MicroRNA-mediated posttranscriptional regulation is required for maintaining undifferentiated properties of blastoderm and primordial germ cells in chickens.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play a critical role in determining the differentiation fate of pluripotent stem cells and germ cells in mammals. However, the mechanism(s) of miRNA-mediated posttranscriptional regulation with regard to lineage specification and differentiation in chick development require further investigation. Therefore, we conducted miRNA expression profiling to explore specific miRNA signatures in undifferentiated blastoderm and primordial germ cells (PGCs). We identified seven miRNAs that are highly expressed in blastoderm and 10 that are highly expressed in PGCs. In this study, miR-302a and miR-456 for blastoderm and miR-181a* for PGCs were analyzed further for their target transcripts and regulatory pathways. Both miR-302a and miR-456 bound directly to the sex-determining region Y box 11 transcript and could act as posttranscriptional coregulators to maintain the undifferentiated state of the chicken blastoderm through the suppression of somatic gene expression and differentiation. Moreover, miR-181a* showed a bifunctional role in PGCs by binding to two different transcripts. miR-181a* inhibited the somatic differentiation of PGCs by silencing homeobox A1 expression. Additionally, miR-181a* prevented PGCs from entering meiosis through the repression of the nuclear receptor subfamily 6, group A, member 1 transcript. Collectively, our data demonstrate that in chickens miRNAs intrinsically regulate the differentiation fate of blastoderms and PGCs and that the specific timing of germ cell meiosis is controlled through miRNA expression.