Micro RNA transcriptome of skeletal muscle during yak development reveals that miR-652 regulates myoblasts differentiation and survival by targeting ISL1

The growth and development of skeletal muscle also determine the meat production of yak, ultimately affecting the economic benefits. Hence, improving growth performance is a top priority in the yak industry. Skeletal muscle development is a complex process involving the regulation of several genes, including microRNAs(miRNAs). However,the transcription of miRNAs in yak skeletal muscle during prenatal to postnatal stages is unknown. We used small RNA sequencing(small RNA-Seq) to determine the global miRNAs of longissimus dorsi muscle from yak(the samples were collected from three fetuses and three adults). Totally 264 differently expressed miRNAs(|log2(fold change)|>1and P-value≤0.05) were detected between the two groups. Gene Ontology(GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes(KEGG) analysis showed that differently expressed miRNAs-targeted genes participated in pathways associated with muscle development, such as MAPK, PI3K-Akt, and Hippo signaling pathways, etc. MiR-652, which was up-regulated in the fetal group, was transfected into C2C12 myoblasts to examine its role. miR-652 promoted(P≤0.05)proliferation and differentiation, but inhibited(P≤0.001) apoptosis at early period. Furthermore, miR-652 reduced(P≤0.001) the proportion of C2C12 myoblasts in the G1 phase while increasing(P≤0.01) the proportion of cells in the S and G2 phases. Dual-luciferase reporter assays indicated that ISL1 served as a target of miR-652. In general, these findings expand our understanding of yak skeletal muscle miRNAs, and suggested that miR-652 probably regulated myogenesis by regulating ISL1.