Project description:The quality of maternal care in early-life plays a crucial role in mammalian neurodevelopment. Augmented maternal care (AMC) is a well-established rodent model of enhanced neonatal care. Rats that have undergone AMC have improved stress resilience and cognition compared with rats that have experienced normal levels of maternal care or adverse neonatal stress. However, the epigenomic basis of long-lived responses to AMC has not been previously explored. Thus, we employed whole-genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS), RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq), and a multiplex microRNA (miRNA) assay to assess DNA cytosine methylation, gene expression, and miRNA expression, respectively. The integrated results identify a suite of 20 prioritized candidates impacted by AMC. Overall, these results identified AMC-induced regulatory differences in genes related to neurotransmission, neurodevelopment, protein synthesis, and oxidative phosphorylation in addition to the expected stress response genes. Together, these unbiased results represent a key progression in understanding the complex mechanisms underlying the early-life mechanisms for AMC programming stress resiliency.
Project description:The quality of maternal care in early-life plays a crucial role in mammalian neurodevelopment. Augmented maternal care (AMC) is a well-established rodent model of enhanced neonatal care. Rats that have undergone AMC have improved stress resilience and cognition compared with rats that have experienced normal levels of maternal care or adverse neonatal stress. However, the epigenomic basis of long-lived responses to AMC has not been previously explored. Thus, we employed whole-genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS), RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq), and a multiplex microRNA (miRNA) assay to assess DNA cytosine methylation, gene expression, and miRNA expression, respectively. The integrated results identify a suite of 20 prioritized candidates impacted by AMC. Overall, these results identified AMC-induced regulatory differences in genes related to neurotransmission, neurodevelopment, protein synthesis, and oxidative phosphorylation in addition to the expected stress response genes. Together, these unbiased results represent a key progression in understanding the complex mechanisms underlying the early-life mechanisms for AMC programming stress resiliency.
Project description:The quality of maternal care in early-life plays a crucial role in mammalian neurodevelopment. Augmented maternal care (AMC) is a well-established rodent model of enhanced neonatal care. Rats that have undergone AMC have improved stress resilience and cognition compared with rats that have experienced normal levels of maternal care or adverse neonatal stress. However, the epigenomic basis of long-lived responses to AMC has not been previously explored. Thus, we employed whole-genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS), RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq), and a multiplex microRNA (miRNA) assay to assess DNA cytosine methylation, gene expression, and miRNA expression, respectively. The integrated results identify a suite of 20 prioritized candidates impacted by AMC. Overall, these results identified AMC-induced regulatory differences in genes related to neurotransmission, neurodevelopment, protein synthesis, and oxidative phosphorylation in addition to the expected stress response genes. Together, these unbiased results represent a key progression in understanding the complex mechanisms underlying the early-life mechanisms for AMC programming stress resiliency.
Project description:Few studies have assessed the patterns of parasite populations of rodents over a longitudinal gradient in Chile. In this work, the gastrointestinal helminthic fauna of invasive rodents in Chile was examined to assess the association between their presence/absence and abundance with latitude, host sex, and host body condition, and to assess the coexistence and correlation of the abundance between parasite species. Rodents were obtained from 20 localities between 33 and 43°S. Helminths were extracted from the gastrointestinal tract and identified morphologically. Overall, 13 helminth taxa were obtained. The most frequently identified parasite species was Heterakis spumosa, and the most abundant was Syphacia muris, while Physaloptera sp. was the most widely distributed. No locality presented with a coexistence that was different from that expected by chance, while the abundance of five helminthic species correlated with the abundance of another in at least one locality, most likely due to co-infection rather than interaction. Host sex was associated with parasite presence or abundance, and female sex-biased parasitism was notably observed in all cases. Body condition and latitude presented either a positive or negative association with the presence or abundance of parasites depending on the species. It is notable that the likely native Physaloptera sp. is widely distributed among invasive rodents. Further, gravid females were found, suggesting spillback of this species to the native fauna. The low frequency and abundance of highly zoonotic hymenolepid species suggest that rodents are of low concern regarding gastrointestinal zoonotic helminths.