Differential Expression Profiling of Long Noncoding RNA and mRNA during Osteoblast Differentiation in Mouse

摘要

Long noncoding RNAs (IncRNAs) are emerging as an important controller affecting metabolic tissue development, signaling, and function. However, little is known about the function and profile of IncRNAs in osteoblastic differentiation in mice. Here, weanalyzed the RNA-sequencing (RNA-Seq) datasets obtained for 18 days in two-day intervals from neonatal mouse calvarial pre-osteoblast-like cells. Over the course of osteoblast differentiation, 4058 mRNAs and 3948 IncRNAs were differentially expressed, and they were grouped into 12 clusters according to the expression pattern by fuzzy c-means clustering. Using weighted gene coexpression network analysis, we identified 9 modules related to the early differentiation stage (days 2-8) and 7 modules relatedto the late differentiation stage (days 10-18). Gene ontology and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis revealed that the mRNA and IncRNA upregulated in the late differentiation stage are highly associated with osteogenesis. We also identified 72 mRNA and 89IncRNAs as potential markers including several novel markers for osteoblast differentiation and activation. Our findings provide a valuable resource for mouse IncRNA study and improves our understanding of the biology of osteoblastic differentiation in mice.