Project description:Postcopulatory sexual selection is now widely recognized as a key driver of reproductive trait evolution, including the machinery required to produce endogenous nuptial gifts. Despite the importance of such gifts, molecular composition of the non-gametic components of male ejaculates and their interactions with female reproductive tracts remain poorly understood. . Here we combined transcriptomic studies of both male and female reproductive glands with proteomic and metabolomic approaches to better understand the synthesis, composition and fate of this spermatophore gift in the common Eastern firefly, Photinus pyralis.
Project description:Postcopulatory sexual selection is recognized as a key driver of reproductive trait evolution, including the machinery required to produce endogenous nuptial gifts. Despite the importance of such gifts, the molecular composition of the non-gametic components of male ejaculates and their interactions with female reproductive tracts remain poorly understood. During mating, male Photinus fireflies transfer to females a spermatophore gift manufactured by multiple reproductive glands. Here we combined transcriptomics of both male and female reproductive glands with proteomics and metabolomics to better understand the synthesis, composition and fate of the spermatophore in the common Eastern firefly, Photinus pyralis. Our transcriptome of male glands revealed up-regulation of proteases that may enhance male fertilization success and activate female immune response. Using bottom-up proteomics we identified 208 functionally annotated proteins that males transfer to the female in their spermatophore. Targeted metabolomic analysis also provided the first evidence that Photinus nuptial gifts contain lucibufagin, a firefly defensive toxin. The reproductive tracts of female fireflies showed increased gene expression for several proteases that may be involved in egg production. This study offers new insights into the molecular composition of male spermatophores, and extends our understanding of how nuptial gifts may mediate postcopulatory interactions between the sexes.
Project description:Firefly larvae are highly specialized predators of snails, which utilize midgut secretions to incapacitate and pre-digest their much larger prey. With the current analysis we aim to shed light on the composition of the midgut secretion of these larvae utilizing a proteo-transcriptomic approach.
Project description:A growing body of data suggests that the human brain serves as a sanctuary for HIV persistence despite life-long antiretroviral therapy. Microglia, the innate immune cells of the brain parenchyma, may serve as a reservoir for rebound of HIV infection. The extent of the latent brain reservoir and molecular phenotype of HIV infected microglia cells, however, are unknown. To address this major knowledge gap, we leveraged the ‘Last Gift’ rapid autopsy cohort to perform a multi-omics approach (single cell RNA-seq, single cell ATAC-seq, and H3K27ac ChIP-seq) of the myeloid compartment creating a gene expression and chromatin accessibility atlas of human microglia isolated from three male individuals with HIV on suppressive antiretroviral therapy.
Project description:A growing body of data suggests that the human brain serves as a sanctuary for HIV persistence despite life-long antiretroviral therapy. Microglia, the innate immune cells of the brain parenchyma, may serve as a reservoir for rebound of HIV infection. The extent of the latent brain reservoir and molecular phenotype of HIV infected microglia cells, however, are unknown. To address this major knowledge gap, we leveraged the ‘Last Gift’ rapid autopsy cohort to perform a multi-omics approach (single cell RNA-seq, single cell ATAC-seq, and H3K27ac ChIP-seq) of the myeloid compartment creating a gene expression and chromatin accessibility atlas of human microglia isolated from three male individuals with HIV on suppressive antiretroviral therapy.
Project description:Coordinate loss of MLL1 and WDR5 occupancy caused by HOTTIP knockdown were observed in distal HOXA genes. These regions correspondingly lost H3K4me3 and H3K4me2, without changes in pan-histone or H3K27me3. human foreskin fibroblasts (CRL2091), anti-H3K4me3 (Abcam ab8580, lot#1016899), anti-H3K4me2 (Abcam ab32356, lot#947550), anti-H3K27me3 (Abcam ab4729, lot#1021724), anti-histone H3 (Abcam ab1791, lot#1025144), anti-MLL1 (gift of R. Roeder, Rockefeller University), and anti-WDR5 (gift of W. Herr, UNIL)
Project description:A growing body of data suggests that the human brain serves as a sanctuary for HIV persistence despite life-long antiretroviral therapy. Microglia, the innate immune cells of the brain parenchyma, may serve as a reservoir for rebound of HIV infection. The extent of the latent brain reservoir and molecular phenotype of HIV infected microglia cells, however, are unknown. To address this major knowledge gap, we leveraged the ‘Last Gift’ rapid autopsy cohort to perform a multi-omics approach (single cell RNA-seq, single cell ATAC-seq, and H3K27ac ChIP-seq) of the myeloid compartment creating a gene expression and chromatin accessibility atlas of human microglia isolated from three male individuals with HIV on suppressive antiretroviral therapy.
Project description:Dissolved oxygen (DO) is the basis of fish survival, and proper DO level is an important condition to ensure the normal growth of fish. Hypoxic environment is prone to disturb the normal breathing and metabolism of fish, which in turn affects their growth and survival. Gill tissue is the respiratory organs of fish and is in direct contact with the external environment. However, there are few reports on the molecular regulatory mechanism of genetically improved farmed tilapia (GIFT, Oreochromis niloticus) gill tissues in response to hypoxia. Here, we first examine the hypoxia-induced damage of gill tissue by hematoxylin-eosin staining, and then constructed miRNA and mRNA libraries of GIFT gill tissue at 96h of hypoxia stress by a high-throughput sequencing technology, each library has three biological replicates. Gill lamellae of GIFT showed capillary rupture and red blood cell enlargement and overflow under hypoxia stress. Transcription sequencing results showed that the clean reads of miRNA libraries were 9,627,953-13,544,660; the clean reads of mRNA libraries were 43,817,776-53,130,102. Based on the miRNA-mRNA pairs screening principles and mRNA sequencing results, we selected and verified seven differentially expressed miRNAs and their potential target genes. The sequencing results were consistent with the qRT-PCR validation results. These selected miRNA-mRNA pairs are mainly concentrated in the signaling pathways of immune response and metabolic regulation. This study provides new insights into the mechanisms of fish adaptation under hypoxic stress.