Cardiac specific deletion of natriuretic peptide receptor A induces different myocardial expression of circular RNA and mRNA involved with metabolism in mice

Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) are not only important biological markers, but also regulators of cardiac functions. The natriuretic peptide A receptor (NPRA), also called NPR1 or guanylyl cyclase A (GC-A), binds with ANP or BNP ligand and fulfils transmembrane signalling transduction by elevating the intracellular levels of cGMP. However, the comprehensive effects and mechanisms downstream to NPRA are still largely to be elucidated. Here, the cardiac expressing profiles of mRNA in the mice with myocardium-specific deletion of NPRA were analyzed. It was found that differently expressed mRNAs were detected and proved by Gene Ontology (GO) and pathway analysis to be mainly related to the metabolic process. Moreover, circular RNAs (circRNAs) were scrutinized, and subsequently a possible regulatory network consisting of circRNAs- MicroRNAs (miRNAs) -mRNAs was predicted and constructed by ceRNA (competing endogenous RNA) analysis. In conclusion, NPRA plays possible roles in cardiac metabolism, which might be mediated by circRNAs via endogenous competition mechanisms. The cardiac expressing mRNA profiles in the C57BL/6 mice (NPRA+/+) and C57BL/6 mice with myocardium-specific deletion of NPRA (NPRA-/-) were sequenced by Illumina HiSeq instrument, and differently expressed mRNAs were detected. Then,a high throughout screening for the different expression of circRNAs between the NPRA-deficient mice and the matched littermates.