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Translational Cancer Research logoLink to Translational Cancer Research
. 2019 Feb;8(1):160–169. doi: 10.21037/tcr.2019.01.18

Characterization of microRNA expression profiles by deep sequencing of small RNA libraries in leukemia patients from Naxi ethnic

Zhenglei Shen 1,#, Xuezhong Gu 2,#, Wenwen Mao 3, Honghua Cao 1, Rui Zhang 1, Yeying Zhou 1, Kunmei Liu 1, Lilan Wang 1, Zhe Zhang 4, Liefen Yin 4,
PMCID: PMC8798052  PMID: 35116745

Abstract

Background

Leukemia is a hematological malignancy characterized by the proliferation of early lymphoid precursors that replaces normal hematopoietic cells of the bone marrow. Nakhi (Naxi) ethnic minorities considered to be an area of low incidence. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small noncoding RNAs that regulate the expression of other genes in various biological processes. The purpose of this work is to study the molecular mechanism of miRNAs in the leukemia from Naxi.

Methods

Six leukemia patients (case 2 to case 7) and one healthy person (case 1) from Nakhi (Naxi) ethnic minorities were recruited. Total RNA was extracted from these samples and small RNA deep sequencing was performed.

Results

A list of miRNAs (1,392 known and candidate 125 novels) expressed in leukocytes were identified, and many differentially regulated targets involved in several cellular pathways, such as cancer, Rap1 signaling pathway, Ras signaling pathway, and endocytosis. Additionally, quantitative real time-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) results show that hsa-miR-181b-5p, hsa-miR-181a-3p, hsa-miR-181a-5p, and hsa-miR-342-3p has different expression patterns in different cancer cells, hsa-miR-450a-5p, and hsa-miR-1255a were dysregulated in all leukemia cells.

Conclusions

Several abnormal expressed miRNAs in leukemia patients were identified, the correlation of miRNAs dysregulation and leukemia biology demonstrates that specific miRNA can be potential therapeutic target.

Keywords: MicroRNA (miRNA), RNA sequencing, expression profile, leukemia, pathway, Naxi, novel, leukemia cells

Introduction

MicroRNAs (miRNAs), a class of small noncoding RNAs, regulate the expression of other genes by targeting protein-coding transcripts in the post-transcriptional regulation (1). Approximately, 1,500 miRNAs were annotated in the miRNA database (miRBase) (2) and up to 60% of protein-coding genes were estimated to be regulated by miRNAs (3). miRNAs interact with 3'UTR of messenger RNAs (mRNAs) through base pairing and lead to their degradation, destabilization, or repression of translation through RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC), a complex of multiple proteins and miRNA-mRNA adduct (4,5). Occasionally, these miRNAs can also up-regulate gene expression (6).

It has been reported that miRNAs are essential for normal mammalian development and are involved in many biological processes, such as cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, and metabolism, and their involvement in cancer has sparked increased interest in miRNA biology (7-9). Convincing evidence has indicated that miRNAs are key regulators of hematopoiesis (10,11). Leukemia is a group of hematopoietic neoplasms featuring impaired hematopoiesis and bone marrow failure caused by clonal expansion of undifferentiated myeloid precursors (12). The disease is frequently found to have recurrent chromosomal aberrations and gene mutations, and mostly carry driver mutations relevant to patient clinical outcomes (13). It is grouped by how quickly the disease develops (acute or chronic) as well as by the type of blood cell that is affected (lymphocytes or myelocytes). There are four main types of leukemia, including acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), acute myelocytic leukemia (AML), and chronic myelocytic leukemia (CML).

Recently, most researchers use next-generation sequencing (NGS) to profile miRNAs and then identify novel miRNAs associated with a disease of interest (14,15). However, most cohort studies were focused on the major populations such as Asia, America, Europe people etc. Little were known about the molecular profile changes (DNA mutations, RNA transcript and miRNAs, etc.) in the Chinese minorities. The Naxi people are one of the unique ethnic groups in Yunnan and live in a high concentration. In the present study, we analyzed differential expression profiles of miRNAs by quantitative small RNA NGS in six leukemia patients and one normal control. All these people are from Naxi ethnic minorities located in the northwest of Yunnan province, and considered to be an area of low incidence. This approach facilitated in identifying several miRNAs relevant to different leukemia pathogenesis. Additionally, we also verified six miRNAs by quantitative real time-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) in human leukemic cell lines.

Methods

Patient cohort and sample collection

With informed consent and ethics approval, six leukemia patients (case 2 and case 3 have AML; case 4, case 5, and case 7 have ALL; case 6 has CML) and one healthy person (case 1) were recruited from Tumor Hospital in Yunnan Province. All seven person are from Nakhi (Naxi) ethnic minorities, which considered to be an area of low incidence. The samples were collected in 1.5 mL microcentrifuge tubes, immediately snap-frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at −80 °C until further processing.

RNA isolation and deep sequencing

Total RNA isolation was carried out from peripheral blood or cell lines using TRIzol® Reagent (Invitrogen) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The RNA concentration was measured by Nanodrop ND-100 (Thermo Scientific, Waltham, USA), and RNA quality was assessed by the Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer (Agilent, Santa Clara, USA). Small RNA sequencing libraries were constructed following IlluminaHTruSeqTM Small RNA Sample Preparation protocol. In brief, 3' and 5' adapters were ligated to sRNA population and ligated RNAs were purified by running on urea-PAGE. Modified sRNAs were reverse transcribed to generate cDNA libraries and PCR amplified to add unique index sequence to each library.

Sequencing data analysis

The sequences were converted into FASTQ format and de-multiplexing were performed using Illumina bcl2fastq2 software version 2.17 (http://support.illumina.com/downloads/). Adaptor trimming was performed using the FASTQ Toolkit App of Illumina BaseSpace (http://basespace.illumina.com/apps/). Quality of the sequenced reads before and after adapter trimming was evaluated using FastQC software (http//www.bioinformatics.babraham.ac.uk/projects/fastqc/). Cleaned sequences were aligned to the most recent mirBASE database release 21 (http://mirBase.org/) using the Small RNA App of Illumina BaseSpace. Quantification of miRNA expression was performed by counting aligned reads to miRNA genes.

Novel miRNA prediction

The novel miRNA prediction strategy is based on first removing all known RNAs including those derived from exonic regions and then identifying those that are derived from intronic and intergenic regions. Identifying novel miRNAs from sequencing data commonly apply a combination of (I) evaluating miRNA secondary structures; and (II) ranking miRNA candidates by utilizing existing annotation or evolutionary conservation of the mature miRNA sequence. Structure threshold parameters of most algorithms are often optimized based on animal miRNA precursor structures.

Prediction of miRNA targets

The most probable targets of the differentially regulated miRNAs were predicted by two criteria. (I) Prediction by established target prediction software, which facilitate in identifying all the target genes using intersection between miRanda and miTarget; (II) inverse correlation in expression pattern between miRNA and coding genes. This approach compares the expression of putative genes with the different regulated miRNAs, and only genes that show inverse correlation to the miRNA levels were considered as most putative targets of the select miRNA.

qRT-PCR

qRT-PCR was performed to determine expression of six miRNAs: hsa-miR-181b-5p, hsa-miR-181a-3p, hsa-miR-181a-5p, hsa-miR-342-3p, hsa-miR-450a-5p, hsa-miR-1255a in three different human leukemic cell lines (Jurkat, HL-60, K-562). cDNA synthesis was performed using M-MLV Reverse Transcriptase (Promega) according to the manufacturer’s protocol. All samples were run in three replicates. Ct values for miRNAs were normalized against U6 and the relative expression was calculated using 2−ΔCt (Gene-U6) method. All the RT-qPCR primers are provided by RIBOBIO (http://www.ribobio.com/), the item number was listed in Table S1.

Table S1. The item number of RT-qPCR primers provided by RIBOBIO.

Species Gene name Item number
Human hsa-miR-181b-5p MIMAT0000257
Human hsa-miR-181a-3p MIMAT0000270
Human hsa-miR-181a-5p MIMAT0000256
Human hsa-miR-342-3p MIMAT0000753
Human hsa-miR-450a-5p MIMAT0001545
Human hsa-miR-1255a MIMAT0005906

Statistical analysis

All bioinformatics-associated statistical analyses were performed using the R package for statistical computing. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was calculated and analyzed using GraphPad Prism. P<0.05 is considered as statistically significant.

Results

Small RNAs sequencing and annotation

sRNAs from six leukemia patients (case 2 to case 7) and 1 normal control (case 1) were used and size selected by gel electrophoresis, then sequenced using a Solexa platform (Illumina, San Diego, USA). First, we removed the adaptor sequences from the sequence reads, and only those reads that were greater than 10 nucleotides were considered for further analysis. On average, ~13 million reads mapping to the human genome were obtained per sample (Figure 1A). The length of the detected sequences varied between 18 and 32 nucleotides in all these samples (Figure S1), similar to some other studies in animals (18–35 nucleotides) and plants (18–30 nucleotides). Then, we clustered these sequences on the basis of sequence similarity and performed similarity searches using specific databases (miRNAs, rRNA, tRNA, snRNA, snoRNAs). The frequency of reads mapping to miRNAs ranged from 59% to 71% and had a median of 65% (Figure 1B). In total, 1,392 known miRNAs (miRBase 21) were detected in at least one of seven samples sequenced (Table 1). To detect the proportion of mRNA derived by degradation, we checked if there are some sequences derived from intronic and exonic regions, and found that the median read frequency is 7.572% (Figure 1C). Additionally, a small fraction of reads mapped to rRNA, tRNA, snRNA, snoRNA, together comprising a frequency of ~0.8% (Figure 1C).

Figure 1.

Figure 1

Overview of mapped reads, mature miRNAs and frequencies of RNA classes. (A) A number of reads (×106) mapped to the human genome for all samples; (B) the frequency of reads mapped to annotated mature miRNAs for all samples using the miRNA database (miRBase release 21); (C) the frequency of different classes of RNA species found in the dataset. miRNA, microRNA.

Figure S1.

Figure S1

Small RNA length distribution and the frequency percent for all samples.

Table 1. The number of known miRNAs in each sample.

Types Total Case 1 Case 2 Case 3 Case 4 Case 5 Case 6 Case 7
Mapped mature miRNA 1,392 942 894 1,021 909 981 938 918
Mapped pre-miRNA 1,156 828 793 895 830 857 836 820

miRNA, microRNA.

