Fig. 4

Expression level distributions of the accepted microRNAs and differentially expressed microRNAs. a. Median normalized expression levels of all the microRNAs after normalized and filtered in each group and the DE microRNAs in each group. “All DEGs in AL” shows the expression levels in AL group of the microRNAs differentially expressed in CR, EX or HF. In each group, the top 25% accepted microRNAs were taken as high abundant genes, the bottom 25% as low abundant genes and the middle 50% as medium abundant genes. Those with Foreground-Background intensities < 50 were taken as very low abundant genes. Line in scatter dot plot is at median with interquartile range. b-d. The DE microRNAs median normalized expression levels in the two compared groups. AL: ad libitum, CR: caloric restriction, EX: exercise, HF: high-fat diet, DEG: differentially expressed microRNA genes, Up: up-regulated microRNAs, Down: down-regulated microRNAs