Affiliation:
1. Department of Biology and Institute of Biochemistry Carleton University Ottawa Ontario Canada
2. Facultad de Ciencias Instituto de Ciencias Ambientales y Evolutivas, Universidad Austral de Chile Valdivia Chile
3. The Swire Institute of Marine Science and School of Biological Sciences The University of Hong Kong Hong Kong China
4. Millenium Nucleus of Limit of Life (LiLi) Valdivia Chile
Abstract
AbstractThe marsupial Monito del monte (Dromiciops gliroides) utilizes both daily and seasonal bouts of torpor to preserve energy and prolong survival during periods of cold and unpredictable food availability. Torpor involves changes in cellular metabolism, including specific changes to gene expression that is coordinated in part, by the posttranscriptional gene silencing activity of microRNAs (miRNA). Previously, differential miRNA expression has been identified in D. gliroides liver and skeletal muscle; however, miRNAs in the heart of Monito del monte remained unstudied. In this study, the expression of 82 miRNAs was assessed in the hearts of active and torpid D. gliroides, finding that 14 were significantly differentially expressed during torpor. These 14 miRNAs were then used in bioinformatic analyses to identify Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways that were predicted to be most affected by these differentially expressed miRNAs. Overexpressed miRNAs were predicted to primarily regulate glycosaminoglycan biosynthesis, along with various signaling pathways such as Phosphoinositide‐3‐kinase/protein kinase B and transforming growth factor‐β. Similarly, signaling pathways including phosphatidylinositol and Hippo were predicted to be regulated by the underexpression of miRNAs during torpor. Together, these results suggest potential molecular adaptations that protect against irreversible tissue damage and enable continued cardiac and vascular function despite hypothermia and limited organ perfusion during torpor.
Funder
Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Científico y Tecnológico
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
Subject
Clinical Biochemistry,Molecular Medicine,General Medicine,Biochemistry