Identification of candidate novel miRNA genes

The representative hairpin structure of miRNA precursor is normally used to identify putative novel miRNAs. In this study, we integrated two miRNA prediction software, miRNAEVo (16) and mirdeep2 (17) for the new miRNA prediction. As shown in Table 2. Ninety-nine mature miRNAs, 26-star miRNAs, and 102 miRNA precursors were detected in at least one of the seven samples sequenced. Almost the same number of candidate novel miRNAs was obtained from each sample. During miRNA processing, Dicer enzyme plays an important role from precursor miRNAs to mature miRNAs. Due to the specificity of the enzyme cleavage sites, the first base of miRNAs might display bias. So, we then analyzed the first base distribution of miRNAs in different length, and the base distribution of all miRNAs. As observed, the nucleotide distribution of 18–30 nucleotides novel miRNAs at the first nucleotide position had a strong bias (Figures 2,S2). Additionally, the base distributions of all miRNAs display that there are bias at each position (Figures 2,S3).

Table 2. The number of novel miRNAs in each sample.

Types Total Case 1 Case 2 Case 3 Case 4 Case 5 Case 6 Case 7
Mapped mature miRNA 99 53 53 63 62 45 63 57
Mapped star miRNA 26 10 8 14 9 10 8 8
Mapped pre-miRNA 102 57 57 71 64 49 65 59

miRNA, microRNA.

Figure 2.

Figure 2

The nucleotide distribution of novel miRNAs. (A) The nucleotide distribution of 18–30 nucleotide novel miRNAs at the first nucleotide position; (B) the nucleotide distribution of all novel miRNAs at each nucleotide. Different colors represent different nucleotide. G is brown; C is green; U is blue; A is red. miRNA, microRNA.

Figure S2.

Figure S2

The nucleotide distribution of 18nt- 30nt novel miRNAs at the first nucleotide position. Different colors represent different nucleotide. G is brown; C is green; U is blue; A is red.

Figure S3.

Figure S3

The nucleotide distribution of all novel miRNAs at each nucleotide. Different colors represent different nucleotide. G is brown; C is green; U is blue; A is red.

miRNA expression pattern

In order to identify miRNAs relevant to different types of leukemia, we divided our samples into four groups, acute leukemia (jxzl), chronic leukemia (mxzl), myeloid leukemia (sxzl) and lymphocytic leukemia (lxzl). To compare the expression levels between different samples, it is necessary to normalize against the read count by calculating a normalization factor. Here, the absolute sequence reads were transformed into transcript abundance by normalizing the data in “transcripts per million (TPM)” for each library first. The expression levels ranged from less than 10 to more than 100,000 counts (Figure S4). Thus, the sequencing data revealed a wide range of expression levels spanning five orders of magnitude.

Figure S4.

Figure S4

TPM density distribution of known and novel miRNAs for each sample. The overall level of expression of miRNAs with respect to a number of miRNAs is shown, Numbers of sequence reads are taken as miRNA levels and the values are represented in the form of a range of values. The expression levels of the miRNAs span up to five orders of magnitude.

Using an arbitrary P value <0.05 and two-fold change cut-off, we found that in comparison to control, 21 and 125 miRNAs were up-regulated in jxzl and mxzl respectively, while 5 and 53 miRNAs were down-regulated in jxzl and mxzl respectively (Figure 3; Tables S2-S7). Venn diagram displayed that 18 miRNAs specifically regulated in jxzl and 170 miRNAs in mxzl (Figure S5). We then compared the differently expressed miRNAs between jxzl and mxzl, and found that 120 miRNAs were up-regulated and 203 miRNAs were down-regulated in jxzl. The up-regulated genes include six novel miRNAs (novel_581, novel_133, novel_692, novel_224, novel_401, novel_94) and several known miRNAs, such as hsa-miR-103a-2-5p, hsa-miR-320b, hsa-miR-320c, hsa-miR-1180-3p, hsa-let-7a-5p, hsa-let-7b-5p, hsa-let-7c-5p, and hsa-let-7d-5p. And the downregulated genes include novel_498, novel_377, novel_580, hsa-miR-582-5p, hsa-miR-582-3p, has-miR-450b-5p, and has-miR-450a-5p (Tables S2-S7). These differentially expressed miRNAs might play crucial role in regulating the rate of the disease development.

Figure 3.

Figure 3

The identity of miRNAs with altered expression levels in the indicated comparisons. Volcano plots of expression changes were generated. Log2 of fold change is shown on the horizontal axis, and –log10 of the Q value (adjusted P value) is shown on the vertical axis. Red and green dots represent significantly up- and downregulated miRNAs (FDR <0.01). Blue dots are genes with a nonsignificant change. miRNA, microRNA.

Table S2. jxzl vs. control.

sRNA jxzl readcount Control readcount Log2 fold change P value Q value
Up-regulated
   hsa-miR-1255a 55.92721169 3.347829955 2.7099 3.84E-07 0.000219
   hsa-miR-99b-3p 27.37110049 2.231886637 1.9569 0.000831 0.094769
   hsa-miR-1270 26.99996407 6.69565991 1.5303 0.002276 0.21624
   hsa-miR-34a-5p 177.0151767 11.15943318 1.6723 0.005981 0.34091
   hsa-miR-335-3p 24.84632076 5.579716592 1.4625 0.00816 0.42281
   hsa-miR-139-5p 226.9695179 26.78263964 1.5594 0.009461 0.44938
   hsa-miR-1226-3p 29.98544425 10.04348987 1.2247 0.013456 0.5463
   hsa-miR-99b-5p 298.7417542 31.24641292 1.4743 0.015335 0.5463
   hsa-miR-149-5p 10.96456363 0 1.4556 0.017281 0.56172
   hsa-miR-8485 11.14732578 0 1.4116 0.020799 0.56172
   hsa-miR-3117-3p 15.64362549 0 1.4008 0.021681 0.56172
   hsa-miR-7854-3p 6.27480693 0 1.3922 0.022724 0.56315
   hsa-miR-3656 7.953821644 1.115943318 1.3472 0.02591 0.61537
   hsa-miR-652-5p 18.29332169 6.69565991 1.101 0.032129 0.67828
   hsa-miR-23b-5p 11.61892026 3.347829955 1.1754 0.037711 0.72538
   hsa-miR-4433a-3p 188.5453394 20.08697973 1.2659 0.03874 0.72538
   hsa-miR-4433b-5p 188.154882 20.08697973 1.2614 0.03945 0.72538
   hsa-miR-1271-5p 21.83756653 8.927546547 1.0088 0.042338 0.75415
   hsa-miR-6786-3p 5.197110923 0 1.2277 0.043122 NA
   hsa-miR-495-3p 9.17037747 0 1.2207 0.04373 0.75534
   hsa-let-7e-5p 245.6468219 77.00008897 1.1127 0.048766 0.81754
Down-regulated
   hsa-miR-450a-5p 147.230475 369.3772384 −1.2423 3.55E-05 0.005056
   hsa-miR-642a-5p 1.521240321 12.2753765 −1.795 0.003171 NA
   hsa-miR-642b-3p 1.521240321 12.2753765 −1.795 0.003171 NA
   hsa-miR-3690 3.130164922 30.1304696 −1.5273 0.010778 0.47255
   hsa-miR-4435 5.723576538 20.08697973 −1.3048 0.019909 0.56172

Table S3. mxzl vs. control.

