Characterization of small RNAs in early zebrafish PGCs

Microscale small RNA high-throughput sequencing was used to study small RNA distribution in early zebrafish PGCs (primordial germ cells). We find that early zebrafish PGCs have large quantities of piRNAs and small quantities of miRNAs. Among the miRNAs detected, miR-430 accounted for the majority which has been proved to play diverse roles in zebrafish development. In addition, miR-92a-3p and miR-26a-5p have high expression and previous studies show that these two miRNAs can influence cell proliferation in cancer cells. More experiments should be performed in the future to explore whether miR-92a-3p and miR-26a-5p can influence the number of zebrafish PGCs. Small RNA profiles at 6 hpf (hours post fertilization, shield stage), 11 hpf (3-somite stage) and 24 hpf (prim-5 stage) of zebrafish PGCs