MicroRNAome and expression profile of developing tooth germ in miniature pigs

PLoS One. 2012;7(12):e52256. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0052256. Epub 2012 Dec 18.

Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play important roles in the regulation of rodent tooth development, but little is known about their role in tooth development in large mammals. We identified 637 unique miRNA sequences in a large-scale screen for miRNA expression profiles in the developing lower deciduous molars of miniature pigs (Sus scrofa) using Illumina Solexa deep sequencing. These candidate miRNAs and another 105 known Sus scrofa miRNAs were included in the custom-designed microarray and used to analyze the miRNA expression profile in the bud, cap, early bell, and late bell stages of tooth development. Microarray analysis revealed 166 transcripts that were differentially expressed in the four stages. Bioinformatic analysis identified 18 key miRNAs, including let-7f, miR-128, miR-200b, and miR-200c, that might play key roles in tooth development. Taken together, our results not only identified the specific microRNAome and expression profile in developing lower deciduous molars of the miniature pig, but they also provided useful information for investigating the molecular mechanism of tooth development in the miniature pig.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cluster Analysis
  • Computational Biology
  • Gene Expression Profiling*
  • Gene Expression Regulation
  • Gene Regulatory Networks
  • High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing
  • MicroRNAs / genetics*
  • MicroRNAs / metabolism
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Sus scrofa
  • Tooth Germ / metabolism*

Substances

  • MicroRNAs

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the research grants from Beijing Municipal Committee for Science and Technology (No. Z121100005212004) to S.W., National Basic Research Program of China (No. 2010CB944801) to S.W., Beijing Municipality (PHR20090510, PXM 2009-014226-074691 and PXM2011-014226-07-000066) to S.W. and Z.F. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.