Project description:In this analysis, we used microarrays to contrast genome-wide transcript levels in virgin versus mated females before and after infection. We repeated the entire experiment using female mutants that do not form a germline. We found that multiple genes involved in egg production show reduced expression in response to infection, and that this reduction is stronger in virgins than it is in mated females. In germline-less females, expression of egg-production genes was predictably low and not differentially affected by infection. We also identified several immune responsive genes that are differentially induced after infection in virgins versus mated females.
Project description:Early life stage mortality is an important issue for Atlantic cod aquaculture. The impact of the cod maternal (egg) transcriptome on egg quality and mortality during embryonic development is poorly understood. In the present work we studied embryonic mortality and maternal transcript expression using 15 females within an Atlantic cod broodstock development program. Cumulative mortality at 7 days post-fertilization (segmentation stage) and percent hatch were used to assess embryonic survival as an indicator of egg quality. A 20,000 probe (20K) microarray experiment compared the 7 hour post-fertilization (7 hpf, ~ 2-cell stage) egg transcriptome of the two lowest quality females (both with less than 1 percent hatch) to that of the highest quality female (greater than 50 percent hatch).
Project description:This model is used for automatic identification and counting of three types of blood cells: Red Blood Cells (RBC), White Blood Cells (WBC) and Platelet (Platelets) using the ‘you only look once’ (YOLO) object detection and classification algorithm with some additions to remove overannotation. The YOLO framework has been trained with a modified configuration BCCD Dataset of blood smear images to automatically identify and count red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets.
Postprocessing with k-nearest neighbor (KNN) and intersection over union (IOU) approach reduces issues with multiple annotation of platelets.
The original code was extended to save the trained YoloV2 network state into the protobuf format. This is then used to generate the ONNX model, containing the weigths. Additional code was added to implement the inference step for image annotation based on the ONNX model, as well as the post-processing logic as used on the original model output. Dependencies have been documented explicitly using a conda environment.yml file to simplify reproducibility.
Original GitHub repository: https://github.com/MahmudulAlam/Automatic-Identification-and-Counting-of-Blood-Cells
GitHub repository: https://github.com/nilshoffmann/Automatic-Identification-and-Counting-of-Blood-Cells
Project description:The life cycle of schistosomes is complex, being characterised by a series of distinct parasitic and free-living phases involving an invertebrate snail host, water and a mammalian host. A custom designed oligonucleotide microarray was utilized to profile developmental gene expression in the Asian blood fluke, Schistosoma japonicum during these parasitic and free-living transitions. Total RNAs were isolated from lung schistosomula, juvenile females and males (paired but little or no egg production), adult males and females (paired with full scale egg production), eggs, miracidia, sporocysts and cercariae. We focused on the three distinct environmental phases of the lifecycle - aquatic/snail (eggs, miracidia, sporocysts, cercariae), juvenile (lung schistosomula and paired pre-egg laying adults) and adult (paired males and females, both examined separately) stages.
Project description:Mating triggers physiological and behavioral changes in females. To understand how females effect these changes, we used microarray, to characterize gene expression in oviducts of mated and unmated Drosophila females. The transition from nonegg laying to egg laying elicits a distinct molecular profile in the oviduct.
Project description:In this analysis, we used microarrays to contrast genome-wide transcript levels in virgin versus mated females before and after infection. We repeated the entire experiment using female mutants that do not form a germline. We found that multiple genes involved in egg production show reduced expression in response to infection, and that this reduction is stronger in virgins than it is in mated females. In germline-less females, expression of egg-production genes was predictably low and not differentially affected by infection. We also identified several immune responsive genes that are differentially induced after infection in virgins versus mated females. Eight treatment groups were analzyed, with three replicates for each treatment group.
Project description:The present study aimed at studying the rainbow trout egg transcriptome using 9152-cDNA microarrays after natural or controlled ovulation. The analysis of egg transcriptome after natural or controlled ovulation led to the identification of 26 genes. We observed that both hormonal induction and photoperiod control of ovulation induced significant changes in the egg mRNA abundance of specific genes. We demonstrate that hormonal induction of ovulation has an impact on the egg mRNA abundance of specific genes even though the resulting effects on the developmental potential of the egg is so far unknown. In addition, we also identified 1 gene exhibiting a differential mRNA abundance in eggs of varying developmental potential. Keywords: Egg quality-dependent
Project description:Female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes impose a severe global public health burden as primary vectors of multiple viral and parasitic pathogens. Under optimal environmental conditions, Aedes aegypti females have access to human hosts that provide blood proteins for egg development, conspecific males that provide sperm for fertilization, and freshwater that serves as an egg-laying substrate suitable for offspring survival. As global temperatures rise, Aedes aegypti females are faced with climate challenges, like intense droughts and intermittent precipitation, which create unpredictable and suboptimal conditions for the egg-laying step of their reproductive cycle. Aedes aegypti mosquitoes nonetheless show remarkable reproductive resilience, but how they achieve this is unknown. Here we show that under drought-like conditions simulated in the laboratory, mated, blood-fed Aedes aegypti females carrying mature eggs retain them in their ovaries for extended periods, while maintaining the viability of these eggs until they can be deposited in freshwater. Using transcriptomic and proteomic profiling of Aedes aegypti ovaries, we identify two previously uncharacterized genes – here named tweedledee and tweedledum – that show ovary-enriched, temporally-restricted expression during egg retention. These genes are mosquito-specific, linked within a syntenic locus, and rapidly evolving under positive selection, raising the possibility that they serve an adaptive function. Using loss-of-function mutagenesis to disrupt both genes, we show that, tweedledee and tweedledum, which encode secreted proteins, are specifically required for extended retention of viable eggs, such as during intermittent precipitation or drought. These results highlight an elegant example of taxon-restricted genes at the heart of an important adaptation that equips Aedes aegypti females with “insurance” to, when contextually appropriate, flexibly extend their reproductive sequence without losing reproductive capacity, thus allowing this species to exploit diverse and unpredictable/chaotic/changing habitats.
Project description:Egg quality is an important aspect in rainbow trout farming. Post-ovulatory aging is one of the most important factors affecting egg quality. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are the major regulators in various biological processes and their expression profiles could serve as reliable biomarkers for various pathological and physiological conditions. Egg samples from 32 females on day 1, day 7, and day 14 post-ovulation (D1PO, D7PO and D14PO), which had the fertilization rates of 91.8%, 73.4% and less than 50%, respectively, were collected and small RNAs isolated from these samples were subjected to deep sequencing using the Illumina platform. Six miRNAs were found to be differentially expressed between D1PO and D14PO eggs. GO analysis of the target genes of the 6 miRNAs that were down-regulated in D14PO eggs revealed significantly enriched GO terms that are related to stress response, cell death, DNA damage, ATP generation, signal transduction and transcription regulation.