Project description:Gene differential expression studies can serve to explore and understand the laws and 16 characteristics of animal life activities, and the difference in gene expression between different 17 animal tissues have been well demonstrated and studied. However, for the world-famous rare 18 and protected species giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca), only the transcriptome of the blood 19 and spleen has been reported separately. Here, in order to explore the transcriptome differences 20 between the different tissues of the giant panda, transcriptome profiles of the heart, liver, spleen, 21 lung, and kidney from five captive giant pandas were constructed with Illumina HiSeq 2500 22 platform. The comparative analysis of the inter-tissue gene expression patterns was carried out 23 based on the generated RNA sequencing datasets. Analyses of Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment, 24 Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment, and protein-protein interaction 25 (PPI) network were performed according to the identified differentially expressed genes (DEGs). 26 We generated 194.52 GB clean base data from twenty-five sequencing libraries and identified 27 18,701 genes, including 3492 novel genes. With corrected p-value < 0.05 and |log2FoldChange| > 28 2, we finally obtained 921, 553, 574, 457, and 638 tissue-specific DEGs in the heart, liver, spleen, 29 lung, and kidney, respectively. In addition, we identified TTN, CAV3, LDB3, TRDN, and 30 ACTN2 in the heart; FGA, AHSG, and SERPINC1 in the liver; CD19, CD79B, and IL21R in the 31 spleen; NKX2-4 and SFTPB in the lung; GC and HRG in the kidney as hub genes in the PPI 32 network. The results of the analyses showed a similar gene expression pattern between the spleen 33 and lung. This study provided for the first time the heart, liver, lung, and kidney’s transcriptome 34 resources of the giant panda, and it provided a valuable resource for further genetic research or 35 other potential research.
Project description:<p>Bamboo rats (<em>Rhizomys pruinosus</em>) are among the few mammals that lives on a bamboo-based diet which is mainly composed of lignocellulose. However, the mechanisms of adaptation of their gut microbiome and metabolic systems in the degradation of lignocellulose are largely unknown. Here, we conducted a multi-omics analysis on bamboo rats to investigate the interaction between their gut microbiomes and metabolic systems in the pre- and post-weaning periods, and observed significant relationships between dietary types, gut microbiome, serum metabolome and host gene expression. For comparison, published gut microbial data from the famous bamboo-eating giant panda (<em>Ailuropoda melanoleuca</em>) were also used for analysis. We found that the adaptation of the gut microbiome of the bamboo rat to a lignocellulose diet is related to a member switch in the order Bacteroidales from family <em>Bacteroidaceae</em> to family <em>Muribaculaceae</em>, while for the famous bamboo-eating giant panda, several aerobes and facultative anaerobes increase after weaning. The conversion of bacteria with an increased relative abundance in bamboo rats after weaning enriched diverse carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes) associated with lignocellulose degradation and functionally enhanced the biosynthesis of amino acids and B vitamins. Meanwhile, the circulating concentration of short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) derived metabolites and the metabolic capacity of linoleic acid in the host were significantly elevated. Our findings suggest that fatty acid metabolism, including linoleic acid and SCFAs, are the main energy sources for bamboo rats in response to the low-nutrient</p>
Project description:Purpose:To present the miRNA expression profiles in giant panda milk exosomes across five lactation stages (0, 3, 7, 15 and 30 days after birth), aiming to provide new information for investigations into the physiological functions of the giant panda milk Methods: Three females were sampled in all, and each individual were sampled over multiple lactations, including 0, 3, 7, 15 and 30 days after delivery. Breast milk samples (5-10 ml) were collected from each stages. Total RNA isolated from individuals in five lactation stages (0, 7, 15 and 30 days after delivery) were pooled in equal quantities for each stage Results: Here, we illustrated the species and expression characteristics of exosome-loaded miRNAs existing in giant panda breast milk during distinct lactation periods, and highlighted the enrichment of immune- and development-related endogenous miRNAs in colostral and mature giant panda milk, which are stable even in certain hash conditions, like low pH and high concentration of RNAase, by the protection of extracellular vesicles.These findings indicate that breast milk may allow dietary intake of maternal miRNAs by infants for the regulation of postnatal development. We also demonstrated that the exogenous plant miRNA from the primary food source of giant panda (bamboo) were detected in the exosomes of giant panda breast milk, which were predicted to be of regulatory role in basic cell metabolism and neuron development. This result suggested that the dietary plant miRNAs were able to be absorbed by host cell and then secreted to body fluids as potential cross-kingdom regulators. Conclusions: Exosomal miRNAs in the giant panda breast milk may be the crucial maternal regulators for the development of intrinsic ‘slink’ newborn cubs.