sRNA yyp lfz Log2 fold change P value Q value (Storey et al. 2003)
Up-regulated
   hsa-miR-143-3p 11,510.45 241.2097 5.5765 0 0
   hsa-miR-146b-5p 2,419.833 410.3383 2.56 0 0
   hsa-miR-148a-3p 70,326.8 17,813.54 1.9811 0 0
   hsa-miR-199b-5p 4,105.741 19.46322 7.7207 0 0
   hsa-miR-20a-5p 4,805.136 1,288.331 1.8991 0 0
   hsa-miR-21-5p 28,309.18 4,955.872 2.5141 0 0
   hsa-miR-221-3p 1,682.975 202.9544 3.0518 0 0
   hsa-miR-222-3p 1,349.408 157.4507 3.0994 0 0
   hsa-miR-223-3p 12,870.55 343.7607 5.2265 0 0
   hsa-miR-23a-3p 3,295.188 544.0304 2.5986 0 0
   hsa-miR-24-3p 2,006.894 377.5864 2.4101 0 0
   hsa-miR-26a-5p 30,229.04 10,386.38 1.5412 0 0
   hsa-miR-27a-3p 1,451.578 245.2365 2.5654 0 0
   hsa-miR-27b-3p 2,315.865 444.9694 2.3798 0 0
   hsa-miR-3074-5p 1,987.784 376.6468 2.3999 0 0
   hsa-miR-30b-5p 1,378.356 171.0078 3.0108 0 0
   hsa-miR-30c-5p 3,641.622 1,384.439 1.3953 0 0
   hsa-miR-582-3p 1,384.41 6.711454 7.6884 0 0
   hsa-miR-181a-5p 3,281.849 1,623.366 1.0155 1.48E-303 3.76E-302
   hsa-miR-142-3p 1,687.895 415.5732 2.0221 6.37E-297 1.57E-295
   hsa-miR-340-5p 1,226.519 188.5919 2.7012 1.57E-272 3.75E-271
   hsa-miR-145-5p 815.2829 14.7652 5.787 2.17E-236 4.87E-235
   hsa-miR-199a-3p 769.2115 37.31568 4.3655 8.56E-220 1.82E-218
   hsa-miR-146a-5p 925.4946 168.0548 2.4613 2.56E-192 5.17E-191
   hsa-miR-155-5p 773.0902 86.84621 3.1541 3.57E-191 7.03E-190
   hsa-miR-29a-3p 752.4669 121.0746 2.6357 5.12E-165 9.83E-164
   hsa-miR-361-3p 1,385.262 605.5074 1.1939 2.54E-150 4.75E-149
   hsa-miR-28-3p 612.7393 79.06093 2.9542 8.02E-146 1.43E-144
   hsa-miR-221-5p 503.0006 29.79886 4.0772 1.77E-141 2.90E-140
   hsa-miR-374b-5p 1,284.321 598.7959 1.1009 2.90E-129 4.48E-128
   hsa-miR-374c-3p 1,283.281 598.3932 1.1007 3.87E-129 5.85E-128
   hsa-miR-197-3p 506.0279 64.42996 2.9734 2.81E-121 3.95E-120
   hsa-miR-106b-5p 830.0408 296.512 1.4851 2.32E-111 3.20E-110
   hsa-miR-450a-5p 392.8835 44.42982 3.1445 6.05E-98 7.80E-97
   hsa-miR-582-5p 341.3252 1.610749 7.7273 1.88E-87 2.24E-86
   hsa-miR-223-5p 404.8034 76.91326 2.3959 1.84E-83 2.16E-82
   hsa-miR-181a-3p 254.5749 6.442996 5.3042 8.11E-76 9.39E-75
   hsa-miR-181b-5p 262.1431 28.72502 3.19 1.55E-66 1.72E-65
   hsa-miR-424-5p 206.9899 8.053745 4.6838 1.89E-61 2.06E-60
   hsa-miR-769-5p 203.5842 21.47665 3.2448 1.37E-52 1.46E-51
   hsa-miR-342-3p 218.2476 30.06731 2.8597 4.92E-52 5.10E-51
   hsa-miR-450b-5p 163.7566 6.308767 4.6981 5.14E-49 5.25E-48
   hsa-miR-618 171.514 16.91286 3.3421 2.58E-45 2.60E-44
   hsa-miR-100-5p 148.9041 4.563789 5.028 4.66E-45 4.64E-44
   hsa-miR-140-5p 211.8146 40.40295 2.3903 1.87E-44 1.84E-43
   hsa-miR-27a-5p 131.4972 7.651057 4.1032 2.03E-38 1.94E-37
   hsa-miR-424-3p 187.0288 40.67141 2.2012 5.36E-37 5.08E-36
   hsa-miR-148a-5p 121.6586 12.75176 3.2541 3.56E-32 3.34E-31
   hsa-miR-19b-3p 255.8993 104.296 1.2949 1.96E-31 1.82E-30
   hsa-miR-150-5p 292.6996 138.6586 1.0779 3.01E-30 2.76E-29
   hsa-miR-425-3p 221.5587 84.69855 1.3873 3.45E-29 3.12E-28
   hsa-miR-651-5p 116.6447 19.32899 2.5933 8.89E-27 7.77E-26
   hsa-miR-542-3p 87.88556 4.832247 4.1849 2.15E-26 1.84E-25
   hsa-miR-99b-5p 81.0742 3.758414 4.431 7.61E-25 6.37E-24
   hsa-miR-24-2-5p 92.89949 11.27524 3.0425 5.09E-24 4.17E-23
   hsa-miR-10a-5p 112.6714 23.0874 2.2869 1.24E-23 1.01E-22
   hsa-miR-181d-5p 69.53271 1.073833 6.0169 1.33E-21 1.04E-20
   hsa-miR-145-3p 68.39748 2.281894 4.9056 1.47E-21 1.13E-20
   hsa-miR-4521 61.86992 3.355727 4.2045 4.42E-19 3.25E-18
   hsa-miR-361-5p 92.52108 20.67128 2.1622 7.27E-19 5.30E-18
   hsa-miR-345-5p 120.0504 42.9533 1.4828 1.60E-17 1.15E-16
   hsa-miR-3065-3p 57.61282 4.161101 3.7914 2.95E-17 2.11E-16
   hsa-miR-338-5p 57.32901 4.161101 3.7842 3.62E-17 2.57E-16
   hsa-miR-660-5p 156.8507 75.16828 1.0612 1.01E-16 7.08E-16
   hsa-miR-126-5p 121.3748 51.54397 1.2356 4.02E-15 2.73E-14
   hsa-miR-181c-3p 48.7202 0 6.9187 7.60E-15 5.07E-14
   hsa-miR-362-5p 80.22278 22.1478 1.8568 1.09E-14 7.20E-14
   hsa-miR-199a-5p 59.03185 10.73833 2.4587 8.23E-14 5.40E-13
   hsa-miR-125a-5p 49.38242 5.503392 3.1656 8.57E-14 5.57E-13
   hsa-miR-152-3p 56.856 10.06718 2.4977 1.67E-13 1.07E-12
   hsa-miR-34c-5p 40.30059 1.073833 5.23 2.27E-13 1.44E-12
   hsa-miR-16-2-3p 94.98074 40.40295 1.2332 3.88E-12 2.42E-11
   hsa-miR-9-5p 45.78753 7.24837 2.6592 1.25E-11 7.73E-11
   hsa-miR-505-3p 60.7347 17.04709 1.833 2.30E-11 1.42E-10
   hsa-miR-28-5p 40.30059 4.966476 3.0205 3.09E-11 1.89E-10
   hsa-miR-652-5p 30.36735 0 5.2367 1.96E-10 1.18E-09
   hsa-miR-4286 29.61053 0 4.9779 3.41E-10 2.03E-09
   hsa-miR-143-5p 26.67786 0 5.7376 2.80E-09 1.65E-08
   hsa-miR-146b-3p 55.53157 19.46322 1.5126 4.95E-09 2.88E-08
   hsa-miR-34a-5p 25.73183 1.342291 4.2608 8.02E-09 4.64E-08
   hsa-miR-21-3p 29.89434 5.234934 2.5136 8.36E-08 4.71E-07
   hsa-miR-330-3p 27.52928 4.026872 2.7732 9.65E-08 5.39E-07
   hsa-miR-574-3p 53.16651 23.0874 1.2034 2.85E-07 1.57E-06
   hsa-miR-874-3p 19.77189 0 4.6176 3.30E-07 1.80E-06
   hsa-miR-29c-3p 31.69178 8.456432 1.906 8.89E-07 4.76E-06
   hsa-let-7e-5p 32.25939 9.261806 1.8004 1.35E-06 7.16E-06
   hsa-miR-335-3p 17.40683 0 4.6969 1.61E-06 8.43E-06
   hsa-miR-374b-3p 22.32615 4.42956 2.3335 6.88E-06 3.45E-05
   hsa-miR-365a-3p 22.89376 5.637621 2.0218 1.81E-05 8.96E-05
   hsa-miR-548e-3p 34.05684 13.95982 1.2867 2.22E-05 0.00010847
   hsa-miR-181c-5p 13.52813 0 5.6551 2.27E-05 0.00011028
   hsa-miR-30c-1-3p 17.59603 2.95304 2.575 3.33E-05 0.00015988
   hsa-miR-30d-3p 19.86649 4.29533 2.2095 3.35E-05 0.00015996
   hsa-miR-200b-3p 14.47416 1.342291 3.4307 3.58E-05 0.0001695
   hsa-miR-4454 12.96052 0 4.2714 4.22E-05 0.00019655
   hsa-miR-32-3p 20.2449 4.832247 2.0668 4.70E-05 0.00021618
   hsa-miR-2115-3p 12.67671 0 3.9764 6.29E-05 0.00028622
   hsa-miR-671-3p 14.28495 1.879207 2.9263 9.10E-05 0.00040916
   hsa-miR-7-1-3p 18.25825 4.29533 2.0877 0.000104 0.00046299
   hsa-miR-766-3p 15.70399 2.818811 2.478 0.000112 0.00049842
   hsa-miR-2355-3p 11.35228 0 4.4021 0.000119 0.00052583
   hsa-miR-1273h-3p 13.05512 1.610749 3.0188 0.000157 0.00068653
   hsa-miR-193a-5p 22.89376 8.053745 1.5072 0.000177 0.00076703
   hsa-miR-491-5p 11.54148 1.208062 3.2561 0.000275 0.0011652
   hsa-miR-671-5p 10.02785 0 6.2232 0.000308 0.0012841
   hsa-miR-3065-5p 9.649438 0 4.5827 0.000365 0.0014968
   hsa-miR-338-3p 9.649438 0 4.5827 0.000365 0.0014968
   hsa-miR-26b-3p 21.28552 7.785286 1.4511 0.000384 0.001566
   hsa-miR-25-5p 15.32558 4.563789 1.7476 0.001015 0.0039956
   hsa-miR-1255a 8.230403 0 4.3532 0.001068 0.0041816
   hsa-miR-16-1-3p 8.419607 0 3.6491 0.001365 0.0052082
   hsa-miR-200c-3p 20.52871 8.859119 1.2124 0.00137 0.0052082
   hsa-miR-139-5p 11.91989 3.221498 1.8876 0.002691 0.010036
   hsa-miR-6503-3p 7.189777 0 3.7432 0.002918 0.010833
   hsa-miR-4772-5p 6.811368 0 4.0802 0.003209 0.0118
   hsa-miR-4677-3p 12.1091 3.892643 1.6373 0.00459 0.016802
   hsa-miR-2115-5p 6.338356 0 3.9764 0.004661 0.016984
   hsa-miR-628-5p 6.527561 0 3.6038 0.004941 0.01792
   hsa-miR-381-3p 10.21705 2.684582 1.9282 0.005033 0.018087
   hsa-miR-296-3p 6.338356 0 3.6641 0.005422 0.019397
   hsa-miR-1307-5p 8.51421 2.013436 2.0802 0.008123 0.028538
   hsa-miR-33a-3p 6.149151 0 3.1957 0.008281 0.028964
   hsa-miR-1250-5p 5.959947 0 3.1506 0.009645 0.033291
   hsa-miR-4645-3p 5.013923 0 3.6382 0.013544 0.045747
   hsa-miR-499a-5p 12.86592 5.906079 1.1233 0.014552 0.048734
Down-regulated
   hsa-let-7a-5p 13,005.93 35,647.22 −1.4546 0 0
   hsa-let-7b-5p 3,975.757 12,791.09 −1.6858 0 0
   hsa-let-7i-5p 44,505.29 120,866 −1.4414 0 0
   hsa-miR-25-3p 12,852.29 44,411.7 −1.7889 0 0
   hsa-miR-486-3p 9,452.381 86,019.36 −3.1859 0 0
   hsa-miR-486-5p 9,647.451 87,202.59 −3.1762 0 0
   hsa-miR-92a-3p 12,505.86 53,627.6 −2.1004 0 0
   hsa-miR-151a-3p 788.5104 3,640.695 −2.207 7.14E-250 1.65E-248
   hsa-miR-183-5p 1,006.285 3,816.67 −1.9233 5.32E-199 1.10E-197
   hsa-miR-106b-3p 2,674.313 6,842.461 −1.3553 3.02E-150 5.53E-149
   hsa-miR-3184-3p 2,537.802 6,521.385 −1.3616 3.75E-145 6.42E-144
   hsa-miR-423-5p 2,537.802 6,521.385 −1.3616 3.75E-145 6.42E-144
   hsa-miR-3158-5p 217.8692 1,386.586 −2.67 1.69E-133 2.72E-132
   hsa-miR-3158-3p 218.7206 1,386.855 −2.6647 4.19E-133 6.60E-132
   hsa-let-7c-5p 535.8276 2,053.973 −1.9386 9.96E-110 1.33E-108
   hsa-miR-30a-5p 29.32672 592.7556 −4.3371 1.30E-102 1.70E-101
   hsa-let-7d-5p 837.9874 2,560.688 −1.6115 6.17E-90 7.71E-89
   hsa-miR-3615 177.947 1,014.101 −2.5107 6.64E-89 8.17E-88
   hsa-miR-144-3p 311.7147 1,365.647 −2.1313 7.73E-89 9.37E-88
   hsa-miR-584-5p 67.64067 604.0308 −3.1587 3.64E-75 4.15E-74
   hsa-miR-363-3p 2,686.044 5,833.73 −1.1189 2.09E-70 2.35E-69
   hsa-miR-1180-3p 24.502 360.2708 −3.8781 2.61E-57 2.81E-56
   hsa-miR-144-5p 1,005.339 2,512.231 −1.3213 2.63E-52 2.76E-51
   hsa-miR-484 313.0391 1,013.832 −1.6954 3.10E-41 3.01E-40
   hsa-miR-22-3p 344.6363 942.5566 −1.4515 1.79E-26 1.55E-25
   hsa-miR-142-5p 1,432.752 2,882.435 −1.0085 1.41E-24 1.17E-23
   hsa-miR-185-3p 43.04406 238.2566 −2.4686 1.30E-21 1.02E-20
   hsa-miR-501-3p 61.1131 285.2368 −2.2226 1.98E-21 1.52E-20
   hsa-miR-7706 30.84036 137.3163 −2.1546 1.53E-10 9.27E-10
   hsa-miR-2110 11.82529 74.63137 −2.6579 1.33E-08 7.63E-08
   hsa-miR-5010-3p 18.25825 79.32938 −2.1193 1.68E-06 8.77E-06
   hsa-miR-4685-3p 1.986649 30.73846 −3.9516 2.56E-06 1.32E-05
   hsa-miR-4732-3p 5.203128 41.61101 −2.9995 3.37E-06 1.71E-05
   hsa-miR-1306-5p 4.257105 34.49687 −3.0185 2.14E-05 0.00010511
   hsa-miR-1299 0 19.59745 −5.2926 3.33E-05 0.00015988
   hsa-miR-502-3p 80.88499 197.9879 −1.2915 3.70E-05 0.00017426
   hsa-miR-92b-3p 19.01507 71.67833 −1.9144 4.13E-05 0.00019337
   hsa-miR-320b 61.86992 155.0346 −1.3253 0.000148 0.00064948
   hsa-miR-629-5p 174.7305 356.9151 −1.0304 0.000173 0.00075186
   hsa-miR-7976 34.43525 98.65837 −1.5186 0.000255 0.0010843
   hsa-miR-548ar-3p 2.365058 21.87934 −3.2096 0.000419 0.0016988
   hsa-miR-30a-3p 3.405684 24.69815 −2.8584 0.000545 0.0021671
   hsa-miR-4732-5p 5.29773 28.59079 −2.4321 0.001092 0.004256
   hsa-miR-6806-3p 2.365058 19.8659 −3.0703 0.001101 0.0042663
   hsa-miR-4326 23.08297 69.39643 −1.588 0.001162 0.0044837
   hsa-miR-151a-5p 55.05856 131.813 −1.2595 0.001201 0.0046087
   hsa-miR-1294 7.095175 31.14115 −2.1339 0.002526 0.0094649
   hsa-miR-550b-3p 11.91989 41.87947 −1.8129 0.003154 0.011652
   hsa-miR-550a-5p 14.09575 44.42982 −1.6563 0.006198 0.022071
   hsa-miR-550a-3-5p 14.09575 44.2956 −1.6519 0.006445 0.022846
   hsa-miR-4742-3p 2.83807 16.91286 −2.5751 0.008381 0.029184
   hsa-miR-18a-3p 12.67671 39.59758 −1.6432 0.010488 0.036044
   hsa-miR-3135a 0 7.651057 −4.7527 0.01163 0.039624

