Volcano plot displaying differentially expressed miRNAs identified using miRNA-seq in Tibetan and Yorkshire pigs.

<p>The y-axis represents the mean expression value of log10 (<i>P</i>-value) and the x-axis displays the log₂-fold change value. Up-regulated and downregulated miRNAs are shown in red and green, respectively. Black dots indicate genes with no significant change in expression.</p

Five cardiac tissue differentially expressed (DE) miRNAs validated by reverse-transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction.

<p>Relative expression levels of DE miRNAs. Upper letters (a, b) on bars denote significantly different expression levels in the same miRNA (<i>P</i> < 0.05).</p

Venn diagrams demonstrating relationships among miRNA in Tibetan and Yorkshire pigs.

<p>(A) Venn diagram for total miRNAs (contained novel miRNAs and known miRNAs). (B) Venn diagram for known porcine miRNAs. TP and YP miRNAs marked in blue and yellow cycle, respectively. Tibetan pigs (TP) and Yorkshire pigs (YP).</p

Identification of Genes Related to Growth and Lipid Deposition from Transcriptome Profiles of Pig Muscle Tissue

<div><p>Transcriptome profiles established using high-throughput sequencing can be effectively used for screening genome-wide differentially expressed genes (DEGs). RNA sequences (from RNA-seq) and microRNA sequences (from miRNA-seq) from the tissues of <i>longissimus dorsi</i> muscle of two indigenous Chinese pig breeds (Diannan Small-ear pig [DSP] and Tibetan pig [TP]) and two introduced pig breeds (Landrace [LL] and Yorkshire [YY]) were examined using HiSeq 2000 to identify and compare the differential expression of functional genes related to muscle growth and lipid deposition. We obtained 27.18 G clean data through the RNA-seq and detected that 18,208 genes were positively expressed and 14,633 of them were co-expressed in the muscle tissues of the four samples. In all, 315 DEGs were found between the Chinese pig group and the introduced pig group, 240 of which were enriched with functional annotations from the David database and significantly enriched in 27 Gene Ontology (GO) terms that were mainly associated with muscle fiber contraction, cadmium ion binding, response to organic substance and contractile fiber part. Based on functional annotation, we identified 85 DEGs related to growth traits that were mainly involved in muscle tissue development, muscle system process, regulation of cell development, and growth factor binding, and 27 DEGs related to lipid deposition that were mainly involved in lipid metabolic process and fatty acid biosynthetic process. With miRNA-seq, we obtained 23.78 M reads and 320 positively expressed miRNAs from muscle tissues, including 271 known pig miRNAs and 49 novel miRNAs. In those 271 known miRNAs, 20 were higher and 10 lower expressed in DSP-TP than in LL-YY. The target genes of the 30 miRNAs were mainly participated in MAPK, GnRH, insulin and Calcium signaling pathway and others involved cell development, growth and proliferation, etc. Combining the DEGs and the differentially expressed (DE) miRNAs, we drafted a network of 46 genes and 18 miRNAs for regulating muscle growth and a network of 15 genes and 16 miRNAs for regulating lipid deposition. We identified that <i>CAV2</i>, <i>MYOZ2</i>, <i>FRZB</i>, miR-29b, miR-122, miR-145-5p and miR-let-7c, etc, were key genes or miRNAs regulating muscle growth, and <i>FASN</i>, <i>SCD</i>, <i>ADORA1</i>, miR-4332, miR-182, miR-92b-3p, miR-let-7a and miR-let-7e, etc, were key genes or miRNAs regulating lipid deposition. The quantitative expressions of eight DEGs and seven DE miRNAs measured with real-time PCR certified that the results of differential expression genes or miRNAs were reliable. Thus, 18,208 genes and 320 miRNAs were positively expressed in porcine <i>longissimus dorsi</i> muscle. We obtained 85 genes and 18 miRNAs related to muscle growth and 27 genes and 16 miRNAs related to lipid deposition, which provided new insights into molecular mechanism of the economical traits in pig.</p></div

The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways enriched for targets of the 10 up-regulated miRNAs in Tibetan pigs.

<p>The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways enriched for targets of the 10 up-regulated miRNAs in Tibetan pigs.</p

Hydrolysis of Sulfur Dioxide in Small Clusters of Sulfuric Acid: Mechanistic and Kinetic Study

The deposition and hydrolysis reaction of SO₂ + H₂O in small clusters of sulfuric acid and water are studied by theoretical calculations of the molecular clusters SO₂–(H₂SO₄)_<i>n</i>–(H₂O)_<i>m</i> (<i>m</i> = 1,2; <i>n</i> = 1,2). Sulfuric acid exhibits a dramatic catalytic effect on the hydrolysis reaction of SO₂ as it lowers the energy barrier by over 20 kcal/mol. The reaction with monohydrated sulfuric acid (SO₂ + H₂O + H₂SO₄ – H₂O) has the lowest energy barrier of 3.83 kcal/mol, in which the cluster H₂SO₄–(H₂O)₂ forms initially at the entrance channel. The energy barriers for the three hydrolysis reactions are in the order SO₂ + (H₂SO₄)–H₂O > SO₂ + (H₂SO₄)₂–H₂O > SO₂ + H₂SO₄–H₂O. Furthermore, sulfurous acid is more strongly bonded to the hydrated sulfuric acid (or dimer) clusters than the corresponding reactant (monohydrated SO₂). Consequently, sulfuric acid promotes the hydrolysis of SO₂ both kinetically and thermodynamically. Kinetics simulations have been performed to study the importance of these reactions in the reduction of atmospheric SO₂. The results will give a new insight on how the pre-existing aerosols catalyze the hydrolysis of SO₂, leading to the formation and growth of new particles

Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways enriched for targets of the 10 downregulated miRNAs in Tibetan pigs.

<p>Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways enriched for targets of the 10 downregulated miRNAs in Tibetan pigs.</p

The <i>VEGF</i> signaling pathway enriched by 19 putative target genes of downregulated miRNAs.

<p>Red boxes represent the target genes of miRNAs.</p

The qPCR primers of seven microRNAs (miRNAs).

<p>The qPCR primers of seven microRNAs (miRNAs).</p

The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enriched for targets of the 20 upregulated miRNAs in the Chinese pigs.

<p>The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enriched for targets of the 20 upregulated miRNAs in the Chinese pigs.</p