Analysis of RNA Expression Specificity and Commonality in Commonly Used Tool Cells and Multiple Tissues of Pigs

An increasing number of studies have focused on the redundant roles of genes in various cellular processes. For instance, 37,000 and 127,300 publications are associated with P53 and Tumor Protein 53 (TP53) respectively, and numerous other genes are also repeatedly interpreted like them. Thus, it is crucial to reduce such non-essential duplicated studies. In this study, RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) data of 6 commonly used tool cell lines and 43 tissue types from pigs were analyzed. The results indicated that genes relatively highly or specifically expressed in each cell type most likely perform that cell’s primary function. Specifically, such genes in skeletal muscle cells mainly regulate skeletal muscle structure, differentiation and development, with similar phenomena seen in the other 5 cell types. In addition, RNA expression levels of genes show high similarity and commonality between cells and tissues, with a total of 4117 ubiquitously expressed genes screened out overall. Meanwhile, embryonic samples display the largest number of RNA-specific expressed genes and the strongest tissue specificity. In conclusion, investigating highly and specifically expressed genes across cells, tissues and organs enables more efficient identification of core functional genes, whereas cataloging ubiquitously expressed genes in a species helps reduce redundant and unnecessary gene functional characterization.