Publications by authors named "Mingxing Chu"

Article Synopsis
  • * Researchers combined data from RNA sequencing and metabolomics to study how genes and substances in the blood relate to those in the ovaries.
  • * They found a link between specific genes related to Bardet-Biedl syndrome and the number of lambs ewes have, suggesting these genes could help breeders pick better sheep.
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The Booroola fecundity mutation (FecB) in Small Tail Han sheep has been shown to enhance ovulation rates and litter sizes by affecting the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis. Despite the pituitary's role in reproductive regulation, its involvement in FecB-induced ovulation remains understudied. Our study aimed to fill this gap by analyzing pituitary tissues from FecB homozygous (BB) and wild-type (WW) ewes during luteal and follicular phases using tandem mass tag-based protein quantification and the DIABLO framework for proteomic and transcriptomic data integration.

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Genetic variations in the ovine ovulation rate, which are associated with the FecB mutation, provide useful models by which to explore the mechanisms regulating the development of mammalian antral follicles. In order to study the effects of the FecB mutation on cumulus cell differentiation, preovulatory follicles were aspirated and cumulus cells were isolated from three FecB genotypes (homozygous, heterozygous and wild type) of Small Tail Han (STH) sheep superstimulated with FSH. Transcriptome information from tens of thousands of cumulus cells was determined with the 10 × Genomics single-cell RNA-seq technology.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study investigates the role of neurotrophin receptor B (NTRK2) in sheep granulosa cells, revealing its association with increased cell proliferation and hormone secretion related to fertility.
  • - Researchers manipulated NTRK2 expression through overexpression and -siRNA, finding that overexpression led to significant increases in cell growth and the secretion of hormones like estrogen and progesterone.
  • - The findings indicate that NTRK2 is linked to the PI3K-AKT signaling pathway, which influences the hormonal activity and growth of ovarian cells, as shown by phosphorylation changes in key pathway markers.
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Background: The pituitary directly regulates the reproductive process through follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH). Transcriptomic research on the pituitaries of ewes with different FecB (fecundity Booroola) genotypes has shown that some key genes and lncRNAs play an important role in pituitary function and sheep fecundity. Our previous study found that ewes with FecB + + genotypes (without FecB mutation) still had individuals with more than one offspring per birth.

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Sheep horns are composed of bone and sheaths, and the gene is required for cartilage and osteogenic differentiation. Therefore, the gene may have a function related to the sheep horn, but its relationship with the sheep horn remains unclear. In this study, we first utilized RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) data to investigate the expression of the gene in different tissues and breeds of sheep.

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Article Synopsis
  • Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) can act as competitive endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs), influencing the growth and death of granulosa cells by regulating microRNA (miRNA) pathways.
  • A study focused on the SLC19A1-AS-miR-1343-WNT11 axis revealed how SLC19A1-AS regulates miR-1343 and WNT11, impacting granulosa cell behavior in goats with varying fertility levels.
  • Validation experiments confirmed that SLC19A1-AS functions as a sponge for miR-1343, enhancing WNT11 expression and affecting granulosa cell proliferation and apoptosis, thereby contributing to understanding reproductive health in goats.
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In previous studies, , and genes have been screened as important candidate genes for litter size in sheep by using the GWAS method; however, neither their effects on litter size nor the loci associated with litter size have been identified. In this study, three candidate loci (c.1057-4C > T in , c.

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Background: The thyroid gland is an important endocrine gland in animals that secretes thyroid hormones and acts on various organs throughout the body. lncRNAs are long non-coding RNAs that play an important role in animal reproduction; however, there is a lack of understanding of their expression patterns and potential roles in the thyroid gland of the Small Tail Han (STH) sheep. In this study, we used RNA-Seq technology to examine the transcriptome expression pattern of the thyroid from the luteal phase (LP) and follicular phase (FP) of FecB BB (MM) STH sheep.

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Article Synopsis
  • Lysophosphatidic acid receptor-2 (LPAR2), a key receptor involved in cell processes and reproduction, has a SNP variant (rs410670692) identified in sheep that affects litter size.* -
  • Research demonstrated that the TT genotype of the SNP results in higher LPAR2 expression compared to the CC genotype, confirming its role as a functional SNP.* -
  • Further studies revealed that miR-939-5p interacts with the SNP variant, reducing LPAR2 levels and negatively impacting the proliferation and survival of sheep granulosa cells by inhibiting the LPAR2-dependent signaling pathway.*
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Litter size in sheep is a complex trait controlled by micro-effective polygenes. , , , , and are all involved in mammalian reproduction. However, the effects of these genes on litter size in sheep are still unclear.

