Pituitary pars tuberalis (PT) plays an important role as the transmission center in the seasonal reproduction of animals. It helps convert external photoperiod signals into intrinsic seasonal reproduction signals. In sheep PT, specific expression patterns of several genes (including short photoperiod-induced gene CHGA and long photoperiod genes EYA3 and TSHβ) under different photoperiods are crucial characteristics during this signal transduction. Recent studies have revealed the role of epigenetics in regulating the expression of seasonal reproductive key genes. Therefore, we explored whether microRNAs and LncRNAs regulated the expressions of the above key genes. Firstly, the expression of miR-25 and CHGA showed a significant negative correlation in sheep PT. Results of the dual luciferase reporter assay and miR-25 overexpression indicated that miR-25 could inhibit the expression of CHGA by specifically binding to its 3′UTR region in pituitary cells. Then, expression negative correlation and dual luciferase reporter analyses were used to screen and identify the candidate LncRNA (Lnc107153) targeted by miR-25. Finally, the results of fluorescence in situ hybridization and Lnc107153 overexpression suggested that Lnc107153 and miR-25 were involved in the epigenetic regulation of CHGA expression. However, the expressions of EYA3 and TSHβ were not regulated by miRNAs. These results will provide new insights into the epigenetic regulatory network of key genes in sheep seasonal reproduction.

The phenotypic characteristics of existing domestic pigs (DPs) greatly differ from those of wild boar (WB) populations thousands of years ago. After thousands of years of human domestication, WB and DP have diverged greatly in terms of genetics. Theoretically, worldwide local pigs have independent contributions from their local WBs at the beginning of Sus scrofa domestication. The investigation of the vicissitude of the heredity material between domestic populations and their wild ancestors will help in further understanding the domestication history of domestic animals. In the present study, we performed a genome-wide association scan (GWSA) and phylogeny estimation with a total of 1098 public European Illumina 60K single nucleotide polymorphism data, which included 650 local DPs and 448 WBs. The results revealed that the phylogenetic relationship of WBs corresponds to their geographical distribution and carries large divergence with DPs, and all WB breeds (e.g., HRWB, SBWB, and TIWB) presents a closely linkage with the middle WB (e.g., HRWB, and PLWB). In addition, 64 selected candidate genes (e.g., IDH2, PIP5K1B, SMARCA2, KIF5C, and TJP2) were identified from GWSA. A total of 63 known multiple biological functional pathways were annotated by 22 genes, and ubiquinone and other terpenoid-quinone biosynthesis pathways that belong to the metabolism of cofactors and vitamins were significantly enriched (p < 0.05). The most frequent (28.57%) pathways were classified under metabolism. We confirmed that the middle European WB has made an important genetic contribution to the entire European WB populations. A series of selected genes discovered from this study provides the scientific community with a deeper understanding of the heredity performance of metabolism and emotion and the real purpose behind domestication.

Skeletal muscle orchestrates a remarkable journey from embryonic formation to age-related decline, yet its cellular intricacies in goats remain largely uncharted. We present the first single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) atlas of the longissimus dorsi muscle from goats, profiling 120,944 cells across 14 developmental stages from embryonic day 30 (E30) to 11 years postnatal (Y11). We focused on skeletal muscle satellite cells (MuSCs) and fibro-adipogenic progenitors (FAPs), identifying a unique MuSCs_ACT1_high subpopulation in early embryogenesis and a senescence-associated MuSCs_CDKN1A_high subpopulation in later developmental stages. In FAPs, we characterized the early-stage FAPs_MDFI_high subpopulation with differentiation potential, which further exhibited the capacity to commit to both adipogenic and fibrogenic lineages. Transcription factor analysis revealed strikingly similar regulatory profiles between MuSCs and FAPs, suggesting that these two cell types are governed by shared signaling pathways during development. Cell–cell interaction analysis demonstrated that the DLK1-NOTCH3 ligand-receptor pair plays a critical role in enabling early embryonic FAPs to maintain the quiescent state of MuSCs. This dynamic single-cell transcriptomic atlas, spanning 14 developmental stages of skeletal muscle in ruminants for the first time, provides a valuable theoretical foundation for further elucidating the differentiation of skeletal muscle satellite cells and fibro-adipogenic progenitors in ruminants.

Whether vocalisations during disbudding predict later outcomes in goat kids is unknown. In this preliminary study, we allocated 18 female Tianfu goat kids to disbudding (n = 9) or sham (n = 9). Disbudding used a hot iron without analgesia; sham kids received an unheated iron. Vocalisations, tail flicks, and struggles were recorded. Fundamental frequency (F0) and Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) were extracted. Body weight and temperament were assessed at 90 days post-procedure; home-pen behaviour was scan-sampled at 60 and 90 days post-procedure. Two kids were excluded due to insufficient recordings, leaving 16 (9 disbudded, 7 sham). Disbudded kids vocalised more frequently (14.5 vs. 8.1 calls/min, p = 0.0007) and had lower minimum F0 (283.4 vs. 366.1 Hz, p = 0.020), with significant MFCC shifts. Several acoustic features correlated with body weight at 90 days post-procedure (mfcc_12_std: r = 0.903, p = 0.001) and temperament (mfcc_2_mean: r = −0.788, p = 0.012) after controlling for disbudding weight. The first principal component of acoustic features (PC1) correlated with lower body weight at 90 days post-procedure in disbudded kids (r = −0.786, p = 0.036), but not in shams (r = −0.257, p = 0.623). No subgroup differences were found in home-pen behaviours. These findings indicate that acute pain vocalisations may reflect individual stress reactivity—a possible ‘vocal phenotype’—and, with validation, could inform non-invasive screening for at-risk kids.