Project description:Male and female disease states differ in their prevalence, treatment responses, and survival rates. In cardiac disease, women almost uniformly fare far worse than men1-3. Though sex plays a critical role in cardiac disease, the mechanisms underlying sex differences in cardiac homeostasis and disease remain unexplained. Here, we reveal sex-specific cardiac transcriptomes and proteomes and show that cardiac sex differences are predominately controlled via post-transcriptional mechanisms. Using a quantitative proteomics-based approach, we characterize differential sex-specific enriched cardiac proteins, protein complexes, and biological sex processes in the context of global genetic diversity of the Collaborative Cross. We show that differences in cardiac protein expression are established by both hormonal and genetic mechanisms and define two additional pathways, one that is SRY dependent and one that is SRY-independent. We also determined the onset of sex-biased protein expression and discovered that sex disparities in heart tissue occur at the earliest stages of heart development, during the period preceding primary mammalian sex determination. This may explain why congenital heart disease, a leading cause of death whose origin is often developmental, is sex biased. Our results reveal the molecular foundations for the differences in cardiac tissue that underlie sex disparities in health, disease, and treatment outcomes.
2022-08-11 | PXD020139 | Pride
Project description:Allopatric and sympatric diversification within roach (Rutilus rutilus) of large prealpine lakes
Project description:Restriction site Associated DNA (RAD) tags are a genome-wide representation of every site of a particular restriction enzyme by short DNA tags. Most organisms segregate large numbers of DNA sequence polymorphisms that disrupt restriction sites, which allow RAD tags to serve as genetic markers spread at a high-density throughout the genome. Here, we demonstrate the applicability of RAD markers for both individual and bulk-segregant genotyping. First, we show that these markers can be identified and typed on pre-existing microarray formats. Second, we present a method that uses RAD marker DNA to rapidly produce a low-cost microarray genotyping resource that can be used to efficiently identify and type thousands of RAD markers. We demonstrate the utility of the former approach by using a tiling path array for the fruit fly to map a recombination breakpoint, and the latter approach by creating and utilizing an enriched RAD marker array for the threespine stickleback. The high number of RAD markers enabled localization of a previously identified region, as well as a second novel region also associated with the lateral plate phenotype. Taken together, our results demonstrate that RAD markers, and the method to develop a RAD marker microarray resource, allow high-throughput, high-resolution genotyping in both model and non-model systems. Keywords: microarray genotyping
Project description:Whereas in ovo exposure of genetically male (ZZ) chicken embryos to exogenous estrogens temporarily feminizes gonads at the time of hatching, the morphologically ovarian ZZ-gonads (FemZZs for feminized ZZ gonads) are masculinized back to testes within one year. To identify the feminization-resistant “memory” of genetic male sex, FemZZs showing varying degrees of feminization were subjected to transcriptomic, DNA methylome, and immunofluorescence analyses. Protein-coding genes were classified based on their relative mRNA expression across normal ZZ-testes, genetically female (ZW) ovaries, and FemZZs. We identified a group of 25 genes that were strongly expressed in both ZZ-testes and FemZZs but dramatically suppressed in ZW-ovaries. Interestingly, 84% (21/25) of these feminization-resistant testicular marker genes, including the DMRT1 master masculinizing gene, were located in chromosome Z. Expression of representative marker genes of germline cells (e.g., DAZL or DDX4/VASA) was stronger in FemZZs than normal ZZ-testes or ZW-ovaries. We also identified 231 repetitive sequences (RSs) that were strongly expressed in both ZZ-testes and FemZZs, but these RSs were not enriched in chromosome Z. Although 94% (165/176) of RSs exclusively expressed in ZW-ovaries were located in chromosome W, no feminization-inducible RS was detected in FemZZs. DNA methylome analysis distinguished FemZZs from normal ZZ- and ZW-gonads. Immunofluorescence analysis of FemZZ gonads revealed expression of DMRT1 protein in medullary SOX9+ somatic cells and apparent germline cell populations in both medulla and cortex. Taken together, our study provides evidence that both somatic and germline cell populations in morphologically feminized FemZZs maintain significant transcriptomic and epigenetic memories of genetic sex.
Project description:Regulator of sex-limitation (rsl) is a recessive mouse phenotype in which the otherwise male-specific sex-limited protein (Slp) gene is expressed in females. Positional cloning in rsl mice led to the identification of mutations in two neighboring KRAB zinc finger transcriptional repressors, Rsl1 and Rsl2, and BAC transgenic rescue experiements verified their ability to repress male-specific genes in the liver. Microarrays were used here to identify RSL-sensitive genes in mouse abdominal white adipose tissue. Experiment type: sex comparison and genetic modification
Project description:Understanding the consequences of thermal and chemical variations in aquatic habitats is of importance in a scenario of global change. In ecology, the sex ratio is a major population demographic parameter. Research carried out so far on environmental perturbations on fish sex ratios has usually involved a few model species with a strong genetic basis of sex determination, analyzing juvenile or adult gonads. However, the underlying mechanisms at the time of commitment are poorly understood. The European sea bass has a mixed genetic and environmental sex determination system, which makes it naturally sensitive to environmental cues. Here, we transcriptomically analyzed developing gonads experiencing either testis or ovarian differentiation as a result of thermal and/or estrogen influences. Elevated temperature masculinized genetic females while estrogen exposure resulted in an all-female population. A total of 383 genes were differentially expressed, with an overall downregulation in the expression of genes involved both in testicular and ovarian differentiation in the estrogen-exposed fish achieved by a shutdown of the first steps of steroidogenesis. GO enrichment analysis uncovered affected pathways related to the immune response, xenobiotic metabolism, response to stimulus, signaling and growth. However, once the female phenotype was imposed gonads could continue their normal development, even taking into account that some of the resulting females were fish that otherwise would have developed as males. The data on the underlying mechanisms operating at the molecular level presented here contributes to better understanding the sex ratio response of fish species subjected to a combination of environmental perturbations.