Table S4. jxzl vs. mxzl.

sRNA jxzl readcount mxzl readcount Log2 fold change P value Q value
Up-regulated
   novel_581 43.86039 0 4.1777 1.60E-05 0.000131
   hsa-miR-584-3p 106.4925 5.941171 3.669 3.41E-08 4.66E-07
   hsa-miR-1299 87.3123 0 3.4843 0.000621 0.003157
   hsa-miR-1180-3p 2,554.122 256.4605 3.2663 9.87E-36 1.30E-33
   hsa-miR-4685-3p 339.1172 20.7941 3.1909 0.000114 0.000726
   hsa-miR-3163 27.10556 1.98039 3.096 7.07E-05 0.000492
   hsa-miR-486-5p 905,065.5 100,979.1 3.09 2.15E-21 1.24E-19
   hsa-miR-486-3p 886,345.6 98,937.33 3.0893 2.18E-21 1.24E-19
   hsa-miR-3117-3p 16.35697 0 3.0067 0.003646 0.014902
   hsa-miR-149-5p 11.44212 0 2.9189 0.004822 0.018983
   hsa-miR-3135a 29.63502 2.970585 2.8394 9.78E-05 0.000636
   hsa-miR-6873-3p 7.373616 0 2.8114 0.006661 0.02412
   hsa-miR-4732-3p 394.0144 54.46073 2.8016 2.51E-22 1.81E-20
   hsa-miR-584-5p 4,721.776 707.9895 2.7041 4.73E-30 4.69E-28
   hsa-miR-1908-5p 37.231 3.96078 2.6948 0.000473 0.002501
   hsa-miR-6783-3p 27.4183 2.970585 2.6216 0.000951 0.004654
   hsa-miR-122-5p 113.8024 5.941171 2.5963 0.008996 0.030964
   hsa-miR-3591-3p 113.8024 5.941171 2.5963 0.008996 0.030964
   hsa-miR-184 24.20813 2.970585 2.5742 0.000455 0.002437
   hsa-miR-1306-5p 304.2234 44.55878 2.5729 2.61E-06 2.44E-05
   hsa-miR-129-5p 26.97631 1.98039 2.5691 0.006648 0.02412
   hsa-miR-6509-5p 5.764224 0 2.5666 0.01454 0.046121
   hsa-miR-1224-5p 18.85602 1.98039 2.5448 0.002509 0.01087
   hsa-miR-877-3p 11.53949 0.990195 2.5421 0.005135 0.019863
   hsa-miR-6780a-5p 27.21882 2.970585 2.5398 0.002251 0.009864
   hsa-miR-6881-3p 5.88265 0 2.5099 0.017291 0.053146
   hsa-miR-6859-5p 35.44486 4.950976 2.4945 0.000277 0.001605
   hsa-miR-4646-3p 11.44282 0.990195 2.4709 0.007627 0.027235
   novel_133 6.048755 0 2.4704 0.019477 0.058949
   hsa-miR-1229-3p 12.04879 0.990195 2.4626 0.00902 0.030964
   hsa-miR-2110 689.831 123.7744 2.434 1.54E-17 6.41E-16
   hsa-miR-4755-3p 49.03555 7.921561 2.4166 3.12E-05 0.000235
   hsa-miR-5010-5p 17.04359 1.98039 2.4105 0.004979 0.019356
   hsa-miR-3140-3p 15.15428 1.98039 2.3458 0.004557 0.018069
   hsa-miR-129-2-3p 5.020808 0 2.3417 0.027623 0.077403
   hsa-miR-6511b-5p 4.665778 0 2.3381 0.027772 0.077546
   hsa-miR-3680-3p 4.646152 0 2.3317 0.028257 0.078348
   hsa-miR-6743-3p 4.487318 0 2.331 0.028245 0.078348
   hsa-miR-6747-3p 4.647815 0 2.3039 0.030417 0.083176
   hsa-miR-4755-5p 44.55411 7.921561 2.2917 7.36E-05 0.000503
   novel_692 9.068756 0.990195 2.2912 0.01216 0.039845
   hsa-miR-129-1-3p 19.34692 1.98039 2.2864 0.015418 0.048325
   novel_224 5.001058 0 2.2278 0.03724 0.097127
   hsa-miR-939-5p 22.7517 3.96078 2.2263 0.001039 0.005025
   hsa-miR-185-3p 2219.59 450.5388 2.2261 4.97E-09 7.72E-08
   hsa-miR-92b-3p 999.5418 199.0292 2.2184 1.07E-06 1.07E-05
   hsa-miR-6734-3p 8.581901 0.990195 2.2178 0.016242 0.050709
   hsa-miR-4498 5.306282 0 2.1892 0.041104 0.10549
   hsa-miR-3656 8.299955 0.990195 2.1838 0.01772 0.054254
   hsa-miR-378i 3.801219 0 2.1571 0.043984 0.11038
   hsa-miR-4637 17.64139 2.970585 2.1272 0.006506 0.023997
   hsa-miR-6793-3p 4.115018 0 2.1213 0.048093 0.11918
   hsa-miR-370-3p 71.66449 4.950976 2.1118 0.041492 0.1058
   hsa-miR-4479 7.398867 0.990195 2.0557 0.027086 0.076168
   hsa-miR-92b-5p 51.10774 7.921561 2.0517 0.020225 0.060522
   hsa-miR-375 12.66624 1.98039 2.0366 0.020988 0.062078
   hsa-miR-6855-5p 16.22223 2.970585 2.0203 0.010316 0.034663
   hsa-miR-92a-3p 541,315.7 130,897.9 2.0112 2.58E-12 5.52E-11
   hsa-miR-18a-3p 556.8076 132.6861 2.0052 6.39E-08 8.05E-07
   hsa-miR-6805-5p 7.084954 0.990195 2.0042 0.03246 0.087554
   hsa-miR-6509-3p 7.611381 0.990195 1.9674 0.042926 0.10841
   hsa-miR-636 51.83652 11.88234 1.9571 0.00068 0.003412
   hsa-miR-6802-3p 10.42612 1.98039 1.9305 0.019609 0.058949
   hsa-miR-6741-3p 14.18647 2.970585 1.9245 0.010005 0.033906
   hsa-miR-7855-5p 14.47374 2.970585 1.9158 0.012365 0.040082
   hsa-miR-548at-3p 6.400742 0.990195 1.8896 0.04468 0.11177
   hsa-miR-4732-5p 238.421 55.45093 1.8838 0.003862 0.015705
   hsa-miR-6857-3p 9.88382 1.98039 1.8096 0.036044 0.094961
   hsa-miR-1226-3p 31.29722 7.921561 1.8015 0.002906 0.012455
   hsa-miR-4646-5p 13.75534 2.970585 1.8002 0.025403 0.072204
   hsa-miR-6806-3p 89.73526 24.75488 1.7855 8.75E-06 7.54E-05
   hsa-miR-4742-3p 109.7316 29.70585 1.7767 0.000443 0.002392
   hsa-miR-484 11419.2 3,276.556 1.7637 1.08E-08 1.56E-07
   hsa-miR-1294 258.3273 74.26463 1.7557 4.82E-08 6.26E-07
   hsa-miR-3605-3p 47.15557 12.87254 1.7311 0.002248 0.009864
   hsa-miR-1976 39.90062 10.89215 1.73 0.001919 0.008566
   hsa-miR-3615 6,182.581 1,862.557 1.7147 1.97E-16 7.10E-15
   hsa-miR-501-3p 2,146.586 639.666 1.7068 1.31E-07 1.55E-06
   hsa-miR-6803-3p 16.26556 3.96078 1.698 0.030756 0.083812
   hsa-miR-550b-3p 395.0103 124.7646 1.6293 7.51E-08 9.16E-07
   hsa-miR-1255b-5p 98.60464 29.70585 1.6257 0.00157 0.007195
   hsa-miR-5690 55.84654 15.84312 1.622 0.014682 0.046387
   hsa-miR-6514-5p 14.76871 3.96078 1.6173 0.029293 0.080378
   hsa-miR-1273c 23.39069 6.931366 1.6107 0.005521 0.020849
   hsa-miR-6511b-3p 90.47146 27.72546 1.5922 0.003179 0.013301
   hsa-miR-581 28.43204 8.911756 1.5495 0.005212 0.020064
   hsa-miR-579-5p 38.06193 11.88234 1.5484 0.006021 0.022494
   hsa-miR-25-3p 404,171.9 134,523.9 1.5379 3.98E-05 0.00029
   hsa-miR-183-5p 35,076.83 10,532.71 1.5191 0.030875 0.083848
   hsa-miR-550a-5p 423.7288 147.5391 1.491 1.05E-06 1.07E-05
   hsa-miR-550a-3-5p 422.5492 147.5391 1.4877 8.47E-07 8.83E-06
   hsa-miR-7706 904.74 322.8036 1.4756 7.58E-16 2.31E-14
   hsa-miR-3158-5p 6,357.572 2,280.419 1.4654 1.59E-12 3.61E-11
   hsa-miR-3158-3p 6,361.224 2,289.331 1.4607 1.72E-12 3.80E-11
   hsa-miR-6511a-3p 92.2796 29.70585 1.4584 0.028479 0.078688
   hsa-miR-5010-3p 559.7698 191.1077 1.4391 0.009518 0.032395
   hsa-miR-4746-5p 142.2133 50.49995 1.4339 0.000657 0.003321
   hsa-miR-320c 194.1517 70.30385 1.43 1.01E-05 8.51E-05
   hsa-miR-3940-3p 262.6077 95.05873 1.4195 0.000182 0.001109
   hsa-miR-1306-3p 30.86028 10.89215 1.4102 0.005302 0.02031
   hsa-miR-1292-5p 61.2342 21.78429 1.4 0.006017 0.022494
   novel_401 70.55146 24.75488 1.3715 0.026575 0.074995
   hsa-miR-320b 1,713.411 647.5876 1.3614 0.000229 0.001387
   hsa-let-7d-5p 23,237.38 8,771.148 1.3572 0.000567 0.002936
   hsa-let-7c-5p 15,662.8 5,608.465 1.3538 0.024548 0.070278
   hsa-miR-5001-3p 41.83044 15.84312 1.3413 0.001923 0.008566
   hsa-miR-106b-3p 71,400.71 27,991.83 1.3274 2.73E-06 2.46E-05
   hsa-miR-7976 909.8989 360.431 1.314 1.21E-06 1.18E-05
