CircACLY regulates proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis of Jingyuan chicken myoblasts by sponging gga-miR-6660-3P

Abstract Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are key gene regulators that are involved in many fundamental biological processes. Skeletal muscle cannot develop normally without the involvement of circRNA. We found that a circRNA from the ATP Citrate Lyase (ACLY) gene regulates skeletal muscle development through sponging miRNA. The results of ribonuclease R (RNase R) digestion and subcellular localization assays verified that circACLY is a circRNA that is mainly localized to the cytoplasm. Dual-luciferase and co-transfection assay findings showed that gga-miR-6660-3p binds directly to the predicted binding sites of circACLY and Ectonucleotide Triphosphate Diphosphohydrolase 7 (ENTPD7). Furthermore, circACLY increased the expression of ENTPD7 by adsorbing gga-miR-6660-3p. Cell proliferation assays showed that circACLY promoted, whereas gga-miR-6660-3p inhibited myoblast proliferation. Assays of induced differentiation, differentiation marker gene mRNA expression and protein levels showed that gga-miR-6660-3p inhibited, whereas circACLY facilitated myoblast differentiation. Furthermore, circACLY inhibited, whereas gga-miR-6660-3P promoted myoblast apoptosis, and they regulate inosine monophosphate synthesis (IMDNS) de novo by respectively promoting and inhibiting it. Our findings confirmed that circACLY from the ACLY gene regulates IMDNS by sponging- gga-miR-6660-3P to promote myoblast proliferation and differentiation and inhibit myoblast apoptosis.