Transposable Elements Regulate Tail Development and Fat Deposition in Sheep Fetuses
Liang Q. Yang H. Dong H. Andersson G. Bongcam-Rudloff E. Wan P. Turganbekovich Kulatayev B. Rouzi M. Yang M. Han J.
December 2025Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)
Animals
2025#15Issue 24
Transposable elements (TEs) play important roles in physiological processes, but their function in tail development remains poorly characterized. To explore their potential regulatory roles, we systematically analyzed the expression patterns of TEs during different fetal developmental stages of the sheep tail. Using RNA-seq data and the TEtranscripts pipeline, we identified differentially expressed TEs. Our key findings are as follows: (i) SINE/MIR, L1, and BovB elements exhibited significant stage-specific expression. (ii) The number of differentially expressed TEs was dynamic, with 2129 identified between stages E40–45 and E55–60, and 5554 between E55–60 and E70–75. (iii) These TEs were primarily located in intergenic regions, introns, and 3′UTRs, and their expression trends were highly consistent with those of adjacent differentially expressed genes. (iv) Pathway enrichment analysis revealed that TEs and their correlated genes between E40–45 and E55–60 were predominantly involved in tail elongation, while the comparison between E55–60 and E70–75 highlighted pathways related to tail fat formation. Furthermore, we identified specific candidate TEs associated with vertebra formation and fat deposition. This study provides novel insights into the role of TEs in shaping tail phenotypes and offers valuable information for sheep breeding programs.
embryogenesis , ovine fetus , RNA-seq , tail development , transposable elements
Text of the article Перейти на текст статьи
College of Animal Science and Technology, Shihezi University, Shihezi, 832003, China
Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, 75007, Sweden
State Key Laboratory of Sheep Genetic Improvement and Healthy Breeding, Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Sciences, Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural and Reclamation Sciences, Shihezi, 832000, China
Department of Zooengineering and Biotechnology, Kazakh National Agrarian Research University, Almaty, 050010, Kazakhstan
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Regional Animal Husbandry Station, Urumqi, 830000, China
College of Animal Science and Technology
Department of Animal Biosciences
State Key Laboratory of Sheep Genetic Improvement and Healthy Breeding
Department of Zooengineering and Biotechnology
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Regional Animal Husbandry Station
10 лет помогаем публиковать статьи Международный издатель
Книга Публикация научной статьи Волощук 2026 Book Publication of a scientific article 2026