Project description:Whole brain gene expression profiling for Julidochromis transcriptus male vs. female and Julidochromis marlieri male vs female to identify sex-role biased and sex biased gene expression in these species that exhibit conventional and reversed sex-biased behavior respectively.
Project description:Whole brain gene expression profiling for Julidochromis transcriptus male vs. female and Julidochromis marlieri male vs female to identify sex-role biased and sex biased gene expression in these species that exhibit conventional and reversed sex-biased behavior respectively. 5 J. transcriptus male vs. female and 5 J. transcriptus female vs. male hybridizations compare 4 males and 4 females in a balanced loop design with dye-swaps that is independent of the 5 J. marlieri male vs. female and 5 J. marlieri female vs. male hybridizations compare 4 males and 4 females also in a balanced loop design with dye swaps.
Project description:Mate choice plays a fundamental role in speciation, yet we know little about the molecular mechanisms that underpin this crucial decision-making process. Stickleback fish differentially adapted to limnetic and benthic habitats are reproductively isolated and females of each species use different male traits to evaluate prospective partners and reject heterospecific males. Here, we integrate behavioral data from a mate choice experiment with gene expression profiles from the brains of females actively deciding whether to mate. We find substantial gene expression variation between limnetic and benthic females, regardless of behavioral context, suggesting general divergence in constitutive gene expression patterns, corresponding to their genetic differentiation. Intriguingly, female gene co-expression modules covary with male display traits but in opposing directions for sympatric populations of the two species, suggesting male displays elicit a dynamic neurogenomic response that reflects known differences in female preferences. Furthermore, we confirm the role of numerous candidate genes previously implicated in female mate choice in other species, suggesting that evolutionary tinkering with these conserved molecular processes underlies divergent mate preferences and sexual isolation. Taken together, our study adds important new insights to our understanding of the molecular processes underlying female decision-making critical for generating sexual isolation and speciation.
Project description:Nitrogen is a key factor impacting plant physiological processes and protein abundance. Although many proteins were changed substantially in poplar under N deficiency, the post-translational modifications in male and female poplars are still unclear. Therefore, we selected male and female poplars and analysed the changes of protein phosphorylation in response to N-deficient conditions.
Project description:The overall goal of this investigation was to investigate X-content of sex-biased genes in several nematode species. The following species of nematode were investigated: *C. elegans, *N2; *C. brenneri, *PB2801; *C. briggsae, *AF16; *C. remanei*, PB4641; *P. **pacificus, *PS312*.* Genomic DNA sequencing data was used to assign X and autosomal - linkage to unassembled sequencing contigs. Male and female RNA seq data was then generated and used to determine sex-biased expression. For both DNA and RNA experiments, 50bp paired-end (DNA) or single-end (RNA) reads were generated on the Illumina HiSeq 2500. Sequencing lanes were multiplexed. Genomic DNA was isolated from 50-100 hand-picked young adult worms. At least two replicates for each sex were prepared. DNA was sheared via sonication and 350-500 bp sequencing libraries were prepared following the Illumina protocol. Total RNA was isolated from at least 1000 hand-picked L4/young adult worms (*C. **elegans, *N2) or J4/young adult worms (*P. pacificus, *PS312*). *PolyA beads were used to enrich for mRNA. Stranded RNAseq libraries were prepared via incorporation of dUTPs during cDNA synthesis, following the protocol detailed in Parkhomchuk et al, 2009. DNAseq and RNAseq reads were aligned to the appropriate WS228 reference genomes. DNA sequencing data (2-3 replicates) from male and female YA worms are included along with RNAseq data from C.elegans YA hermaphrodites and P.pacificus YA males and hermaphrodites.
Project description:Background: The horn fly, Haematobia irritans (L.), is an obligate blood-feeding parasite of cattle and control of this pest is a continuing problem in the United States and other parts of the world. Worldwide annual economic losses attributable to this pest surpass $1 billion. The fly is becoming resistant to pesticides and new control technologies are needed by cattle producers. Results: Dominant conditional lethal gene systems are being investigated as population control technologies against agricultural insect pests. One of the critical components of these systems is a highly expressed female-specific gene promoter which can be used to drive expression of a lethality-inducing gene. To identify candidate genes to supply this gene promoter, microarrays were designed from a recently developed horn fly EST database and probed to identify female-specific and larval-specific differential gene expression. Analysis of dyeswap experiments found 432 and 417 transcripts which were over- and under-expressed in adult female flies, respectively, compared to adult male flies. Additionally, 419 and 871 transcripts were over- and under-expressed in first instar larvae compared to adult flies. Three transcripts were identified which were over-expressed in adult females flies compared to adult males and which also were over-expressed in the first instar larval lifestage compared to adult flies. Conclusion: We have identified 3 strong candidates for further evaluation as a gene promoter source for the development of a female-specific conditional lethality system in the horn fly. One of these candidates, the putative nanos orthologue, has a high female-to-male expression ratio, has a moderate expression level in first instar larvae, and has been well characterized in D. melanogaster. Further investigations leading from this microarray analysis will include transformation of the horn fly and evaluation of the female conditional lethal system components for applicability to the specific biological parameters of natural populations of the horn fly. Keywords: adult male vs female hornfly gene expression
Project description:Early stem cell differentiation programmes are tightly controlled by coordinated pre- and post-transcriptional regulatory networks. In this study, we investigate and characterise miRNA networks responsible for the post-translational gene regulation in early differentiation in both female and male mouse embryonic stem cells. We obtained miRNA-Seq and RNA-Seq profiles of male and female cells from day 0 (D0; 2i) to days 4, 10, 20 and 30. Interestingly, we observed a significant difference in gene expression profiles between females and males, both in terms of identity of regulated genes and of temporal characteristics. Similarly, we observed differences between miRNA species playing significant regulatory roles in female and male cells.
Project description:The purpose of this study is to determine the frequency of colorectal cancer in male and female endurance athletes between the ages of 35 and 50.