Project description:Purpose: Preovualtory follicle diameter influences embryo quality in beef cattle that rely on a gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) injection to induce the preovualtory gonadotropin surge and subsequent ovualtion. The goals of this study are to compare transcriptome profiles of pools of four oocytes or associated cumulus cells collected from small (≤11.7mm) and large follicles (≥12.7 mm) exposed to a GnRH-induced gonadotropin surge and follicles (11.7-14.0 mm) exposed to an endogenous gonadotropin surge (spontaneous follicles). Methods: Oocyte and cumulus cell mRNA profiles of pools of four oocytes or associated cumulus cells collected from small (≤11.7mm) and large follicles (≥12.7 mm) exposed to a GnRH-induced gonadotropin surge or spontaneous follicles (11.7-14.0 mm) which were exposed to an endogenous gonadotropin surge were generated by deep sequencing (n=6 small follicle oocyte, 6 small follicle cumulus, 6 large follicle oocyte, 6 large follicle cumulus, 4 spontaneous follcile oocyte, and 5 spontaneous follicle cumulus pools), using Illumina HiSeq 2000 . The sequence reads that passed quality filters were aligned to the Bos taurus reference genome UMD3.1 using Hisat2mapper. FeatureCounts was used to quantify transcript abundance in each library using Bos taurus gene annotation from Ensembl. Differences in gene transcript expression were then analyzed amoung oocyte or cumulus cell follcile classifications using the packages edgeR and DESeq2 in R software. Results: We mapped an average of 30 million sequence reads per sample to the Bos taurus reference genome UMD3.1 and identified 69, 94, and 83 differentially expressed gene transcripts (DEG) among oocyte libraries from small versus large, small versus spontaneous, and large versus spontaneous follicle classifications, respectively. We also identified 128, 98, and 80 DEG among cumulus cell libraries from small versus large, small versus spontaneous, and large versus spontaneous follicles, respectively. Conclusions: Our study represents detailed analysis of RNA-sequencing data generated from in vivo produced cumulus and oocyte samples collected from preovualtory follicles of varied physiological status after exposure to an endogenous or exogenously stimulated gonadotropin surge. The results of our study highlight key differences in the transcriptome of samples from small, large, or spontaneous follicles and provide insight into the reduced embryo quality observed when small follicles undergo a GnRH induced gonadotropin surge.

Project description:Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) might combine with other reproductive hormones to affect follicular development by regulation of the cell cycle in granulosa cells (GCs).To investigate the function of GnRH in GCs, we examined the effects of a GnRH agonist (alarelin acetate) and an antagonist (cetrorelix acetate) on the proliferation of primary goose (Anser cygnoides) ovarian GCs by colorimetry and 5-ethynyl-2¢-deoxyuridine (EdU) cell proliferation assays. Differently expressed genes (DEGs) affected by these GnRH analogues in goose GCs were detected by RNA-seq and the results were verified using quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT–qPCR) and western blotting. The optical densities in the colorimetry assays and the S phase cell cycle ratio of GCs in the EdU cell proliferation assays gradually increased and decreased with increasing concentrations in the alarelin-treated and cetrorelix-treated cells in dose-dependent manners, respectively. Statistically significances were achieved at concentrations of 10−5 mol/L alarelin and 1 mg/L cetrorelix acetate RNAseq analysis showed that 134 DEGs and 226 DEGs were detected following GC treatment with 10−5M GnRH alarelin (76 downregulated and 58 upregulated) and 1 mg/L cetrorelix (90 downregulated and 136 upregulated). Many of these DEGs are involved in the actions of genes encoding G protein-coupled hormone receptors, such as estrogen receptor 2 (ESR2), oxytocin receptor (OXTR), and prolactin receptor (PRLR), which are essential for folliculogenesis. The mRNA and protein expression levels of ESR2 in GCs were decreased and increased by the GnRH agonist and antagonist, respectively. Interestingly, ESR2 was increasingly expressed in pre-hierarchical follicles, most strongly expressed in GCs of F5 stage follicles and reduced in preovulatory follicles, which implicates a potential role in follicle selection. Thus, GnRH might act as an autocrine or paracrine factor to regulate GC proliferation by interacting with some key steroid hormone G protein-coupled receptors genes participating in follicular development.

