Micro RNAs Espermáticos e a Eficiência da Produção in vitro de Embriões Bovinos (Bos taurus)

Abstract

In vitro embryo production (IVEP) is a reproductive biotechnology, highly exploited in cattle production and needs studies to improve it even more. MicroRNAs are small, non-coding RNA molecules that participate in epigenetic processes in various biological functions, including reproductive physiological pathways. The aim of this study was to correlate, through in silico analyzes, the microRNAs isolated from sperm heads of bulls, using the mirVana ™ miRNAisolation kit, with the efficiency of these breeders in the in vitro embryo production. A transcriptomic analysis was performed through of two normalization and filtering software (DESeq2 and edgeR) and PIVE routines of bull sperm with different levels of efficiency. It was found that a high expression of miR-425-5p (P = 0.01 DESeq2; P = 0.04 edgeR) positively affected a blastocyst formation rate in PIVE and that a high expression of miR-11972 (P = 0.03 DESeq2; P = 0.008 edgeR) and miR-11975 / miR-11976 (P = 0.05 DESeq2; P = 0.03 edgerR) negatively affected the rate of blastocyst formation in PIVE. Therefore, it was concluded that these microRNAs have the potential to be used as fertility biomarkers of bulls submitted to in vitro embryo production, in addition to being identified as future study targets for a better understanding of the process of fertilization and earlier embryonic development and mainly to improve the technology in question.