Circular RNA expression profiling reveals that circ-PLXNA1 functions in duck adipocyte differentiation

Adipocytes are derived from pluripotent mesenchymal stem cells through adipogenesis. Pre-adipocyte differentiation in poultry greatly influences fat deposition and meat quality. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have an important function in cancer and some differentiation processes. Herein, high-throughput transcriptome sequencing was used to detect circRNAs present in cherry valley duck pre-adipocyte and adipocyte differentiation over 3 days. We identified 9,311 circRNAs and 141 differentially expressed circRNAs. Sequencing results were verified through qRT-PCR using seven randomly selected circRNAs, and competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) networks were exhibited by ten important circRNAs in duck adipocyte differentiation. circRNA plexin A1 (circ-PLXNA1) was detected in duck adipocytes and mainly expressed in adipose, leg muscle and liver. Inhibition of circ-PLXNA1 limited the differentiation of duck adipocyte. There were four corresponding miRNAs for circ-PLXNA1 and 313 target genes for those miRNAs. CeRNA“circ-PLXNA1/miR-214/CTNNB1 axis” was focused and verified by a dual-luciferase reporter experiment. After co-transfection of cells with si-circ-PLXNA1 and miR-214 mimics, the expression level of CTNNB1 was down-regulated, triglyceride content and the adipogenic capacity of preadipocytes decreased. While there were no significant change after si-CTNNB1 transfection. All these results provide further insight into the circRNAs, especially for circ-PLXNA1 in duck adipocyte differentiation.