miR-144 regulates bovine skeletal muscle satellite cell proliferation and differentiation by targeting the NACC1 gene

miRNAs are encoded by eukaryotic genomes and are characterized by tissue-specific and temporal expression, suggesting that miRNAs play multiple roles in different tissues and developmental periods of a species through a variety of regulatory pathways. miR-144 regulates cell development in other species, but its regulatory mechanism in bovine skeletal muscle satellite cells (BSMSCs) is unknown. So, this experiment was designed to elucidate the function of miR-144 in BSMSCs development. It was found that miR-144 promoted the proliferation of BSMSCs, but it plays an inhibitory role in the differentiation process. After transfection of the miR-144 mimic, 476 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were detected by RNA-seq, and these DEGs mainly regulate adrenergic, MAPK, and PI3K-AKT signaling pathways. Further studies revealed that bta-miR-144 targets binding to the NACC1 gene; whereas NACC1 regulates BSMSCs in a manner opposite to bta-miR-144. These findings suggest that miR-144 negatively regulates BSMSCs development by targeting the NACC1 gene.