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Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a specific type of noncoding RNA, and some have defined roles in cellular and biological processes. However, little is known about the role of circRNAs in follicular development in sheep with FecB (fecundity Booroola) mutations. Here, the expression profiles of circRNAs were investigated using RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) in the follicular phase (F) and the luteal phase (L) of FecB mutant homozygous (BB) and wild-type (WW) Small Tail Han sheep.

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Understanding the molecular mechanism of mammalian reproduction (puberty and prolificacy) will play a part in improving animal reproductive performance. (glutamate dehydrogenase 1) is important for mammalian reproduction, as shown in previous studies; however, its roles in puberty and prolificacy have rarely been reported. In this study, we designed seven pairs of primers (P1 to P7) for cloning and sequencing genomic DNA of Jining Grey goats and Liaoning Cashmere goats.

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Litter size is an economically important trait in sheep, and it is a complex trait controlled by multiple genes in multiple organs. Among them, the regulation of lamb number trait by the thyroid gland is a very important part. However, the molecular mechanisms of the thyroid gland in sheep reproduction remain unclear.

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The fecundity () mutation in the bone morphogenetic protein receptor type 1B (BMPR1B) gene increases ovulation in sheep. However, its effect on follicular maturation is not fully understood. Therefore, we collected granulosa cells (GCs) at a critical stage of follicle maturation from nine wild-type (), nine heterozygous mutant (), and nine homozygous mutant () Small Tail Han sheep.

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Previous studies have screened key candidate genes for litter size in sheep, including fibrillin-1 (), family with sequence similarity 184 member B () and zinc finger and AT-hook domain containing (). Therefore, it is necessary to verify these genes in the Xinggao mutton sheep population and determine the associated loci for litter size. In this study, three loci ( g.

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FecB (also known as BMPR1B) is a crucial gene in sheep reproduction, which has a mutation (A746G) that was found to increase the ovulation rate and litter size. The FecB mutation is associated with reproductive endocrinology, such mutation can control external estrous characteristics and affect follicle-stimulating hormone during the estrous cycle. Previous researches showed that the FecB mutation can regulate the transcriptomic profiles in the reproductive-related tissues including hypothalamus, pituitary, and ovary during the estrous cycle of small-tailed Han (STH) sheep.

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MicroRNA (miRNA) is a type of endogenous short-stranded ncRNA that influences many biological processes such as animal growth, development and metabolism. The thyroid gland is an important endocrine gland in sheep, and an increasing number of studies have shown that the thyroid gland plays an important role in animal reproduction, but the molecular mechanisms of the thyroid gland in sheep reproduction are poorly understood. In this study, RNA-seq was used to detect transcriptome expression patterns in the thyroid gland between the follicular phase (FP) and luteal phase (LP) in (MM) and ++ (ww) small-tail Han (STH) sheep, respectively, and to identify differentially expressed miRNAs (DEMs) associated with reproduction.

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Introduction: Super-enhancers (SEs) are clusters of enhancers that act synergistically to drive the high-level expression of genes involved in cell identity and function. Although SEs have been extensively investigated in humans and mice, they have not been well characterized in pigs.

Methods: Here, we identified 42,380 SEs in 14 pig tissues using chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing, and statistics of its overall situation, studied the composition and characteristics of SE, and explored the influence of SEs characteristics on gene expression.

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The thyroid gland is an important endocrine gland in animals, which mainly secretes thyroid hormones and acts on various organs of the body. Long-chain non-coding RNA (lncRNA) plays an important role in animal reproduction. However, there is still a lack of understanding of their expression patterns and potential roles in the thyroid of Small Tail Han (STH) sheep.

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CircRNAs have been found to play key roles in many biological processes and have diverse biological functions. There have been studies on circRNAs in sheep pituitary, and some important circRNAs have been found. But there are still few studies on circRNAs in sheep pituitary with different fecundity.

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Small Tail Han (STH) sheep, a unique Chinese breed, is recognized for its early maturity, year-round estrus, and prolificacy. However, the molecular mechanism of its high prolificacy has not been fully elucidated. The Proteomics approach is feasible and effective to reveal the proteins involved in the complex physiological processes of any organism.

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ETS1, an important member of the ETS transcription factor family, is involved in a variety of physiological processes in living organisms, such as cell development, differentiation, proliferation and apoptosis, and is thought to be associated with embryonic development and reproduction. However, the polymorphism of ETS1 has been rarely studied, and its potential impact on the formation of reproductive traits in sheep remains unclear. Here, we first analyzed polymorphisms of ETS1 in a population of 382 small-tailed Han sheep with a lambing number record using the Kompetitive Allele Specific PCR (KASP) technique.

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