The landscape of long non-coding RNA expression in the goat brain

The brain regulates multiple metabolic processes, such as food intake, energy expenditure, insulin secretion, hepatic glucose production and glucose/fatty acid metabolism in adipose tissue, which are fundamental for the maintenance of energy and glucose homeostasis during lactation and pregnancy. Besides, brain expression has a fundamental impact on the development of maternal behavior. Although brain functions are partly regulated by long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), their expression profiles have not been characterized in depth in any ruminant species. We have sequenced the transcriptome of 12 brain tissues from 3 1-mo pregnant and 4 non-pregnant goats to investigate their lncRNA expression patterns. Between 4,363 (adenohypophysis) and 4,604 (olfactory bulb) lncRNAs were expressed in brain tissues, leading to establish a set of 794 already annotated lncRNAs and 5,098 novel lncRNA candidates. The detected lncRNAs shared features with those of other mammals, and tissue-specific lncRNAs were enriched in brain development-related terms. Differential expression analyses between 1 mo-pregnant and non-pregnant goats showed that the lncRNA expression profiles of certain brain regions experience substantial changes associated with early pregnancy (238 lncRNAs are differentially expressed in the olfactory bulb), while others do not. Enrichment analysis showed that differentially expressed lncRNAs from the olfactory bulb are co-expressed with genes previously linked to behavioral changes related to pregnancy. These findings provide a first characterization of the landscape of lncRNA expression in the goat brain and provides valuable clues to understand the molecular events triggered by early pregnancy in the central nervous system.