Project description:We report the expression profiles of putative genes involved in temperature-dependent sex determination across multiple developmental stages in turtles, and contrast this data with equivalent stages in turtles with sex chromosomes
Project description:The freshwater pearl mussel Margaritifera margaritifera is one of the most threatened freshwater bivalves worldwide. In this study, we aimed (i) to study the processes by which water quality might affect freshwater mussels in situ and (ii) to provide insights into the ecotoxicological significance of water pollution to natural populations in order to provide necessary information to enhance conservation strategies. M. margaritifera specimens were sampled in two close sites located upstream or downstream from an illegal dumping site. The renal transcriptome of these animals was assembled and gene transcription determined by RNA-seq. Correlations between transcription levels of each single transcript and the bioaccumulation of 9 trace metals, age (estimated by sclerochronology) and condition index were determined in order to identify genes likely to respond to a specific factor. Amongst the studied metals, Cr, Zn, Cd and Ni were the main factors correlated with transcription levels, with effects on translation, apoptosis, immune response, response to stimulus and transport pathways. However, the main factor explaining changes in gene transcription appeared to be the age of individuals with a negative correlation with the transcription of retrotransposons-related genes. To investigate this effect further, mussels were classified into 3 age classes. In young, middle-aged and old animals, transcription levels were mainly explained by Cu, Zn and age, respectively. This suggests differences in the molecular responses of this species to metals during its lifetime that must be better assessed in future ecotoxicology studies.
Project description:FOG-1/CPEB and FOG-3/Tob are the terminal regulators of the sex determination in C. elegans germ cells. CPEB and Tob proteins are both translational regulators. To investigate how FOG-1 and FOG-3 regulate germ cell sex determination we sought to identify the target mRNAs. We used transgenic epitope tagged animals (3xMyc::FOG-1 and FOG-3::3xFLAG). To identify the mRNA targets of FOG-1/CPEB and FOG-3/Tob on a genome wide scale we used RNA immunoprecipitation followed by microarray analysis. We found 81 putative mRNA targets of FOG-1 and 722 putative targets of FOG-3. 76 target mRNAs were common to both FOG-1 and FOG-3.
Project description:Purpose: The gene molecular network involved in teleost fish sex determination and differentiation is highly variable among species and even in some cases among populations of the same species. The objectives of the present study were to identify the period of gonadal sex differentiation in tambaqui juveniles, as well as the genes and pathways potentially involved in this process. Methods: Histological analysis of juveniles was carried out to establish a timeline of the gonadal differentiation in tambaqui. Based on that knowledge, ten juveniles were selected before the first evidence of histological sex differentiation and total RNA was extracted from their trunks and used for RNA-Sequencing and a subsequent de novo transcriptome assembly. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) of the whole transcriptome data was used to cluster samples into two distinct groups: putative males and putative females. Differential gene expression, functional annotation and gene enrichment were used to identify genes and pathways related to sex differentiation in tambaqui to which was applied the Mann-Whitney non-parametric t test (p <0.05) confirming the statistical significance of the expression dimorphism between the groups. Results: The first sign of histological sex differentiation in tambaqui was the formation of the ovarian cavity detected in individuals measuring about 40 mm in total length. Before the differentiation period, components of the Wnt / β-catenin pathway, fox and fst genes (p <0.05) suggest female sex development in the putative females, whereas antagonistic pathways (gsk3b, wt1 and fgfr2), sox9 and genes for androgen synthesis (p <0.05) are indicative of a male-like differentiation. Conclusions: Tambaqui juveniles prior to the morphological ovarian differentiation present the Wnt / β-catenin pathway exerting putative role on the sex differentiation target, either upregulated in female-like individuals, or antagonized in male-like individuals. Thus, the present work provides a molecular basis for future studies on the application of tambaqui monosex cultivation.
2020-08-05 | GSE130895 | GEO
Project description:Cryptobranchid sex determination
Project description:Sex determination mechanisms are bewilderingly diverse. A cascade of genes with hierarchical regulation characterizes sex determination pathways in insects. How such pathways evolve is poorly understood, partly due to a lack of comparative data. Houseflies are well known for their polymorphic sex determination with populations carrying a dominant male determiner M on the Y chromosome or any of the five autosomes. We identified the male determining gene Mdm responsible for splicing regulation of the key switch transformer by exploiting the existence of housefly populations with different sex determination mechanisms. We demonstrate that Mdm originated from duplication of CWC22/nucampholin, a generic and essential splicing regulator across Metazoans with a crucial role in exon-junction complex assembly and non-sense mediated decay. We show that strains with the M-locus on the Y and on different autosomes carry multiple copies of Mdm indicating that the same male determiner translocated to different genomic sites in the genome. We found that embryonic RNAi-based silencing of Mdm leads to differentiation of ovaries in males, while targeted Mdm disruption with CRISPR/CAS-9 resulted in complete sex reversal to fertile females. Our study reveals how a duplicate of a gene with a general splice-regulation role during development can be recruited to serve a specific function in the determination of male sex. Mdm appears to be unique to the housefly representing a compelling example for the plasticity at the instructive level of sex determination hierarchies.
Project description:The influence of environmental factors, especially temperature, on sex ratio is of great significance to elucidate the mechanism of sex determination. However, the molecular mechanisms by which temperature affects sex determination remains unclear, although a few candidate genes have been found to play a role in the process. In this study, we conducted transcriptome analysis of the effects induced by high temperature on zebrafish during gonad differentiation period. 1171, 1022 and 2921 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between high temperature and normal temperature were identified at 35, 45 and 60 days post-fertilization (dpf) respectively, revealing that DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs) and heat shock proteins (HSPs) were involved in the heat-exposed sex reversal. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway that were enriched in individuals after heat treatment included Fanconi anemia pathway, cell cycle, oocyte meiosis and homologous recombination. These results provide insights into the network of genes involved in heat-induced masculinization, and improve our understanding the molecular mechanisms of vertebrate sex determination.
Project description:As part of genetic studies of heart failure in mice, we observed that heart mitochondrial DNA levels and function tend to be reduced in females as compared to males. We also observed that expression of genes encoding mitochondrial proteins were higher in males than females in human cohorts. Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) exhibits a sex bias, being more common in women than men, and we hypothesized that mitochondrial sex differences might underlie this bias. We tested this in a panel of genetically diverse inbred strains of mice, termed the Hybrid Mouse Diversity Panel (HMDP). Indeed, we found that mitochondrial gene expression was highly correlated with diastolic function, a key trait in HFpEF. Consistent with this, studies of a “two-hit” mouse model of HFpEF confirmed that mitochondrial function differed between sexes and was strongly associated with a number of HFpEF traits. By integrating data from human heart failure and the mouse HMDP cohort, we identified the mitochondrial protein Acsl6 as a genetic determinant of diastolic function. We validated its role in HFpEF using adenoviral over-expression in the heart. We conclude that sex differences in mitochondrial function underlie, in part, the sex bias in diastolic function.