Circular RNA circZEB1 regulates goat brown adipocytes differentiation and thermogenesis through miR-326–3p

Circular RNA (circRNA) is involved in various biological processes. However, the regulatory roles of circRNA on brown adipose tissue (BAT) thermogenesis still remain to be elucidated. In this study, we characterized circZEB1, which was enriched in BAT and derived from exon 2 and exon 3 of goat ZEB1 gene. Sanger sequencing and RNase R assay demonstrated that circZEB1 was a head-to-tail structure with a length of 298 bp. Besides, the expression levels of circZEB1 were upregulated during brown adipocytes differentiation and circZEB1 was mainly located in cytoplasm. Furthermore, circZEB1 promoted brown adipocytes differentiation and thermogenesis. Luciferase reporter assay and RNA-binding protein immunoprecipitation (RIP) assay indicated that circZEB1 could bind to miR-326–3p in brown adipocytes. In addition, miR-326–3p reduced the lipid accumulation of brown adipocytes, whereas overexpression of circZEB1 reversed the inhibition effects of miR-326–3p on lipid deposition. The results demonstrated that circZEB1 regulated brown adipocytes differentiation and thermogenesis through circZEB1/miR-326–3p pathway.