摘要: microRNA(miRNA)是一类长约22个碱基的非编码RNA分子, 在转录后水平调节基因的表达及其在细胞的增殖、分化、凋亡等过程中起着重要的调控作用。根据miRNA分子具有一定的保守性, 文章将人、小鼠、牛、猪和狗5种哺乳动物已知的miRNA分子与NCBI公布的与山羊具有极高同源性的绵羊基因组序列对比, 获得11条miRNA候选分子, 然后通过逆转录聚合酶链反应(RT-PCR)验证, 发现在山羊脑组织中这11条分子均有表达, 肝脏组织中有5条分子表达, 初步确定为山羊新的miRNA分子, 为寻找山羊miRNA提供了新的 思路。

Abstract: microRNA (miRNA) is a class of non-coding small RNA molecules with roughly 22 nucleotides in length, regu-lating gene expression on post-transcriptional level and playing an important role in cell proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis process. Based on the conservation of miRNAs sequence, we compared the known miRNAs among five mam-mals, i.e., human, mouse, cattle, pig and dog with the sequence of sheep genome that is highly homologous to goat genome, published on the NCBI, and 11 candidate miRNAs were eventually obtained. RT-PCR analysis showed the expression of the 11 miRNAs in brain and 5 in liver, indicating that they might be novel miRNAs. The methodology provides an alternative approach to the exploration of new miRNAs in goat.