   hsa-miR-1270 28.18889 10.89215 1.2716 0.017228 0.053146
   hsa-miR-4326 607.1283 241.6076 1.2688 0.00486 0.018983
   hsa-miR-423-5p 65,057.49 26,562.97 1.2573 0.000342 0.001936
   hsa-miR-3184-3p 65,057.33 26,562.97 1.2573 0.000342 0.001936
   hsa-miR-144-3p 7,839.204 3,262.693 1.2167 0.003187 0.013301
   hsa-let-7b-5p 101,123.9 41,613.94 1.2137 0.01159 0.038294
   hsa-miR-505-5p 53.32341 22.77449 1.1818 0.003936 0.015924
   novel_94 113.2919 50.49995 1.1332 0.001374 0.006483
   hsa-miR-151b 113.9676 51.49015 1.0961 0.011674 0.038412
   hsa-let-7a-5p 303,491.1 136,132 1.0813 0.042007 0.10677
   hsa-miR-574-5p 383.4059 181.2057 1.0644 9.75E-05 0.000636
   hsa-miR-502-3p 1,747.092 846.6168 1.0218 0.001298 0.006161
Down-regulated
   hsa-miR-582-5p 13.42211 3,572.624 −6.9696 2.11E-18 9.29E-17
   hsa-miR-582-3p 33.3997 14,490.52 −6.6901 2.56E-11 4.84E-10
   hsa-miR-145-3p 7.576002 715.9111 −5.5845 9.02E-12 1.83E-10
   hsa-miR-424-5p 44.14125 2,166.547 −5.4852 3.84E-57 1.52E-54
   hsa-miR-671-5p 1.431981 104.9607 −5.3738 9.88E-13 2.30E-11
   hsa-miR-296-3p 0.824955 66.34307 −5.0691 1.01E-08 1.48E-07
   hsa-miR-2115-5p 1.324832 66.34307 −4.7385 2.47E-09 4.08E-08
   hsa-miR-450b-5p 59.1493 1,714.028 −4.7283 2.93E-42 5.81E-40
   hsa-miR-450a-5p 153.3337 4112.28 −4.6614 2.13E-59 1.69E-56
   hsa-miR-3065-5p 2.368187 100.9999 −4.643 2.65E-09 4.21E-08
   hsa-miR-338-3p 2.368187 100.9999 −4.643 2.65E-09 4.21E-08
   hsa-miR-542-5p 0.442202 36.63722 −4.6245 2.71E-06 2.46E-05
   hsa-miR-7974 0.399907 30.69605 −4.4303 8.11E-06 7.14E-05
   hsa-miR-542-3p 34.63148 919.8913 −4.4264 3.97E-16 1.31E-14
   hsa-miR-744-3p 0 17.82351 −4.2871 7.44E-05 0.000504
   hsa-miR-935 0 16.83332 −4.2012 0.000105 0.00068
   hsa-miR-6503-3p 2.736968 75.25483 −4.1919 6.83E-09 1.04E-07
   hsa-miR-145-5p 202.251 8,533.502 −4.1087 3.04E-05 0.000234
   hsa-miR-143-5p 7.624172 279.235 −4.0255 2.70E-05 0.00021
   hsa-miR-24-2-5p 49.20377 972.3716 −4.0221 3.09E-13 7.90E-12
   hsa-miR-4521 35.75842 647.5876 −3.9961 1.49E-18 7.36E-17
   hsa-miR-652-5p 19.04256 317.8526 −3.9418 7.04E-29 6.20E-27
   hsa-miR-4772-5p 1.102332 71.29405 −3.9057 0.000268 0.001565
   hsa-miR-19b-1-5p 0.774319 27.72546 −3.9007 3.82E-05 0.00028
   hsa-miR-2355-3p 3.538174 118.8234 −3.898 4.66E-05 0.000336
   hsa-miR-181c-3p 15.1564 509.9505 −3.7733 0.000164 0.001008
   hsa-miR-642a-5p 1.585413 32.67644 −3.7545 8.06E-07 8.53E-06
   hsa-miR-642b-3p 1.585413 32.67644 −3.7545 8.06E-07 8.53E-06
   hsa-miR-6718-5p 0.734962 23.76468 −3.7293 9.02E-05 0.000596
   hsa-miR-181c-5p 5.169999 141.5979 −3.7254 7.36E-05 0.000503
   hsa-miR-2115-3p 3.966267 132.6861 −3.6401 0.000373 0.002042
   hsa-miR-551a 1.179632 32.67644 −3.5664 0.000263 0.001558
   hsa-miR-642a-3p 0.399907 16.83332 −3.5654 0.00062 0.003157
   hsa-miR-642b-5p 0.399907 16.83332 −3.5654 0.00062 0.003157
   hsa-miR-26a-1-3p 0.623711 17.82351 −3.5259 0.000359 0.001977
   hsa-miR-1537-5p 0.388628 15.84312 −3.5096 0.000766 0.003798
   hsa-miR-34c-5p 17.37958 421.8231 −3.5 0.000349 0.00196
   hsa-miR-3065-3p 26.58372 603.0288 −3.4811 0.000284 0.001632
   hsa-miR-429 0.226741 14.85293 −3.4595 0.001384 0.006494
   hsa-miR-769-5p 189.6205 2130.9 −3.4522 4.46E-52 1.18E-49
   hsa-miR-874-3p 14.487 206.9508 −3.4015 1.91E-06 1.81E-05
   hsa-miR-338-5p 26.39928 600.0582 −3.35 0.000794 0.003909
   hsa-miR-191-3p 2.393459 47.52937 −3.3379 0.00041 0.002225
   hsa-miR-4454 9.186323 135.6567 −3.3321 1.75E-05 0.00014
   hsa-miR-548w 1.726045 33.66663 −3.3084 0.000546 0.00287
   hsa-miR-2355-5p 0.161887 11.88234 −3.2833 0.002453 0.010688
   hsa-miR-28-5p 41.97051 421.8231 −3.2771 8.42E-31 9.54E-29
   hsa-miR-5091 0.21546 12.87254 −3.2707 0.00256 0.011032
   hsa-miR-181b-3p 2.140029 49.50976 −3.2254 0.001504 0.006974
   hsa-miR-9-3p 1.33905 21.78429 −3.1872 0.000354 0.00196
   hsa-miR-199a-3p 706.5011 8,051.277 −3.179 1.17E-06 1.16E-05
   hsa-miR-4286 23.80597 309.9311 −3.1773 4.78E-05 0.000342
   hsa-miR-33a-3p 6.041826 64.36268 −3.1238 1.98E-07 2.28E-06
   hsa-miR-24-3p 2,255.433 21006 −3.1187 3.21E-16 1.11E-14
   hsa-miR-873-5p 0.442202 12.87254 −3.1166 0.003411 0.014087
   hsa-miR-618 80.56582 1,795.224 −3.1115 0.002932 0.0125
   hsa-miR-3074-5p 2,252.299 20,805.98 −3.1071 4.35E-16 1.38E-14
   hsa-miR-4791 0 7.921561 −3.0996 0.003647 NA
   hsa-miR-340-5p 1,420.416 12,837.88 −3.0855 2.57E-17 1.02E-15
   hsa-miR-200b-3p 14.76434 151.4999 −3.085 1.92E-07 2.24E-06
   hsa-miR-27a-3p 1,623.284 15,193.55 −3.0228 2.05E-08 2.85E-07
   hsa-miR-30b-5p 1,635.638 14,427.14 −3.0227 4.88E-13 1.17E-11
   hsa-miR-146b-5p 2,804.876 25,328.2 −3.0225 1.38E-10 2.49E-09
   hsa-miR-140-5p 241.5527 2,217.047 −2.993 3.60E-08 4.84E-07
   hsa-miR-223-5p 452.9507 4,237.045 −2.9857 3.01E-07 3.36E-06
   hsa-miR-628-5p 7.574612 68.32346 −2.97 3.84E-08 5.08E-07
   hsa-miR-330-3p 33.61209 288.1468 −2.9638 1.05E-11 2.08E-10
   hsa-miR-16-1-3p 10.5328 88.12737 −2.94 7.77E-12 1.62E-10
   hsa-miR-23a-5p 0.346333 9.901951 −2.9281 0.006042 0.022494
   hsa-miR-651-5p 157.9455 1,220.911 −2.921 1.10E-40 1.74E-38
   hsa-miR-23a-3p 4,204.238 34,490.48 −2.886 1.58E-09 2.72E-08
   hsa-miR-7850-5p 0.161887 8.911756 −2.8796 0.007948 NA
   hsa-miR-3690 3.245414 50.49995 −2.8703 0.004361 0.017376
   hsa-miR-556-3p 0.399907 9.901951 −2.8366 0.008139 0.028687
   hsa-miR-148a-5p 165.23 1,273.391 −2.7884 1.98E-08 2.80E-07
   hsa-miR-491-5p 11.303 120.8038 −2.7851 0.001393 0.006496
   hsa-miR-222-3p 1,908.206 14,124.14 −2.73 5.10E-08 6.52E-07
   hsa-miR-371a-3p 0 5.941171 −2.7068 0.00926 NA
   hsa-miR-371b-5p 0 5.941171 −2.7068 0.00926 NA
   hsa-miR-3917 0 5.941171 −2.7068 0.00926 NA
   hsa-miR-7704 4.324936 49.50976 −2.7047 0.003991 0.016066
   hsa-miR-365b-5p 1.244486 14.85293 −2.6965 0.005431 0.020605
   hsa-miR-21-5p 45,063.79 296,309.9 −2.6724 5.87E-22 3.88E-20
   hsa-miR-335-3p 25.81005 182.1959 −2.6463 2.54E-07 2.88E-06
   hsa-miR-3667-3p 3.85645 47.52937 −2.6408 0.008541 0.029969
   hsa-miR-4645-3p 7.262121 52.48034 −2.6395 8.32E-06 7.25E-05
   hsa-miR-181a-3p 243.0981 2,664.615 −2.6036 0.007672 0.027235
   hsa-miR-4477b 0.223804 7.921561 −2.5641 0.017468 NA
   hsa-miR-1537-3p 0.732024 9.901951 −2.5587 0.012384 0.040082
   hsa-miR-708-5p 0.447607 16.83332 −2.5474 0.016906 0.052369
   hsa-miR-4676-5p 1.954418 16.83332 −2.5298 0.003158 0.013301
   hsa-miR-4773 0.677286 12.87254 −2.5287 0.019625 0.058949
   hsa-miR-142-3p 2844.32 17,667.06 −2.5263 7.07E-09 1.06E-07
   novel_498 1.213583 11.88234 −2.5259 0.007475 0.026824
   hsa-miR-548ag 0.592808 10.89215 −2.4986 0.020813 0.062049
