Mating activates transcriptional programs and represses microRNAs in the Drosophila melanogaster female reproductive tract
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ABSTRACT:
ORGANISM(S): Drosophila melanogaster
PROVIDER: GSE216085 | GEO | 2023/06/27
REPOSITORIES: GEO
Similar Datasets
Project description:The female’s reproductive tract is exposed directly to the male’s ejaculate, making it a hotspot for mating-induced responses shortly after mating. In Drosophila melanogaster, changes in the reproductive tract are essential to optimize fertilization. To detect the earliest gene regulatory events that underlie these changes, we measured transcript abundances using RNA-seq and microRNA-seq of reproductive tracts of unmated females and females collected within 10-15 minutes after the end of mating, either to a wildtype male or to a male with defective BMP signaling in secondary cells of the accessory gland, which influences the composition of the male’s ejaculate. We observed transcript abundance changes for genes with roles in tissue morphogenesis, wound healing, the immune response and metabolism. Strikingly, predicted targets of microRNAs that respond to mating are enriched for overlapping functions, suggesting that mating-induced changes are in part regulated by microRNAs. Most of the differentially expressed RNAs are upregulated in response to mating, while most of the differentially expressed microRNAs are downregulated. This pattern suggests a response of activation and de-repression of gene programs that switch the reproductive tract to a “mated” state, rather than a repression of virgin-specific programs. Male genotype did not influence transcript levels, indicating that the earliest transcriptomic responses in the reproductive tract are not dependent on ejaculate components that require BMP signaling in secondary cells. Our results shed light on the molecular changes that accompany very early responses to mating and present candidate genes and microRNAs that can be further examined for their participation in alterations of the reproductive tract microenvironment in response to signals from the male.
2023-06-27 | GSE216084 | GEO
Project description:The female’s reproductive tract is exposed directly to the male’s ejaculate, making it a hotspot for mating-induced responses shortly after mating. In Drosophila melanogaster, changes in the reproductive tract are essential to optimize fertilization. To detect the earliest gene regulatory events that underlie these changes, we measured transcript abundances using RNA-seq and microRNA-seq of reproductive tracts of unmated females and females collected within 10-15 minutes after the end of mating, either to a wildtype male or to a male with defective BMP signaling in secondary cells of the accessory gland, which influences the composition of the male’s ejaculate. We observed transcript abundance changes for genes with roles in tissue morphogenesis, wound healing, the immune response and metabolism. Strikingly, predicted targets of microRNAs that respond to mating are enriched for overlapping functions, suggesting that mating-induced changes are in part regulated by microRNAs. Most of the differentially expressed RNAs are upregulated in response to mating, while most of the differentially expressed microRNAs are downregulated. This pattern suggests a response of activation and de-repression of gene programs that switch the reproductive tract to a “mated” state, rather than a repression of virgin-specific programs. Male genotype did not influence transcript levels, indicating that the earliest transcriptomic responses in the reproductive tract are not dependent on ejaculate components that require BMP signaling in secondary cells. Our results shed light on the molecular changes that accompany very early responses to mating and present candidate genes and microRNAs that can be further examined for their participation in alterations of the reproductive tract microenvironment in response to signals from the male.
2023-06-27 | GSE216083 | GEO
Project description:Mating activates transcriptional programs and represses microRNAs in the Drosophila melanogaster female reproductive tract
| PRJNA892062 | ENA
Project description:Mating activates transcriptional programs and represses microRNAs in the Drosophila melanogaster female reproductive tract [mRNA-seq]
| PRJNA892068 | ENA
Project description:Mating activates transcriptional programs and represses microRNAs in the Drosophila melanogaster female reproductive tract [miRNA-seq]
| PRJNA892067 | ENA
Project description:Male-derived accessory gland proteins that are transferred to females during mating have profound effects on female reproductive physiology including increased ovulation, mating inhibition, and effects on sperm utilization and storage. The extreme rates of evolution seen in accessory gland proteins may be driven by sperm competition and sexual conflict, processes that may ultimately drive complex interactions between female- and male-derived molecules and sperm. However, little is known of how gene expression in female reproductive tissues changes in response to the presence of male molecules and sperm. To characterize this response, we conducted parallel genomic and proteomic analyses of gene expression in the reproductive tract of 3-day-old unmated and mated female Drosophila melanogaster. Using DNA microarrays, we identified 539 transcripts that are differentially expressed in unmated vs. mated females and revealed a striking peak in differential expression at 6 h postmating and a marked shift from primarily down-regulated to primarily up-regulated transcripts within 3 h after mating. Combining two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and liquid chromatography mass spectrometry analyses, we identified 84 differentially expressed proteins at 3 h postmating, including proteins that appeared to undergo posttranslational modification. Together, our observations define transcriptional and translational response to mating within the female reproductive tract and suggest a bimodal model of postmating gene expression initially correlated with mating and the final stages of female reproductive tract maturation and later with the declining presence of male reproductive molecules and with sperm maintenance and utilization.
