Project description:In the present study we compare the secretome from S. mansoni adult males and females using a label free quantitative proteomic approach
Project description:Sperm RNA can be modified by environmental factors and has been implicated in communicating signals about changes in a father's environment to the offspring. The RNA composition of sperm is influenced during its final stage of maturation in the epididymis by extracellular vesicles released by epididymal cells. We studied the effect of exposure to stress in postnatal life on the transcriptome of epididymal extracellular vesicles using a mouse model of transgenerational transmission. We found that the small RNA signature of epididymal extracellular vesicles, particularly miRNAs, is altered in adult males exposed to postnatal stress. miRNAs changes correlate with differences in the expression of their target genes in sperm and zygotes generated from that sperm. These results suggest that stressful experiences in early life can have persistent biological effects on the male reproductive tract that may in part be responsible for the transmission of the effects of exposure to the offspring.
Project description:Coagulation protease factor VIIa (FVIIa) is shown to induce anti-inflammatory and barrier protective effects via endothelial cell protein C receptor (EPCR)-dependent, protease-activated receptor-1 (PAR1)-mediated cell signaling. FVII-EPCR-PAR1 signaling also induces the release of extracellular vesicles from endothelial cells. To obtain clues on whether microRNA (miR) carried out by FVIIa-released EEVs contribute to anti-inflammatory and barrier protective effects, we analyzed miR expression in control- and FVIIa-released EEVs by deep sequencing. These data revealed that several anti-inflammatory miR expression was higher (more than 2-fold) in FVIIa-released EEVs compared to control EEVs, the most predominant being miR10a-5p. The differential expression of miR10a-5p and several other abundant miRs were validated by qRT-PCR. Subsequent in vitro and in vivo experiments showed that miR10a in FVIIa-released EEVs contribute to anti-inflammatory and barrier protective effects.
Project description:A key feature of Nasonia are their form of sex determination, called haplodiploidy. Females are diploid and develop from fertilized eggs, whereas males are haploid and develop parthenogenetically from unfertilized eggs. This form of sex determination is exploited by this experiment, by knowing the sex of the organisms from the earliest stages of development, so to trace the transcriptomes of sexual development of an insect. We conducted three replicates each using RNA from independent biological extractions of male and female early embryo (0-10 hrs), late embryo (18-30 hrs), 1st instar larvae, and pupae. Additional experiments were performed comparing transcription in adult males, adult females, testis and the female reproductive tract.
Project description:Hormonal fluctuations throughout the ovarian cycle contribute to femalesâ?? higher vulnerability to anxiety disorders when compared to males. Notably, such sex differences are controlled by regulation of genes in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) including the transcription factor early growth response 1 (Egr1) in rats, which highlights a control of anxiety-like behaviors by sexually-biased gene expression. We therefore undertook a large-scale characterization of sex differences and their interaction with the estrous cycle in the adult mPFC transcriptome and report that proestrus and diestrus females (with high and low ovarian hormones levels, respectively) exhibited a partly-opposed sexually-biased transcriptome. Surprisingly, the extent of regulations within females vastly exceeded sex differences, and support a multi-level reorganization of synaptic function across the estrous cycle. Furthermore, genome-wide analysis of Egr1 binding highlighted its role in controlling the synapse-related genes varying within females, and the sex- and estrous cycle-dependent transcriptomic reorganization in the rat mPFC. Early growth response 1 (Egr1) binding profiling in the adult rat medial prefrontal cortex of males, proestrus females, and diestrus females. A total of 9 animals were used, corresponding to 3 Males, 2 proestrus females, and 4 diestrus females.
Project description:Auxin is used to induce transgene expression or degrade proteins in Drosophila. Here we exposed three different genotypes to 0 mM or 10 mM auxin and measured changes in gene expression for both males and females. We found that auxin exposure significantly alters the transcriptome of adult Drosophila in all genotypes tested.