Project description:Pituitary GH-secretory profiles are sex dependent and regulate the sexually dimorphic expression of a large number of genes in the liver. The slow response of many sex-specific liver genes to changes in plasma GH status suggests that GH acts in the liver via both direct and indirect mechanisms organized in a hierarchical regulatory network. Presently, genome-wide liver transcription profiling was conducted to elucidate the global impact of pituitary hormone ablation on the sex specificity of rat liver gene expression and to identify sex-specific genes that respond rapidly to GH as candidates for direct targets of GH action. Hypophysectomy abolished the sex specificity of approximately 90% of 1032 sex-dependent genes, consistent with the dominant role of pituitary GH in regulating liver sexual dimorphism. Two major classes of sex-specific genes were identified: genes that were down-regulated after hypophysectomy and may be subject to positive GH regulation (461 class I genes), and genes that were up-regulated after hypophysectomy and may be subject to negative GH regulation (224 class II genes). Fifty class I sex-specific genes were induced, and 38 class II sex-specific genes were suppressed within 90 min of a physiological GH pulse, suggesting they are primary GH response genes. A further 71 sex-specific genes responded after a second GH treatment and may correspond to secondary response genes. Twenty four DNA-binding proteins were identified as early GH response genes, of which 15 were induced and nine were suppressed by GH. Five of these 24 genes displayed sex-specific expression, consistent with a hierarchical transcriptional network controlling sex-specific liver gene expression. Class II male-specific genes, such as Cyp2a2 and Cyp2c13, were down-regulated within 30 min of GH pulse treatment, as determined by heterogeneous nuclear RNA analysis, suggesting that transcription of these genes is restricted to the GH-free interpulse period in adult male rat liver. We conclude that GH acts via both positive and negative regulatory mechanisms to establish and maintain the sex specificity of liver gene expression.

Project description:A series of two color gene expression profiles obtained using Agilent 44K expression microarrays was used to examine sex-dependent and growth hormone-dependent differences in gene expression in rat liver. This series is comprised of pools of RNA prepared from untreated male and female rat liver, hypophysectomized (‘Hypox’) male and female rat liver, and from livers of Hypox male rats treated with either a single injection of growth hormone and then killed 30, 60, or 90 min later, or from livers of Hypox male rats treated with two growth hormone injections spaced 3 or 4 hr apart and killed 30 min after the second injection. The pools were paired to generate the following 6 direct microarray comparisons: 1) untreated male liver vs. untreated female liver; 2) Hypox male liver vs. untreated male liver; 3) Hypox female liver vs. untreated female liver; 4) Hypox male liver vs. Hypox female liver; 5) Hypox male liver + 1 growth hormone injection vs. Hypox male liver; and 6) Hypox male liver + 2 growth hormone injections vs. Hypox male liver. A comparison of untreated male liver and untreated female liver liver gene expression profiles showed that of the genes that showed significant expression differences in at least one of the 6 data sets, 25% were sex-specific. Moreover, sex specificity was lost for 88% of the male-specific genes and 94% of the female-specific genes following hypophysectomy. 25-31% of the sex-specific genes whose expression is altered by hypophysectomy responded to short-term growth hormone treatment in hypox male liver. 18-19% of the sex-specific genes whose expression decreased following hypophysectomy were up-regulated after either one or two growth hormone injections. Finally, growth hormone suppressed 24-36% of the sex-specific genes whose expression was up-regulated following hypophysectomy, indicating that growth hormone acts via both positive and negative regulatory mechanisms to establish and maintain the sex specificity of liver gene expression. For full details, see V. Wauthier and D.J. Waxman, Molecular Endocrinology (2008)

