Porcine aggressive behavior is a complicated trait that is harmful to animal welfare. Alternative polyadenylation (APA) plays a significant role in various biological processes. However, the relationship between APA and aggressive behavior in pigs remains poorly understood. In our study, we conducted transcriptome sequencing on brains (frontal lobe, parietal lobe, temporal lobe, hypothalamus and pituitary gland) from pigs exhibiting the most and least aggressive behavior. A combination of transcriptomic and molecular data revealed that APA-modulated PSMD14 was associated with aggression in pigs. In particular, the expression of cleavage stimulation factor subunit 2 (CSTF2) was higher in the brains of the highly aggressive pigs than in the least aggressive pigs. We found that CSTF2 bound to the motif of GUGGA on the PSMD14 gene, leading to cleavage results in a shortened 3'UTR of PSMD14, the phenomenon observed in the most aggressive pigs. By contrast, the least aggressive pigs with lower CSTF2 expression, exhibited a lengthened 3'UTR. The dual luciferase reporter system indicated that this elongated 3'UTR contains a binding site for miR-29-5a. Binding of miR-29-5a downregulated PSMD14 expression, leading to subsequent apoptosis upregulation. In summary, we identified a potential regulatory pathway governing porcine aggressive behavior initiated by the CSTF2-mediated APA network (CSTF2-PSMD14-miR-29-5a axis). This study provides a theoretical foundation for investigating the role of APA in regulating aggressive behavior in pigs.

To Cite This Article: Zhang C, Liu M, Chao X, Xu Q, Yang H, Chen J, Liu S, Ding Y, Bi H, Wang Z, Guo W, Fan J, Asim M, Mubashir M, Schinckel AP and Zhou B, 2026. Alternative polyadenylation of psmd14 mrna modulates neuronal apoptosis and impacts aggressive behavior in pigs. Pak Vet J, 46(3): 606-616. http://dx.doi.org/10.29261/pakvetj/2026.049