Identification and comparative analysis of long non-coding RNA in the skeletal muscle of two Dezhou donkey strains (Equus asinus)

In this study, 3,869 donkey skeletal muscle lncRNAs were identified using RNA-Seq along with a stringent screening procedure in the longissimus dorsi (LD) and gluteal (G) muscles. These lncRNAs share many characteristics with other mammalian lncRNAs, such as shorter open reading frames (ORFs) and lower expression levels than mRNAs. Furthermore, in pairwise comparisons between libraries of the same stage for two genetic types of male Dezhou donkey, 73 differentially expressed lncRNAs were common to all muscle tissues. Twelve skeletal muscle samples were taken from the longissimus dorsi and gluteal muscles of six Dezhou donkeys, respectively.