PhD in Veterinary Sciences for Animal Health and Food Safety

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Curriculum vitae

Phd thesis

PhD research project title: Circulating microRNAs as biomarkers of various physiological processes underlying skeletal muscle growth in Piedmontese Cattle Background The Piedmontese breed is known for a double-muscled phenotype. In recent studies, it has been reported that skeletal muscle can communicate with other tissues through the release of molecules in the circulating system. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play an important role as regulators in physiological processes of skeletal muscle such as cell proliferation, differentiation, and hypertrophy. Emerging evidence shows that miRNAs are released from cells in the body fluids, called circulating miRNAs (ci-miRNAs). Results Plasma samples of the Piedmontese cattle were collected at different ages: newborn (NB), 4-6 months (4-6M), 10-12 months (10-12M), and 15-17 months (15-17M). Small-RNA sequencing data analysis revealed the presence of 40% of muscle-related miRNAs among the list of top 25 highly expressed miRNAs and, 19 miRNAs showed differential expression too. Fourteen miRNAs involved in skeletal muscle physiology pathways were validated by qRT-PCR for expression analysis, 6 chosen from the differentially expressed miRNAs list and further 8 miRNAs arbitrarily selected based on literature and target prediction. Comparing NB with the other age groups, miR-10b, miR-126-5p, miR-143 and miR-146b were significantly up-regulated, whereas miR-21-5p, miR-221, miR-223 and miR-30b- 5p were significantly down-regulated at different age points. Interestingly, qRT-PCR analysis disclosed a higher expression of miR-23a (one of the 8 arbitrarily selected miRNAs) in all the ages, though not differentially expressed among the groups. TargetScan algorithm predicted myostatin (MSTN) as the target gene for miR-23a and miR-126-5p. MSTN is a negative regulator of skeletal muscle hypertrophy, and we demonstrated the direct binding between miR-23a and miR-126-5p with 3'UTR of this gene. Further analysis revealed positive significant correlations between miR-126-5p and miR-146b and the weight of beef cattle for each age group (rho = 0.26; and rho = 0.36). On the other hand, miR-223 showed an inverse significant correlation with the weights (rho = -0.39). Conclusion The knowledge about ci-miRNAs in bovine species is limited. These findings provide evidence on the presence of skeletal-muscle-related miRNAs in the plasma of beef cattle of different age groups. Furthermore,

Research activities

• Rupal S Tewari, Ugo Ala, Paolo Accornero, Mario Baratta, Silvia Miretti. Circulating skeletal muscle related microRNAs profile in Piedmontese cattle during different age. Scientific Report 2021 Aug 4;11(1):15815. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-95137-w.PMID: 34349188

• Rupal S. Tewari, Sulochana Sen, Rakesh Ranjan & S.N.S. Parmar. Association of TLR 4 gene polymorphism with mastitis resistance and susceptibility in Frieswal Cattle. Indian Journal of Animal Research., Vol. 49 issue 1 2015, Article ID B- 2525, DOI :  5958/0976-0555.2015.00010.2

• Sulochana Sen, Rupal S Tewari, Rakesh Ranjan & S.N.S. Parmar. Analysis of genetic polymorphism of IL8R receptor gene a marker associated among crossbred cattle. Indian J. Anim. Res., 49 (3) 2015 : 292-294

• S .Sen, R. S. Tewari, R. Ranjan, M.S. Thakur & S.N.S. Parmar. Association of TLR4 gene polymorphism with healthy, clinical and sub-clinical mastitis in crossbred cattle. J. Interacad. 16(4) : 924-930, 2012.