Comparing the hippocampal miRNA expression profiles of wild and domesticated Chinese tree shrews (Tupaia belangeri chinensis)

BACKGROUND: The domestication of tree shrews represents an important advance in the development of standardized laboratory animals. Little is known regarding the miRNA changes that accompany the transformation of wild tree shrews into domestic tree shrews. RESULTS: By performing miRNA-seq analysis on wild and domestic tree shrews, we identified 2410 miRNAs and 30 differentially expressed miRNAs in the hippocampus during tree shrew domestication. A KEGG analysis of the differentially expressed genes showed that the differentially expressed miRNAs were associated with ECM-receptor interaction, the phosphatidylinositol signaling system, protein digestion and absorption, inositol phosphate metabolism, lysine degradation, fatty acid degradation and focal adhesion. Most of these pathways could be classified under environmental information processing, organismal systems and metabolism. The miRNAs exclusively expressed in wild and tame tree shrews GO enriched in terms of divergent functions. The miRNA-mRNA networks suggested that novel-m1388-5p and novel-m0746-5p might play regulatory roles in domestication of tree shrews. Real–time RT-PCR analysis was employed to verify the presence of these miRNAs. CONCLUSION: We identified a number of candidate miRNA-regulated domestication genes that may represent targets for selection during the domestication of tree shrews.