Integrative Transcriptome Analyses of Metabolic Responses in Yak Liver Define Putative Pivotal LncRNAs

Background The yak (Bos grunniens) is a crucial resource to supply meat and milk to the people localized in Tibetan plateau area. To systemically identify lncRNAs regulating metabolism in yak, we performed transcriptome analyses to simultaneously profile mRNAs and lncRNAs of liver in yak under three representative age (LD: Liver 1 Day, LM: Liver 15 Month, LY: Liver 5 Year) conditions. Result Of 288 differentially regulated lncRNAs, function-oriented filters yield 88 regulated metabolically related lncRNAs that are differentially expressed at least two age conditions. These lncRNAs predicted by lncRNA-mRNA correlation analyses to function in diverse aspects of metabolism. Specific regulations of liver metabolically related lncRNAs were further defined by qRT-PCR. Conclusion Combining genome-wide screens, bioinformatics function predictions, and qRT-PCR analyses, this study supports that a class of lncRNAs function as important metabolic regulators and establishes a framework for systemically investigating the role of lncRNAs in physiological homeostasis of yak.