Upregulated microRNA-106a promotes porcine preadipocyte proliferation and differentiation by targeting different genes

Abstract

Adipose tissue is one of the main organs for the energy storage and supply of organisms. Adipose deposition and metabolism are controlled by a cascade of transcription factors and epigenetic regulatory mechanisms. Previous studies have also shown that miR-106a plays a considerable role in the development of organisms. The regulatory mechanism of miR-106a on porcine preadipocytes is still not clear. In this study, preadipocytes were isolated from the neck subcutaneous deposits of 3–5-day old Chinese native Guanzhong black pigs using 5-ethynyl-20-deoxyuridine (EdU) staining and a CCK-8 assay to detect the number of proliferous cells and real-time qPCR (RT-qPCR) and western blot analysis to detect gene expression, as well as Oil Red O and BODIPY staining dye lipid droplets and flow cytometry (FCM) to detect cell cycles. We also used the double luciferase method to detect the relative luciferase activities. Upregulated miR-106a increased the number of proliferous cells and enhanced the expression of cell proliferation-related genes in porcine adipocytes. The double luciferase reporter vector confirmed that p21 was a target gene of miR-106a in the cell proliferation phase. miR-106a upregulation increased the number of lipid droplets and the expression of lipogenic genes and directly targeted BMP and activin membrane-bound inhibitor (BAMBI) in the process of differentiation. Our results indicated that miR-106a promotes porcine preadipocyte proliferation and differentiation by targeting p21 and BAMBI.