龄(d)2.91元、产犊间隔(d)4.56元、皮产量指数(kg)23.86元,相对经济权重分别为0.38、0.25、0.02、0.09、0.26,可得肉用性状、繁殖性状、皮用性状的相对经济权重比例为0.63:0.11:0.26.研究表明将肉用性状和皮用性状作为主要育种目标是合理的,它们直接影响了东阿黑驴群体的市场销售价格和经济效益,繁殖性状通过影响黑驴群体结构间接影响育种效益,同样具有较高的经济意义.

东阿黑驴是以德州驴为基础群向皮肉兼用型方向选育的新品种,本研究拟在其现有育种方案的基础上,探讨不同育种措施的最优化组合方案,为建立优质、高效的东阿黑驴育种体系奠定基础,为中国驴育种实践提供参考.本研究根据东阿黑驴的生产和育种现状,以选择指数法和基因流动法为基本方法,应用育种规划程序ZPLAN分析东阿黑驴现行育种方案的育种成效,对影响育种成效的各个因素进行优化分析,最终确定优化后的育种方案.结果表明,现行方案在投资规划期内可完成的遗传进展和育种效益分别为271.78和1 123.70元/(头·年),世代间隔为5.24年,每年每个性状遗传进展分别为断奶重提高1.50 kg,18月龄体重提高0.09 kg,初产年龄缩短0.02 d,产犊间隔缩短0.17 d,皮产量增加1.04 kg.对影响育种的因素进行不同水平的组合分析,当群体规模理想状态为30 000头,主动育种群比例为0.5,育种群中种子公驴、测验公驴和种用母驴使用年限为1年,种子母驴使用年限为2年,生产群中公、母驴使用年限为1年时,可获得最大的育种遗传进展和育种效益,分别为320.40和2 945.00元/(头·年),比现行育种方案分别高出17.9％和162.0％.东阿黑驴目前的育种方案没有达到理想育种状态,有较大的改进空间.研究通过对育种主要影响因素的不同水平优化组合,得到了最优的育种方案,使遗传进展和育种效益达到了最大化.

The Debao pony is a well-known dwarf horse breed in China. High-mobility group AT-hook 2 (HMGA2) gene is regarded as one of the important candidate genes regulating body height in horses. The aim of this study was to study the association between mutations in HMGA2 gene and withers height in Debao ponies. The polymorphisms in all exons and partial introns of the HMGA2 gene were screened with sequencing across 180 Debao ponies. And the association between the DNA variants and withers height was analyzed. Seven genetic variants were identified in HMGA2 gene, including six novel variants. Among them, six mutations were located in two closed linked blocks. The three novel variants (In1-1, E5-1, and E5-2) in the 1st intron and the fifth exon and a known mutation (In1-2) had significant association with withers height in Debao ponies. These results suggest that the four variants have the potential to be used as genetic markers for dwarf horse breeding activities.

试验旨在建立一套适用于德州驴亲子关系的鉴定体系.选取13个微卫星基因座作为标记,采集了53头德州驴血液样本,其中子代驴驹16头,候选父本13头,候选母本24头,用酚-仿法抽提血液基因组进行PCR扩增和基因扫描,并利用Peak Scanner Software v 1.0软件读取基因型分型结果.对微卫星基因座的遗传多样性进行分析,利用似然法(Cervus 3.0软件)和排除法对个体间的亲子关系进行了鉴定.结果 显示,13个微卫星基因座的平均等位基因数、平均观测杂合度(Ho)、平均期望杂合度(He)和平均多态信息含量(PIC)分别为6.846、0.689、0.671和0.625.期望杂合度与观测杂合度之差在0.002～0.088之间,差值较小.13个微卫星基因座的累计排除概率(EP)达到0.990以上.微卫星基因座具有高度多态性和较高的排除概率,适用于遗传分析和个体鉴定.利用Cervus 3.0软件基于似然法分析得到了16头子代驴驹的最似亲本,结合排除法对这16头驴驹及其最似亲本进行基因型比对,最终在53头德州驴中确定了11个亲子对.本试验建立了以13个微卫星位点作为核心标记,将似然法和排除法相结合作为主要分析方法的德州驴亲子关系鉴定体系,为育种工作提供参考资料.