   hsa-miR-26a-2-3p 5.624783 45.54898 −2.4823 0.003472 0.014266
   hsa-miR-34c-3p 0 4.950976 −2.4713 0.015201 NA
   hsa-miR-3607-3p 0 4.950976 −2.4713 0.015201 NA
   hsa-miR-511-3p 0 4.950976 −2.4713 0.015201 NA
   hsa-miR-873-3p 0 4.950976 −2.4713 0.015201 NA
   hsa-miR-7-1-3p 33.35981 191.1077 −2.4617 1.09E-14 3.10E-13
   hsa-miR-424-3p 348.9398 1,957.616 −2.4287 3.22E-13 7.99E-12
   hsa-miR-1273h-5p 3.191369 33.66663 −2.427 0.016466 0.051207
   hsa-miR-6839-5p 0.734962 8.911756 −2.422 0.018759 0.057214
   hsa-miR-1248 0.385691 6.931366 −2.411 0.025824 NA
   hsa-miR-361-5p 175.5968 968.4108 −2.4095 4.78E-14 1.31E-12
   hsa-miR-27b-3p 4,443.556 24,239.98 −2.4087 1.12E-18 5.91E-17
   hsa-miR-4677-5p 0.21546 6.931366 −2.4059 0.025053 NA
   hsa-miR-200a-5p 2.172235 18.81371 −2.3983 0.010665 0.035595
   hsa-miR-450a-2-3p 4.107031 25.74507 −2.3963 0.000133 0.000838
   hsa-miR-221-3p 3,125.573 17,615.57 −2.3877 7.74E-08 9.30E-07
   hsa-miR-197-3p 895.456 5,296.554 −2.3782 3.33E-05 0.000249
   hsa-miR-1291 2.002116 15.84312 −2.3692 0.008697 0.03025
   hsa-miR-28-3p 1,214.146 6,413.494 −2.3642 1.63E-18 7.59E-17
   hsa-miR-21-3p 57.77555 312.9017 −2.353 2.37E-09 3.99E-08
   hsa-miR-1273h-3p 22.35517 136.6469 −2.3474 0.000466 0.002478
   hsa-miR-590-5p 1.162945 9.901951 −2.3286 0.014167 0.045119
   hsa-miR-32-3p 37.8722 211.9018 −2.314 2.35E-05 0.000187
   hsa-miR-9-5p 86.99068 479.2544 −2.3072 1.59E-05 0.000131
   hsa-miR-1307-5p 16.08154 89.11756 −2.2999 1.33E-05 0.000111
   hsa-miR-27b-5p 5.909069 34.65683 −2.2962 0.000244 0.001463
   hsa-miR-155-5p 1,343.81 8,091.875 −2.2667 0.002114 0.009364
   hsa-miR-365a-3p 41.40705 239.6272 −2.2575 0.001017 0.00495
   hsa-miR-30d-3p 40.67332 207.941 −2.2269 9.57E-06 8.16E-05
   hsa-miR-29a-3p 1,581.287 7,876.012 −2.2085 1.81E-06 1.75E-05
   hsa-miR-190b 9.734646 49.50976 −2.2029 5.34E-05 0.000378
   hsa-miR-548aw 0 3.96078 −2.1954 0.025861 NA
   hsa-miR-6503-5p 0 3.96078 −2.1954 0.025861 NA
   novel_377 0 3.96078 −2.1954 0.025861 NA
   novel_580 0 3.96078 −2.1954 0.025861 NA
   hsa-miR-885-5p 0.399907 5.941171 −2.19 0.043508 NA
   hsa-miR-222-5p 0.223804 5.941171 −2.1897 0.03961 NA
   hsa-miR-34b-3p 0.223804 5.941171 −2.1897 0.03961 NA
   hsa-miR-1250-5p 7.483318 62.38229 −2.1719 0.033298 0.089509
   hsa-miR-200a-3p 0.670107 9.901951 −2.1461 0.048002 0.11918
   hsa-miR-3609 0.161887 4.950976 −2.1186 0.045782 NA
   hsa-miR-3154 1.100917 9.901951 −2.1171 0.04135 0.10578
   hsa-miR-6854-5p 0.732024 6.931366 −2.1126 0.0433 NA
   hsa-miR-548au-5p 0.765976 6.931366 −2.0772 0.047845 NA
   hsa-miR-616-5p 2.522921 14.85293 −2.0614 0.021859 0.063328
   hsa-miR-556-5p 1.672469 11.88234 −2.052 0.040919 0.10535
   hsa-miR-30c-1-3p 43.47084 184.1763 −2.0458 2.98E-13 7.89E-12
   hsa-miR-514a-3p 6.992634 35.64702 −2.039 0.007693 0.027235
   hsa-miR-152-3p 134.0388 595.1073 −2.0272 8.33E-05 0.000555
   hsa-miR-548f-3p 13.37504 60.4019 −2.0206 0.000267 0.001565
   hsa-miR-92a-1-5p 5.582602 28.71566 −2.0166 0.008664 0.03025
   hsa-miR-671-3p 33.07217 149.5195 −2.0092 0.000555 0.002897
   hsa-miR-20a-5p 12,399.55 50,294.98 −1.9812 3.89E-11 7.18E-10
   hsa-miR-29c-3p 78.70773 331.7154 −1.9672 6.08E-05 0.000427
   hsa-miR-374b-3p 58.09844 233.686 −1.9213 2.69E-05 0.00021
   hsa-miR-548aq-3p 4.145114 19.8039 −1.9024 0.021229 0.062119
   hsa-miR-548g-5p 4.145114 19.8039 −1.9024 0.021229 0.062119
   hsa-miR-340-3p 168.3928 675.3131 −1.8992 0.00011 0.000705
   hsa-miR-193a-5p 58.48551 239.6272 −1.8933 0.000686 0.003421
   hsa-miR-26a-5p 84,097.22 316,405 −1.8906 8.43E-17 3.19E-15
   hsa-miR-216b-5p 0 2.970585 −1.8628 0.046126 NA
   hsa-miR-3186-3p 0 2.970585 −1.8628 0.046126 NA
   hsa-miR-548u 6.304767 27.72546 −1.8509 0.013435 0.043309
   hsa-miR-148a-3p 170,162.7 736,105.1 −1.8458 0.012368 0.040082
   hsa-miR-188-5p 3.107743 14.85293 −1.8315 0.038203 0.099003
   hsa-miR-345-5p 330.4409 1,256.558 −1.8294 0.000155 0.000962
   hsa-miR-30c-5p 10,728.19 38,116.57 −1.78 4.34E-07 4.78E-06
   hsa-miR-103a-2-5p 5.75189 22.77449 −1.7702 0.009288 0.031748
   hsa-miR-126-5p 373.3419 1,270.42 −1.7558 8.30E-23 6.58E-21
   hsa-miR-146a-5p 2,754.016 9,687.079 −1.726 0.000256 0.001525
   hsa-miR-19b-3p 742.0626 2,678.478 −1.7138 0.003015 0.012783
   hsa-miR-20a-3p 12.45507 42.57839 −1.6239 0.011311 0.037531
   hsa-miR-2277-5p 26.6079 85.15678 −1.5819 0.001896 0.008544
   hsa-miR-106b-5p 2,927.107 8,687.972 −1.537 7.60E-07 8.26E-06
   hsa-miR-3912-3p 9.738392 30.69605 −1.5366 0.006537 0.023999
   hsa-miR-502-5p 5.100938 16.83332 −1.5256 0.034766 0.092372
   hsa-miR-4677-3p 41.77458 126.745 −1.525 0.001623 0.007395
   hsa-miR-548k 114.4978 331.7154 −1.5044 1.90E-06 1.81E-05
   hsa-miR-362-5p 290.0476 839.6855 −1.5042 9.85E-07 1.01E-05
   hsa-miR-128-1-5p 12.37597 40.598 −1.4763 0.04988 0.12322
   hsa-miR-425-3p 840.5069 2,319.037 −1.4477 3.86E-10 6.80E-09
   hsa-miR-301a-3p 5.658604 16.83332 −1.4163 0.02372 0.068153
   hsa-miR-660-5p 608.0902 1,641.744 −1.4123 7.45E-08 9.16E-07
   hsa-miR-4676-3p 11.00521 31.68624 −1.4079 0.02101 0.062078
   hsa-miR-766-3p 57.79367 164.3724 −1.4018 0.01359 0.043631
   hsa-miR-505-3p 234.728 635.7053 −1.3995 8.10E-05 0.000544
   hsa-miR-548e-3p 134.369 356.4702 −1.3947 1.70E-11 3.29E-10
   hsa-miR-361-3p 5,529.697 14,499.43 −1.3654 2.68E-06 2.46E-05
   hsa-miR-146b-3p 208.7207 581.2445 −1.3395 0.03542 0.093626
   hsa-miR-30e-3p 6,326.623 16,068.89 −1.3155 3.51E-05 0.00026
   hsa-miR-26b-3p 87.00414 222.7939 −1.2973 0.003402 0.014087
   hsa-miR-576-3p 301.8402 712.9405 −1.2344 2.77E-15 8.15E-14
   hsa-miR-200c-3p 85.86659 214.8723 −1.2132 0.044862 0.11187
   hsa-miR-3128 10.75696 25.74507 −1.1715 0.034829 0.092372
   hsa-miR-191-5p 49,040.71 110,790 −1.1596 4.72E-06 4.20E-05
   hsa-miR-425-5p 9,743.394 22,378.41 −1.1571 0.004096 0.016406
   hsa-miR-126-3p 28,628.66 64,706.28 −1.157 3.10E-05 0.000235
   hsa-let-7b-3p 30.72418 72.28424 −1.1386 0.043703 0.11002
   hsa-miR-26b-5p 44,744.76 99,966.14 −1.1279 0.001525 0.007033
   hsa-miR-30e-5p 7,858.349 17,603.69 −1.1157 0.010071 0.033984
   hsa-miR-15a-5p 1,351.35 3,040.889 −1.1155 0.015379 0.048325
   hsa-miR-374b-5p 6,150.1 13,442.89 −1.1004 0.001107 0.005319
   hsa-miR-374c-3p 6,146.04 13432 −1.1001 0.001119 0.005346
   hsa-miR-590-3p 76.42887 165.3626 −1.0726 0.00643 0.023827
   hsa-miR-548ay-3p 15.04833 32.67644 −1.0554 0.031173 0.08437
   hsa-miR-6842-3p 285.8855 601.0484 −1.0175 0.034064 0.09126
   hsa-miR-101-3p 56,534.22 114,797.3 −1.0045 0.000352 0.00196
   hsa-miR-25-5p 78.24413 160.4116 −1.0028 0.00687 0.024762