Project description:This a model from the article: The follicular automaton model: effect of stochasticity and of synchronization of hair cycles. Halloy J, Bernard BA, Loussouarn G, Goldbeter A. J Theor Biol 2002 Feb 7;214(3):469-79 11846603 , Abstract: Human scalp hair consists of a set of about 10(5)follicles which progress independently through developmental cycles. Each hair follicle successively goes through the anagen (A), catagen (C), telogen (T) and latency (L) phases that correspond, respectively, to growth, arrest and hair shedding before a new anagen phase is initiated. Long-term experimental observations in a group of ten male, alopecic and non-alopecic volunteers allowed determination of the characteristics of hair follicle cycles. On the basis of these observations, we previously proposed a follicular automaton model to simulate the dynamics of human hair cycles and the development of different patterns of alopecia [Halloy et al. (2000) Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. U.S.A.97, 8328-8333]. The automaton model is defined by a set of rules that govern the stochastic transitions of each follicle between the successive states A, T, L and the subsequent return to A. These transitions occur independently for each follicle, after time intervals given stochastically by a distribution characterized by a mean and a standard deviation. The follicular automaton model was shown to account both for the dynamical transitions observed in a single follicle, and for the behaviour of an ensemble of independently cycling follicles. Here, we extend these results and investigate additional properties of the model. We present a deterministic version of the follicular automaton. We show that numerical simulations of the stochastic version of the automaton yield steady-state level of follicles in the different phases which approach the levels predicted by the deterministic equations as the number of follicles progressively increases. Only the stochastic version can successfully reproduce the fluctuations of the fractions of follicles in each of the three phases, observed in small follicle populations. When the standard deviation is reduced or when the follicles become otherwise synchronized, e.g. by a periodic external signal inducing the transition of anagen follicles into telogen phase, large-amplitude oscillations occur in the fractions of follicles in the three phases. These oscillations are not observed in humans but are reminiscent of the phenomenon of moulting observed in a number of mammalian species. Copyright 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. This model was taken from the CellML repository and automatically converted to SBML. The original model was: Halloy J, Bernard BA, Loussouarn G, Goldbeter A. (2002) - version=1.0 The original CellML model was created by: Catherine Lloyd c.lloyd@auckland.ac.nz The University of Auckland This model originates from BioModels Database: A Database of Annotated Published Models (http://www.ebi.ac.uk/biomodels/). It is copyright (c) 2005-2011 The BioModels.net Team. To the extent possible under law, all copyright and related or neighbouring rights to this encoded model have been dedicated to the public domain worldwide. Please refer to CC0 Public Domain Dedication for more information. In summary, you are entitled to use this encoded model in absolutely any manner you deem suitable, verbatim, or with modification, alone or embedded it in a larger context, redistribute it, commercially or not, in a restricted way or not.. To cite BioModels Database, please use: Li C, Donizelli M, Rodriguez N, Dharuri H, Endler L, Chelliah V, Li L, He E, Henry A, Stefan MI, Snoep JL, Hucka M, Le Novère N, Laibe C (2010) BioModels Database: An enhanced, curated and annotated resource for published quantitative kinetic models. BMC Syst Biol., 4:92.

Project description:Dibutyl phthalate (DBP), di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), and benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP) are three phthalates commonly found in consumer products, including the plastic coating of pharmaceuticals and personal care products. Folliculogenesis, a tightly regulated process occurring in the ovary, is the maturation of an immature primordial follicle to a mature antral follicle. Follicles house the oocyte and antral follicles specifically play a crucial role in ovarian steroidogenesis and ovulation. DBP, BBP, and DEHP have been associated with inhibited antral follicle growth in vitro, decreased ovulation rates in vitro, and decreased antral follicle counts in women. However, little is known about the effects of a three-phthalate mixture on antral follicles in vivo. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of a human relevant mixture of DBP, BBP, and DEHP on ovarian follicles through proteome profiling analysis. CD-1 female mice (60 days old) were pipet fed tocopherol stripped corn oil (vehicle control) only or a phthalate mixture (52% DBP, 36% DEHP, and 12% BBP dissolved in vehicle) which modeled human follicular fluid concentrations. The mice were treated with 32µg/kg/day (PHT Mix 32; cumulative estimate in general population) and 500µg/kg/day (PHT Mix 500; cumulative estimate in occupationally exposed individuals) for 10 consecutive days. Proteome profiling of antral follicles (>250µm) was performed via label-free tandem mass spectrometry. A total of 5,417 antral follicle proteins were identified in the three groups, of which 194 were differentially abundant between the vehicle and PHT Mix 32 group, and 136 between the vehicle and PHT Mix 500 group. Gene ontology analysis revealed that the two treatments of the phthalate mixture upregulate and downregulate distinctive processes, supporting non-monotonic effects of phthalates on the antral follicle proteome. Taken together, these results reveal that a human relevant mixture of DBP, BBP, and DEHP alters the antral follicle proteome and merits further evaluation to elucidate the molecular mechanisms by which phthalates cause negative reproductive outcomes.

Project description:The differences in reproductive processes at the molecular level between viviparous and oviparous animals are evident, and the site in the ovary that synthesizes sex hormones (androgens and oestrogens) and the trends for enriching sex hormones during follicle development in chickens are different from those in mammals, suggesting that the effect of sex hormones on follicle development in chickens is probably different from that in viviparous animals. To explore the specific role of androgen receptors (ARs) on chicken follicular development, we matched the correspondence of follicular development stages among chickens, humans, cows and identified chicken-specific genes related to follicle development (GAL-SPGs) by comparing follicle development-related genes and their biological functions among species (chickens, humans, and cows). A comparison of the core transcription factor regulatory network of granulosa cells (or ovaries) based on super enhancers among species (chicken, human, and mouse) revealed that AR is a core transcriptional regulator specific to chickens. In vivo experiments showed that inhibition of AR significantly reduced the number of syf (selected stage follicles) in chickens and decreased the expression of GAL-SPGs in F5 follicles, while in vitro experiments showed that inhibition of AR expression in chicken granulosa cells (GCs) significantly down-regulated the expression levels of GAL-SPGs, indicating that AR could regulate follicle selection through chicken-specific genes related to follicle development. A comparison among species (77 vertebrates) of the conserved genomic regions, where chicken super-enhancers are located, revealed that the chicken AR super-enhancer region is conserved in birds, suggesting that the role of AR in follicle selection may be widespread in birds. In summary, we found that AR can regulate follicle selection through chicken-specific genes related to follicle development, which also emphasizes the important role of AR in follicle selection in chickens and provides a new perspective for understanding the unique process of follicle development in chickens.

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Dynamic gene expression atlas of goose granulosa cells during development stage

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