绵羊骨骼肌发育是受遗传背景、转录与转录后调控以及表观遗传因素等共同作用的复杂经济性状，miRNAs在其中起着重要的调控作用。前期研究发现，miR-451在绵羊胎儿骨骼肌中高度表达，并在特克塞尔羊与乌珠穆沁羊间具有极大的表达差异，提示miR-451可能在绵羊骨骼肌发育中扮演重要角色。本项目拟在前期研究的基础上，分离、培养绵羊骨骼肌卫星细胞；检测miR-451在绵羊骨骼肌成肌细胞增殖过程中的表达情况；通过过量表达和抑制表达，研究miR-451对绵羊骨骼肌成肌细胞增殖的影响；应用RNA-seq技术，结合序列互补的预测方法在转录组水平上鉴定miR-451的靶基因，从而揭示miR-451调控绵羊骨骼肌细胞增殖过程的功能。本项目将有助于我们全面认识miR-451在成肌细胞中的生物学功能，也为我们深入了解绵羊骨骼肌的生长发育机理奠定了理论基础，同时其靶基因的明确将为绵羊肉用性状的研究提供新的候选基因。

Skeletal muscle development of sheep is a complex economic trait, which is affected by genetic backgroud, transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation, and epigenetic inheritance factors. Research showed that miRNAs took an important role in animal muscle development process. Our previous study found that miR-451 had a higher expression level in sheep fetus muscle, and there is a significant difference of expression level between Texel and Ujumqin. So, we presumed that miR-451 was important for sheep skeletal muscle development. In this study, firstly, we intend to in vitro isolate, culture sheep skeletal muscle satellite cell, and use it as experiment material. Then, we will analyze the expression pattern of miR-451 during sheep skeletal muscle myoblast proliferation process, and study the impact of miR-451 on sheep skeletal muscle myoblast proliferation. Furthermore, using RNA-seq technique and bioinformatics approach to comprehensively predict the target genes of miR-451 on transcriptional level, we could reveal the function of miR-451 regulating sheep myoblast proliferation process. This study will help us further understand the biological function of miR-451 in myoblast and the mechanism of sheep skeletal muscle growth. The identification of its target genes will provide new candidate genes for the research of sheep mutton production.