Table S5. sxzl vs. control.

sRNA sxzl readcount Control readcount Log2 fold change P value Q value
Up-regulated
   hsa-miR-1255a 73.93453 3.670145 2.4982 0.000734 0.98318
   hsa-miR-99b-3p 34.05871 2.446764 1.8701 0.015512 0.98318
   hsa-miR-342-3p 1,564.196 274.0375 1.7191 0.015543 0.98318
   hsa-miR-34a-5p 144.9126 12.23382 1.8276 0.017862 0.98318
   hsa-miR-181a-3p 1,231.747 58.72232 1.7736 0.023952 0.98318
   hsa-miR-181b-5p 1,733.788 261.8037 1.6401 0.028975 0.98318
   hsa-miR-125a-5p 565.7181 50.15865 1.6352 0.036442 0.98318
   hsa-miR-8485 12.10476 0 1.6302 0.038292 0.98318
   hsa-miR-99b-5p 552.4379 34.25469 1.575 0.045443 0.98318
Down-regulated
   hsa-miR-30a-5p 554.4653 5,402.454 −2.1709 0.004414 0.98318
   hsa-miR-30a-3p 41.46146 225.1022 −1.5811 0.038759 0.98318

Table S6. lxzl vs. control.

sRNA lxzl readcount Control readcount Log2 fold change P value Q value
Up-regulated
   hsa-miR-125a-5p 164.4959262 42.54988 1.7568 7.52E-09 3.92E-06
   hsa-miR-1255a 47.68217947 3.113406 2.566 2.19E-08 5.71E-06
   hsa-let-7e-5p 196.18214 71.60834 1.309 1.89E-05 0.00222
   hsa-miR-99b-5p 228.78698 29.05846 1.992 2.13E-05 0.00222
   hsa-miR-99b-3p 23.73255619 2.075604 1.8339 0.000253 0.020466
   hsa-miR-34a-5p 226.0002671 10.37802 1.8112 0.000441 0.028716
   hsa-miR-127-3p 140.8358884 21.79384 1.6454 0.000785 0.036749
   hsa-miR-1270 26.93738349 6.226812 1.4834 0.001185 0.044086
   hsa-miR-139-5p 175.0936703 24.90725 1.5811 0.001626 0.056467
   hsa-miR-493-3p 20.24950193 1.037802 1.5177 0.00335 0.096951
   hsa-miR-493-5p 36.66853096 5.18901 1.3349 0.009469 0.22425
   hsa-miR-143-5p 7.137243546 0 1.2882 0.011921 NA
   hsa-miR-1226-3p 28.83038399 9.340218 1.1487 0.012641 0.27767
   hsa-miR-335-3p 18.89945023 5.18901 1.1775 0.015629 0.32382
   hsa-miR-1303 108.0305569 36.32307 1.1114 0.01616 0.32382
   hsa-miR-7854-3p 6.459986627 0 1.2208 0.016689 NA
   hsa-miR-379-5p 15.65690359 1.037802 1.2222 0.017663 0.32865
   hsa-miR-3656 8.119232076 1.037802 1.1662 0.0242 NA
   hsa-miR-6786-3p 6.151685313 0 1.14 0.024322 NA
   hsa-miR-381-3p 97.77120798 20.75604 1.0721 0.037705 0.49031
   hsa-miR-182-3p 10.42158481 2.075604 1.0584 0.040467 0.49031
   hsa-miR-4433b-5p 174.713051 18.68044 1.0067 0.048513 0.52705
   hsa-miR-4433a-3p 175.0375348 18.68044 1.0055 0.048736 0.52705
Down-regulated
   hsa-miR-450a-5p 135.4842658 343.5125 −1.2519 1.49E-06 0.000259
   hsa-miR-3690 2.625944012 28.02066 −1.7583 0.000675 0.036749
   hsa-miR-3135a 22.32185019 59.15472 −1.1441 0.004872 0.13359
   hsa-miR-642a-5p 1.308257088 11.41582 −1.3814 0.00686 NA
   hsa-miR-642b-3p 1.308257088 11.41582 −1.3814 0.00686 NA
   hsa-miR-4435 5.142299703 18.68044 −1.0286 0.046412 0.52705

Table S7. sxzl vs. lxzl.

