Project description:Trenbolone and flutamide are prototypical model compounds for respectively androgen and anti-androgen modes of action. Trenbolone is an anabolic steroid used in cattle industry to increase weight gain and feed efficiency, and flutamide is a pharmaceutical used to treat prostate cancer. Androgens exert profound effects on the organization, development, and function of the male reproductive system through activation of androgen receptors (ARs). Flutamide, as an antiandrogen, was expected to temper the effects of trenbolone on androgen receptor (AR)-mediated gene expression. Female fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas) were exposed via the water to 0.05, 0.5 or 5 µg 17β-trenbolone/L; 50, 150 or 500 µg flutamide/L; or to a mixture of 0.5 μg/L trenbolone and 500 μg/L flutamide. After a 48 hr constant exposure gene expression in gonads was analyzed using a fathead minnow-specific 22,000-gene microarray. Trenbolone significantly changed the expression (P < 0.05) of roughly 750 different genes, while flutamide changed the expression of 1420 genes. Most of the genes that were regulated were distinct for the two chemicals. However, 70 genes were reciprocally regulated by the two treatments. Myelocytomatosis viral oncogene homolog (Myc), Yin Yang 1 (YY1) and interferon regulator factor 1 (IRF1) were among the important transcription factors reciprocally regulated by trenbolone and flutamide, suggesting they may be specifically regulated by the AR. These regulatory molecules, in conjunction with other reciprocally regulated transcription factors, may function as early molecular switches to control phenotypic changes in gonad tissue architecture and function. Fathead minnows exposed for 48h to 0.5 ug trenbolone, 500 ug flutamide, or a mixture of both.
Project description:Trenbolone and flutamide are prototypical model compounds for respectively androgen and anti-androgen modes of action. Trenbolone is an anabolic steroid used in cattle industry to increase weight gain and feed efficiency, and flutamide is a pharmaceutical used to treat prostate cancer. Androgens exert profound effects on the organization, development, and function of the male reproductive system through activation of androgen receptors (ARs). Flutamide, as an antiandrogen, was expected to temper the effects of trenbolone on androgen receptor (AR)-mediated gene expression. Female fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas) were exposed via the water to 0.05, 0.5 or 5 µg 17β-trenbolone/L; 50, 150 or 500 µg flutamide/L; or to a mixture of 0.5 μg/L trenbolone and 500 μg/L flutamide. After a 48 hr constant exposure gene expression in gonads was analyzed using a fathead minnow-specific 22,000-gene microarray. Trenbolone significantly changed the expression (P < 0.05) of roughly 750 different genes, while flutamide changed the expression of 1420 genes. Most of the genes that were regulated were distinct for the two chemicals. However, 70 genes were reciprocally regulated by the two treatments. Myelocytomatosis viral oncogene homolog (Myc), Yin Yang 1 (YY1) and interferon regulator factor 1 (IRF1) were among the important transcription factors reciprocally regulated by trenbolone and flutamide, suggesting they may be specifically regulated by the AR. These regulatory molecules, in conjunction with other reciprocally regulated transcription factors, may function as early molecular switches to control phenotypic changes in gonad tissue architecture and function.
Project description:Omics approaches are broadly used to explore endocrine and toxicity-related pathways and functions. Nevertheless, there is still a significant gap in knowledge in terms of understanding the endocrine system and its numerous connections and intricate feedback loops, especially in non-model organisms. The fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas) is a widely used small fish model for aquatic toxicology and regulatory testing, particularly in North America. A draft genome has been published but the amount of available genomic or transcriptomic information is still far behind that of other more broadly studied species, such as the zebrafish. Here, we surveyed the tissue-specific proteome and transcriptome profiles in adult male fathead minnow. To do so, we generated a draft transcriptome using short and long sequencing reads. We also performed RNA sequencing and proteomics analysis on the telencephalon, hypothalamus, liver, and gut of male fish. The main purpose of this analysis was to generate tissue-specific omics data in order to support future aquatic ecotoxicogenomic and endocrine-related studies as well as to improve our understanding of the fathead minnow as an ecological model.
Project description:Fathead minnow and zebrafish are among the most intensively studied fish species in environmental toxicogenomics. To aid the assessment and interpretation of subtle transcriptomic effects from treatment conditions of interest, there needs to be a better characterization and understanding of the natural variation in gene expression among fish individuals within populations. Little effort, however, has been made in this area. Leveraging the transcriptomics data from a number of our toxicogenomics studies conducted over the years, we conducted a meta-analysis of nearly 600 microarrays generated from the ovary tissue of untreated, reproductively mature fathead minnow and zebrafish samples. As expected, there was considerable batch-to-batch transcriptomic variation; this “batch-effect” appeared to impact the fish transcriptomes randomly. The overall level of variation within-batch was quite low in fish ovary tissue, making it a suitable system for studying chemical stressors with subtle biological effects. The within-batch variation, however, differed considerably among individual genes and molecular pathways. This difference in variability is probably both technical and biological, thus suggesting a need to take into account both the expression levels and variance in evaluating and interpreting the transcriptional impact on genes and pathways by experimental conditions. There was significant conservation of both the genomes and transcriptomes between fathead minnow and zebrafish. The conservation to such a degree would enable not only a comparative biology approach in studying the mechanisms of action underlying environmental stressors, but also effective sharing of a large amount of existing public transcriptomics data for future development of toxicogenomics applications. total RNA from the ovary tissue of treated or control fish labeled in single color was hybridized to Agilent fathead minnow microarray (design 019597)
Project description:The ureic-based herbicide linuron and the model anti-androgen flutamide regulate common gene networks in the fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas) ovary