CircHOMER1 in mediating porcine skeletal muscle development.

Background: Skeletal muscle serves as the principal source of high-quality protein in human nutrition. Recent studies indicate that circRNAs play key roles in myogenesis by acting as competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs). However, the specific roles of circRNAs in myogenesis are largely unknown. Here, we attempted to systematically explore the functional role of circHOMER1 in myogenesis.

Results: The present study first demonstrated that circHOMER1 promotes the proliferation and differentiation of porcine skeletal muscle satellite cells (SMSCs). CircHOMER1 ceRNA regulatory network was constructed based on miRNA and mRNA sequencing. With immunofluorescence, dual-luciferase reporter gene, RIP, and rescue experiments, circHOMER1 was identified to promote porcine SMSCs differentiation by competitive binding miR-199b-5p to further inhibit MAP3K11 expression. Moreover, in vivo experiments revealed that circHOMER1 accelerates muscle regeneration and development.

Conclusions: Collectively, circHOMER1 promotes the differentiation of SMSCs, muscle regeneration, and muscle development. In addition, a novel circHOMER1/miR-199b-5p/MAP3K11 regulatory network in porcine myogenesis was constructed. Our results provided a basis for in-depth analysis of the role of circRNAs in myogenesis.