sRNA sxzl readcount lxzl readcount Log2 fold change P value Q value
Up-regulated
   hsa-miR-181a-5p 39,056.69 15,625.02 1.2746 1.92E-06 0.000148
   hsa-miR-181a-3p 1,215.375 77.99342 2.9279 3.03E-06 0.000148
   hsa-miR-181b-5p 1,693.275 224.783 2.4416 4.07E-06 0.000148
   hsa-miR-342-3p 1,523.522 257.5529 2.2109 8.51E-06 0.000232
   hsa-miR-146b-3p 401.1346 140.4814 1.3875 0.000492 NA
   hsa-miR-15b-3p 2,750.452 1,008.29 1.2939 0.003621 0.078929
   hsa-miR-16-2-3p 1,296.128 381.1239 1.4855 0.004811 0.084379
   hsa-miR-1260b 76.25221 24.49384 1.3869 0.007796 NA
   hsa-miR-1-3p 90.20319 18.62308 1.6595 0.009336 NA
   hsa-miR-1268a 11.95946 2.560318 1.63 0.009398 NA
   hsa-miR-150-5p 2,148.384 716.1593 1.3371 0.010691 0.12348
   hsa-miR-197-3p 2,577.615 680.3299 1.5043 0.011328 0.12348
   hsa-let-7f-1-3p 19.77389 5.190162 1.4708 0.015771 NA
   hsa-miR-200a-3p 4.417496 0 1.7056 0.016799 NA
   hsa-miR-1307-5p 44.33103 12.17739 1.4361 0.017191 NA
   hsa-miR-504-5p 31.89215 4.118537 1.6451 0.021032 NA
   hsa-miR-4707-3p 19.32852 3.991825 1.5099 0.025443 NA
   hsa-miR-92a-1-5p 15.18709 3.689128 1.4387 0.026903 NA
   hsa-miR-27b-5p 16.97949 4.421235 1.3786 0.033286 NA
   hsa-miR-3154 4.762506 0.373006 1.5324 0.033713 NA
   hsa-miR-6770-5p 2.865023 0 1.4812 0.035719 NA
   hsa-miR-1275 5.691972 0 1.4454 0.037007 NA
   hsa-miR-23a-5p 3.877873 0 1.4563 0.037146 NA
   hsa-miR-125a-5p 543.5221 187.4418 1.2164 0.037688 NA
   hsa-miR-499a-5p 126.6113 41.07934 1.2463 0.040416 NA
   hsa-miR-499b-3p 125.6438 41.07934 1.2387 0.041507 NA
   hsa-miR-125b-2-3p 8.459143 1.865813 1.3897 0.042802 NA
   hsa-miR-125a-3p 12.62621 1.487911 1.4403 0.045977 NA
   hsa-miR-32-3p 101.2775 32.47671 1.2287 0.048942 NA
Down-regulated
   hsa-miR-30a-5p 529.2648 1,956.122 −1.4991 0.009967 0.12348
   hsa-miR-6753-3p 0.869689 5.90425 −1.7068 0.013047 NA
   hsa-miR-151a-3p 10,040.77 22,962.51 −1.0725 0.013772 0.13647
   hsa-miR-3133 15.02586 34.93526 −1.0734 0.020626 NA
   hsa-miR-1288-3p 2.661609 9.564785 −1.3787 0.026051 NA
   hsa-miR-4753-5p 0 2.201217 −1.5165 0.031505 NA
   hsa-miR-30c-2-3p 0.269812 3.661317 −1.5266 0.034302 NA
   hsa-miR-449c-5p 5.607974 13.67431 −1.0701 0.042598 NA
   hsa-miR-6815-5p 6.328357 14.35981 −1.0136 0.046006 NA
   hsa-miR-1303 53.95024 123.3373 −1.0132 0.048477 NA

Figure S5.

Figure S5

The venny plot between different comparison was shown.

Next, we compared the differently expressed miRNAs between the sxzl or lxzl with control. As shown, 9 and 23 miRNAs were up-regulated in sxzl and lxzl, 2 and 6 miRNAs were down-regulated in sxzl and lxzl (Figure 3; Tables S2-S7). When compared the differently expressed miRNAs in sxzl and lxzl, the results showed that 29 known miRNAs were up-regulated and 10 known miRNAs were downregulated, including hsa-miR-181-5p, hsa-miR-181a-3p, hsa-miR-181b-5p, hsa-miR-342-3p, hsa-let-7f-1-3p, and hsa-miR-30a-5p (Tables S2-S7). These miRNAs might play an important role in the specific type of blood cell development.

Predicted targets of differentially regulated miRNAs

In order to understand the biological role of the differentially regulated miRNAs, it is necessary to figure out the putative targets of the detected miRNAs. In this study, two approaches were employed for target prediction. First, predict target using two popular software tools, miRanda, and miTarget. Then, compare the expression levels between miRNA and putative target genes. Those genes that coexist in two databases, and show inversion correlation to its miRNAs were considered to be the targets. KEGG (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes) pathway analysis was performed for predicted targets. We analyzed the pathways of differently expressed genes between jxzl and control, and found that the most significant gene-enrichment included “pathways in cancer”, “Rap1 signaling pathways”, “Ras signaling pathways”, and “endocytosis”. However, when compared between mxzl and control, the most significant gene-enrichment was metabolic pathways. Similar results were found in jxzl and mxzl, which suggests that the metabolic pathway is responsible for the development of leukemia. Then we compared the pathways of differently expressed genes between sxzl and control, between lxzl and control (Figure 4). The results display that cancer development is the most significant pathway, which indicates that the miRNAs play an important role in determining the type of cancer and its development.

Figure 4.

Figure 4

Pathway analysis for the predicted targets of different expression miRNAs in the indicated comparisons. The 20 most significant pathways are shown with the number of genes present in their respective Q value (adjusted P value). miRNA, microRNA.

Validation of candidate miRNAs by qRT-PCR

To validate these findings, we examined the expression of six miRNAs, hsa-miR-181b-5p, hsa-miR-181a-3p, hsa-miR-181a-5p, hsa-miR-342-3p, hsa-miR-450a-5p, and hsa-miR-1255a in three different human leukemic cell lines (Jurkat, HL-60, K-562) by RT-qPCR (Figure 5). As known, Jurkat is acute lymphoid leukemia, HL-60 is AML, and K-562 is CML and consistent with the small RNAseq results, we found that hsa-miR-181a-5p and hsa-miR-181b-5p displayed higher expression in Jurkat and HL-60 than that in K-562. However, the expression level of hsa-miR-342a-3p in Jurkat was higher than other two (HL-60 and K-562). And hsa-miR-181a-3p showed different expression in three cell lines (Jurkat had highest and K-562 had lowest). Additionally, both hsa-miR-450a-5p and hsa-miR-1255a displayed low expression in all three cell lines. These results suggest that hsa-miR-181b-5p, hsa-miR-181a-3p, hsa-miR-181a-5p, and hsa-miR-342-3p showed different expression patterns in different types of cancer cells, and hsa-miR-450a-5p, hsa-miR-1255a were dysregulated in all the leukemia cells.

Figure 5.

Figure 5

The relative expression levels of six known miRNAs. RT-PCR was performed in three cell lines. U6 was used as an internal control and standard deviations were calculated from three technical repeats. RT-PCR, real time-polymerase chain reaction; miRNA, microRNA.

Discussion

The study of miRNA expression has a certain guiding role in clinical practice as the abnormal expression of miRNA may be used as a prognostic indicator for leukemia patients (18,19). However, this is based on a large number of races and there was very little research on ethnic minorities. To provide accurate treatment for minority people, the differences between Han people in genetic characteristics and molecular maps need to be analyzed. In this study, 6 patients from the Naxi ethnic minority were selected for miRNA analysis, the Naxi ethnic group lives in the western Yunnan Plateau in the northwest of Yunnan Province, with unique national culture and regional characteristics. This is the first report of the Naxi ethnic miRNA expression. In spite of the small number of examples, it has laid a certain foundation for the follow-up study.

In this study, six patients from the Naxi ethnic minority were selected for miRNA analysis, the Naxi ethnic group located in the western Yunnan plateau, the northwest of Yunnan province, with a unique national culture and regional characteristics. Our paper, for the first time, studied the miRNA expression in Naxi people. Although the number of samples is limited, it lays the foundation for future research.

Certain investigations indicated that some miRNAs can affect the directional differentiation of hematopoietic cells, and associated with the pathogenesis of leukemia and lymphoma. Understanding and clarifying the relationship between miRNAs and leukemia cells can help to reveal the molecular mechanism of leukemia, and miRNAs and specific target genes can also be used to achieve targeted therapeutics. Till now, several miRNAs expressed tags, as well as miRNAs, responsible for the AML and CLL have been reported (18,20,21). For example, it was found that frequent deletions and down-regulation of miRNA15 and miRNA16 were happened in ALL (22); Garzon et al. found that the expression of miR-191 and miR-199a was up-regulated in AML, and its high expression was associated with poor prognosis in AML patients (18). Dixon-McIver et al. also confirmed that t(15;17) chromosome heterotopia is related to the upregulation of miR-127, miR-154, miR-299, miR-323, miR-368 and miR-370 (19).

In the present study, deep sequencing technology was used to quantify miRNA expression in six leukemia patients from Naxi ethnic. From these samples, we observed several interesting findings, including the discovery of novel miRNAs and a valuable list of differentially expressed miRNAs in chronic and acute leukemia, as well as lymphocytic and myelocytic leukemia. Our major findings are a list of expressed miRNAs (1,392 known and 125 candidate novels) in leukocytes and the discovery that the differential expression of miRNAs is most abundant in the pathway of cancer. These 125 candidate miRNAs should be further studied to exclude the false positive results and find the specific miRNAs after more samples would be collected. Our qRT-PCR results show convincingly that such miRNAs are likely to be real and not a result of an artifact of sequencing.

The known miRNAs found to be enriched in acute leukemia were members of the let-7 family, miR185 and miR320, which were also reported in peripheral blood mononuclear cells using “Taqman miRNA assay” (23). Therefore, our results are in agreement with previous studies based on a different methodology. There are multiple mechanisms that are likely to regulate miRNA levels similar to that of mRNAs.

Additionally, we found for the first time that novel-94, 692, 581, 580, 498, 401, 377, 224 and 133 showed abnormal expression in leukemia patients. We also validate our RNAseq data by RT-qPCR in three leukemia cell lines, the expression of hsa-miR-181b-5p, hsa-miR-181a-3p, hsa-miR-181a-5p, hsa-miR-342-3p, hsa-miR-450a-5p, and hsa-miR-1255a were consistent with our sequence data. Most interestingly, WT1 gene was predicted to be the target of miR-1255a by TargetScan v7.1. As known, WT1 was highly expressed in peripheral blood or narrow bone of most AML patients, and supposed to be the marker of detecting minimal residual disease (MRD). Our results indicated that the expression of miR-1255a was significantly down-regulated in AML patients, which suggested that the WT1 gene might be regulated by miR-1255a. This new finding provides a new direction for the further research.

Acknowledgments

Funding: This research was supported by grants from National Natural Science Foundation of China (81360089) and Scientific and Technological Commission of Yunnan Province (2015FB072).

Ethical Statement: The authors are accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki (as revised in 2013). Informed consent was taken from all patients. The study was approved by the Tumor Hospital in Yunnan Province (2015FB072).

Footnotes

Conflicts of Interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at http://dx.doi.org/10.21037/tcr.2019.01.18). The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

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