Project description:To gain insights into the genes whose expression levels are altered during stromal cell differentiation (decidualization), gene microarray profiling was performed following the experimentally induced decidualization protocol.
Project description:Analysis of differences in gene expression in the mouse uterus during decidualization in the presence and absence of a conceptus. A deciduomal model previously shown to better mimick natural decidualization was used. The results reveal some, but very few, genes that are differentially expressed, which is unlike previous reports using other deciduomal models shown previously to not mimick natural decidualization. Total RNA obtained from isolated uterine segment tissue undergoing decidualization from pregnant or pseudopregnant mice. Three replicates per condition.
Project description:Analysis of differences in gene expression in the mouse uterus during decidualization in the presence and absence of a conceptus. A deciduomal model previously shown to better mimick natural decidualization was used. The results reveal some, but very few, genes that are differentially expressed, which is unlike previous reports using other deciduomal models shown previously to not mimick natural decidualization.
Project description:PURPOSE: To provide a detailed gene expression profile of the normal postnatal mouse cornea. METHODS: Serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE) was performed on postnatal day (PN)9 and adult mouse (6 week) total corneas. The expression of selected genes was analyzed by in situ hybridization. RESULTS: A total of 64,272 PN9 and 62,206 adult tags were sequenced. Mouse corneal transcriptomes are composed of at least 19,544 and 18,509 unique mRNAs, respectively. One third of the unique tags were expressed at both stages, whereas a third was identified exclusively in PN9 or adult corneas. Three hundred thirty-four PN9 and 339 adult tags were enriched more than fivefold over other published nonocular libraries. Abundant transcripts were associated with metabolic functions, redox activities, and barrier integrity. Three members of the Ly-6/uPAR family whose functions are unknown in the cornea constitute more than 1% of the total mRNA. Aquaporin 5, epithelial membrane protein and glutathione-S-transferase (GST) omega-1, and GST alpha-4 mRNAs were preferentially expressed in distinct corneal epithelial layers, providing new markers for stratification. More than 200 tags were differentially expressed, of which 25 mediate transcription. CONCLUSIONS: In addition to providing a detailed profile of expressed genes in the PN9 and mature mouse cornea, the present SAGE data demonstrate dynamic changes in gene expression after eye opening and provide new probes for exploring corneal epithelial cell stratification, development, and function and for exploring the intricate relationship between programmed and environmentally induced gene expression in the cornea. Keywords: other
Project description:We specifically over-expressed Mettl3 in mouse uterus using the Pgr-Cre driver. To portray the molecular mechanism for Mettl3 function in mouse uterus during decidualization, uterine tissues were collected from METTL3-OE and control mice on gestational day 8 and subjected to RNA-seq analysis.
Project description:Introgressed variants from other species can be an important source of genetic variation because they may arise rapidly, can include multiple mutations on a single haplotype, and have often been pretested by selection in the species of origin. Although introgressed alleles are generally deleterious, several studies have reported introgression as the source of adaptive alleles-including the rodenticide-resistant variant of Vkorc1 that introgressed from Mus spretus into European populations of Mus musculus domesticus. Here, we conducted bidirectional genome scans to characterize introgressed regions into one wild population of M. spretus from Spain and three wild populations of M. m. domesticus from France, Germany, and Iran. Despite the fact that these species show considerable intrinsic postzygotic reproductive isolation, introgression was observed in all individuals, including in the M. musculus reference genome (GRCm38). Mus spretus individuals had a greater proportion of introgression compared with M. m. domesticus, and within M. m. domesticus, the proportion of introgression decreased with geographic distance from the area of sympatry. Introgression was observed on all autosomes for both species, but not on the X-chromosome in M. m. domesticus, consistent with known X-linked hybrid sterility and inviability genes that have been mapped to the M. spretus X-chromosome. Tract lengths were generally short with a few outliers of up to 2.7 Mb. Interestingly, the longest introgressed tracts were in olfactory receptor regions, and introgressed tracts were significantly enriched for olfactory receptor genes in both species, suggesting that introgression may be a source of functional novelty even between species with high barriers to gene flow.
Project description:Implantation of an embryo in the uterus is a multistep process tightly controlled by an intricate regulatory network of interconnected ovarian, uterine, and embryonic factors. Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) ligands and receptors are expressed in the pregnant uterus, and BMP2 has been shown to be a key regulator of implantation. In this study, we investigated the roles of the BMP type 1 receptor, activin-like kinase 2 (ALK2), during mouse pregnancy by producing uterine-specific Alk2 conditional knockout (cKO) mice. In the absence of ALK2, embryos can invade the uterine epithelium and stroma, but stromal cells cannot undergo uterine decidualization, resulting in sterility. Mechanistically, microarray analysis revealed that CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein β (Cebpb) expression is suppressed during decidualization in Alk2 cKO females. These findings and the similar phenotypes of Cebpb cKO and Alk2 cKO mice lead to the hypothesis that BMPs act upstream of C/EBPβ to regulate decidualization. To test this hypothesis, we knocked down ALK2 in human uterine stromal cells (HESC) and discovered that ablation of ALK2 alters HESC decidualization and suppresses CEBPB mRNA and protein levels. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) analysis of decidualizing HESC confirmed that BMP signaling protein, SMAD1, directly regulates expression of CEBPB by binding a distinct regulatory sequence in the CEBPB promoter; C/EBPβ, in turn, regulates the expression of progesterone receptor (PGR). Our work clarifies the conserved mechanisms through which BMPs regulate embryo implantation in rodents and primates and, for the first time, uncovers a linear pathwayof BMP signaling through ALK2 to regulate CEBPB and, subsequently, PGR during decidualization. gene expression profiling of two groups: control mice and Alk2 cKO mice