Northwest Agriculture and Forestry: Discovering a new mechanism of miRNA regulation of milk fat synthesis

Milk is fed young Milk animals include the main source of nutrition for humans. The nutritional value of milk is mainly derived from fat and protein components. Compared to milk, goat milk contains more total fat, including higher abundance of beneficial unsaturated fatty acids. MicroRNAs ( miRNAs ) are a class of small RNAs containing about 22 nucleotides that are involved in various metabolic processes. However, little is known about the role of miRNAs in regulating goat milk composition. College of Animal Science, Northwest A & F University research group led by Professor Luo Jun relationships lactating goat mammary gland of milk fat synthesis of miRNA expression and conducted in-depth research *, research published in PLoS One 11 issue of.

Professor Luo team used high-throughput sequencing technology (sequencing service undertaken by the LC Sciences) large-scale excavation of the lactating mammary gland miRNA group, found a total of 823 conserved miRNA, which identified 30 miRNA expression in the mammary gland, Includes miR-103 . MiR-103 has been reported to be involved in lipid metabolism in adipose tissue. Further studies have found that miR-103 expression levels are closely related to lactation. Functional analysis showed that overexpression of miR-103 in mammary epithelial cells increased the transcription of genes involved in milk fat synthesis, thereby upregulating the formation of lipid droplets, the accumulation of triglycerides, and the proportion of unsaturated fatty acids.

This study provides a new perspective on the miR-103 driving function and the molecular mechanisms regulating milk fat synthesis.

* Lin X, Luo J, Zhang L, Wang W, Gou D (2013)   MiR-103 Controls Milk Fat Accumulation in Goat ( Capra hircus ) Mammary Gland during Lactation .   PLoS ONE   8(11), e79258.   [ article ]