Identification of Differentially Expressed Genes Associated With Precocious Puberty by Suppression Subtractive Hybridization in Goat Pituitary Tissues

Background Our study aimed to identify genes related to precocious puberty expressed in the pituitary of different growth stages goats using suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) screening. Pituitary tissues at 30 day and 90 day and 180 day growth stages of Jining gray goats and Liaoning cashmere goats were used in this study. To identify differentially expressed genes in the pituitary tissues, mRNA from these tissues was extracted and SSH libraries were constructed for screening (API, EPI and BPI groups). ResultsA total of 60, 49 and 58 differently expression genes were annotation in the database. 222 Gene Ontology (GO) terms and 75 Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways were matched to those genes. Most differentially expressed genes (DEGs) related to the GO terms “structural constituent of ribosome”, “translation” and “GTP binding” were significantly enriched while numerous DEGs related to the Jak-STAT signaling and oocyte meiosis pathways were also significantly enriched. Candidate genes to be involved in precocious puberty and sexual development were retrieved from the SSH libraries. These related genes were discussed taking into account whether they were expressed in different growth stages of pituitary tissues, and of which them influenced the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis. ConclusionsInteresting findings about precocious puberty related genes from an evolutionary perspective (such as PRLP0, EIF5A and YWHAH) and for putative future goats breeding applications are reported here. We provide a valuable dataset that will facilitate further research into the reproductive biology of goats.