Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Genet.

Sec. Livestock Genomics

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fgene.2025.1498076

This article is part of the Research Topic Epigenetics and multi-omics studies of important traits in livestock View all 5 articles

Discovery of Differentially Expressed lncRNAs in Porcine Ovaries With Smaller and Bigger Litter Size

Provisionally accepted
Saixing Duan Saixing Duan 1,2Falei Li Falei Li 1,2Libing Meng Libing Meng 1,2Shimei Cheng Shimei Cheng 1,2Huangqi Shi Huangqi Shi 1,2Yingjie Qu Yingjie Qu 1,2Chaoyue He Chaoyue He 1,2Shengyu Gao Shengyu Gao 1,2Jian Li Jian Li 1,2Shiduo Sun Shiduo Sun 3Yong Liu Yong Liu 1,2*Gaoxiao Xu Gaoxiao Xu 1,2*
  • 1 Fuyang Normal University, Fuyang, China
  • 2 Key Laboratory of Embryo Development and Reproductive Regulation, Fuyang, Anhui Province, China
  • 3 Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology for Agriculture, Shaanxi, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The number of litters is an important reproductive trait, which is one of the main indicators reflecting the production level and economic benefit of the pig farm. As an important reproductive organ of female mammals, the ovary is controlled by a complex transcription network of coding and non-coding genes to undergo a series of biological processes during each estrus cycle, thereby regulating the reproductive capacity of the sow. However, these molecular regulation mechanisms affecting sow litter size are still unclear. Regarding the non-coding molecular regulatory mechanisms in ovarian function with smaller and larger litter size (SLS and LLS), we investigated the expression profile of lncRNA in pig SLS and LLS samples. Total RNAs from porcine ovaries were used to construct libraries using Ribo-Zero RNA sequencing method.Here we profiled the expression of lncRNA in porcine ovaries with SLS and LLS, and identified a total of 3,556 lncRNA candidates, of which 96 were up-regulated lncRNA and 206 were down-regulated lncRNA when comparing LLS to SLS. In addition, a competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network was constructed, and it was found that lncRNAs LOC100513133 and LOC102168075 may serve as ceRNAs containing potential binding sites for miR-26b, let-7g and miR-125b. These results demonstrate that lncRNAs may play roles in modulating porcine litter size.

    Keywords: lncRNA, pig, Ovary, Litter Size, ceRNA

    Received: 18 Sep 2024; Accepted: 03 Apr 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Duan, Li, Meng, Cheng, Shi, Qu, He, Gao, Li, Sun, Liu and Xu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Yong Liu, Fuyang Normal University, Fuyang, China
    Gaoxiao Xu, Fuyang Normal University, Fuyang, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

    Research integrity at Frontiers

    Man ultramarathon runner in the mountains he trains at sunset

    95% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or good

    Learn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish.


    Find out more