Project description:A series of two color gene expression profiles obtained using Agilent 44K expression microarrays was used to examine sex-dependent and growth hormone-dependent differences in gene expression in rat liver. This series is comprised of pools of RNA prepared from untreated male and female rat liver, hypophysectomized (‘Hypox’) male and female rat liver, and from livers of Hypox male rats treated with either a single injection of growth hormone and then killed 30, 60, or 90 min later, or from livers of Hypox male rats treated with two growth hormone injections spaced 3 or 4 hr apart and killed 30 min after the second injection. The pools were paired to generate the following 6 direct microarray comparisons: 1) untreated male liver vs. untreated female liver; 2) Hypox male liver vs. untreated male liver; 3) Hypox female liver vs. untreated female liver; 4) Hypox male liver vs. Hypox female liver; 5) Hypox male liver + 1 growth hormone injection vs. Hypox male liver; and 6) Hypox male liver + 2 growth hormone injections vs. Hypox male liver. A comparison of untreated male liver and untreated female liver liver gene expression profiles showed that of the genes that showed significant expression differences in at least one of the 6 data sets, 25% were sex-specific. Moreover, sex specificity was lost for 88% of the male-specific genes and 94% of the female-specific genes following hypophysectomy. 25-31% of the sex-specific genes whose expression is altered by hypophysectomy responded to short-term growth hormone treatment in hypox male liver. 18-19% of the sex-specific genes whose expression decreased following hypophysectomy were up-regulated after either one or two growth hormone injections. Finally, growth hormone suppressed 24-36% of the sex-specific genes whose expression was up-regulated following hypophysectomy, indicating that growth hormone acts via both positive and negative regulatory mechanisms to establish and maintain the sex specificity of liver gene expression. For full details, see V. Wauthier and D.J. Waxman, Molecular Endocrinology (2008) This series is comprised of pools of liver RNA prepared from untreated male, hypophysectomized (‘Hypox’) male, untreated female and Hypox female rats (3-4 livers/pool), as well as liver RNA prepared from Hypox male rats treated with a single growth hormone injection and killed either 30, 60, or 90 minutes later (pool of n = 4 livers) or from Hypox male rats treated with two growth hormone injections spaced 3 or 4 hr apart (pool of n = 5 livers). The pools were paired to generate the following 6 direct microarray comparisons: 1) untreated male liver vs. untreated female liver; 2) Hypox male liver vs. untreated male liver; 3) Hypox female liver vs. untreated female liver; 4) Hypox male liver vs. Hypox female liver; 5) Hypox male liver + 1 growth hormone injection vs. Hypox male liver; and 6) Hypox male liver + 2 growth hormone injections vs. Hypox male liver. Dye swapping experiments were carried out for each of the six hybridization experiments, as follows. The Alexa 555-labeled cDNA from one of the two untreated male pools was mixed with the Alexa 647-labeled cDNA from one of the two untreated female pools. Similarly, Alexa 647-labeled cDNA from the second untreated male pool was mixed with the Alexa 555-labeled cDNA from the second untreated female pool. Together, these two mixed cDNA samples comprise a fluorescent reverse pair (dye swap). Dye swaps were similarly carried out for each of the five other competitive hybridization experiments, except that for experiments 5 and 6, a single pool of M-Hypox + GH liver cDNA, or a single pool of M-Hypox + 2GH liver cDNA, was used in each half of the fluorescent reverse pair. Two microarrays, one for each mixed cDNA sample, were hybridized for each of the six fluorescent reverse pairs, giving a total of 12 microarrays.

Project description:Sex-dependent pituitary growth hormone (GH) secretory patterns determine the sex-biased expression of >1,000 genes in mouse and rat liver, affecting lipid and drug metabolism, inflammation and disease. A fundamental biological question is how robust differential expression can be achieved for hundreds of sex-biased genes simply based on the GH input signal pattern: pulsatile GH stimulation in males vs. near-continuous GH exposure in females. STAT5 is an essential transcriptional mediator of the sex-dependent effects of GH in the liver, but the mechanisms that underlie its sex-dependent actions are obscure. Here we elucidate the dynamic, sex-dependent binding of STAT5 and the GH/STAT5-regulated repressor BCL6 to mouse liver chromatin, revealing the counteractive interplay between these two regulators of liver sex-specificity. Our findings establish a close correlation between sex-dependent STAT5 binding and sex-biased target gene expression. Moreover, sex-dependent STAT5 binding correlated positively with sex-biased DNase hypersensitivity and H3-K4me1 and H3-K4me3 (activating) marks, correlated negatively with sex-biased H3-K27me3 (repressive) marks, and was associated with sex-differentially enriched motifs for HNF6/CDP factors. Importantly, BCL6 binding was preferentially associated with repression of female-biased STAT5 targets in male liver. Furthermore, BCL6 and STAT5 common targets but not BCL6 unique targets showed strong enrichment for lipid and drug metabolism. These findings provide a comprehensive, genome-wide view of the mechanisms whereby these two GH-regulated transcription factors establish and maintain sex differences affecting liver physiology and disease. The approaches used here to characterize sex-dependent STAT5 and BCL6 binding can be applied to other condition-specific regulatory factors and binding sites and their interplay with co-operative chromatin-binding factors. Mouse livers were excised from individual male and female mice killed at either a peak of STAT5 binding activity, or during the growth hormone (GH) interpulse interval, when STAT5 activity is either low (females) or essentially undetectable (males). Sonicated, cross-linked liver nuclear chromatin was then used to identify STAT5 binding sites by ChIP-Seq.

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One of two growth hormone genes in coho salmon is sex-linked.

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One of two growth hormone genes in coho salmon is sex-linked.

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