| S-EPMC1502462 | biostudies-literature
Project description:In order to better understand the female reproductive tract (FRT) we conducted a systematic, comprehensive investigation of the FRT in a tssue-specific manner at three time points relative to mating. By characterizing the transcriptional relationships among discrete FRT tissues across time we advance the understanding of the molecular genetics of FRT functions.
2020-12-29 | GSE143759 | GEO
Project description:Fertility depends on the coordination of complex interactions between male and female reproductive proteins inside the female reproductive tract (FRT). These interactions mediate a suite of changes in female behavior, morphology, and physiology after mating, yet little is known about how the molecular environment of the FRT may differ among species and coordinate species-specific female post-mating responses. We used semi-quantitative proteomics to compare the FRT protein composition between virgin and mated females in Drosophila melanogaster. These results are compared to those from quantitative TMT proteomic analyses of the mating-induced changes in D. simulans and D. mauritiana, and after conspecific and heterospecific inseminations. Our study highlights the value of using quantitative proteomics approaches to study the molecular composition of the FRT environment, and how its divergence may inform mechanistic studies of post-mating pre-zygotic reproductive isolation between species.
2020-06-25 | PXD017730 | Pride
Project description:In species with internal fertilization, sperm, and seminal fluid are transferred from male to female during mating. While both sperm and seminal fluid contain various types of molecules, including RNA, the role of most of these molecules in the coordination of fertilization or in other possible functions is poorly understood. In Drosophila, exosomes from the accessory gland, which produces seminal fluid, are transferred to females, but their potential cargoes have not been described. Moreover, while the RNA composition of sperm has been described in several mammalian species, little work on this problem has occurred in Drosophila. Here we use single nucleotide polymorphism differences between males and females from a set of highly inbred lines of D. melanogaster, and transcriptome data from the female reproductive tract, sperm, testis, and accessory gland, to investigate the potential origin, male vs female, RNA molecules isolated from 3 female reproductive tract organs, the seminal receptacle and spermatheca, which store sperm, and the parovaria, which does not. We find that mated females carry male-derived transcripts from many genes, including those that are markers of the accessory gland and known seminal fluid proteins. Our observations also support the idea that intact sperm transcripts can be isolated from the female sperm storage organs.
| S-EPMC10627254 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Sexual reproduction in internally fertilizing species requires complex coordination between female and male reproductive systems and among the diverse tissues of the female reproductive tract (FRT). Here, we report a comprehensive, tissue-specific investigation of Drosophila melanogaster FRT gene expression before and after mating. We identified expression profiles that distinguished each tissue, including major differences between tissues with glandular or primarily nonglandular epithelium. All tissues were enriched for distinct sets of genes possessing secretion signals that exhibited accelerated evolution, as might be expected for genes participating in molecular interactions between the sexes within the FRT extracellular environment. Despite robust transcriptional differences between tissues, postmating responses were dominated by coordinated transient changes indicative of an integrated systems-level functional response. This comprehensive characterization of gene expression throughout the FRT identifies putative female contributions to postcopulatory events critical to reproduction and potentially reproductive isolation, as well as the putative targets of sexual selection and conflict.
| S-EPMC8063083 | biostudies-literature