1
|
Chen L, Cheng Y, Zhang G, Zhou Y, Zhang Z, Chen Q, Feng Y. WGBS of embryonic gonads revealed that long non-coding RNAs in the MHM region might be involved in cell autonomous sex identity and female gonadal development in chickens. Epigenetics 2024; 19:2283657. [PMID: 38037805 PMCID: PMC10761181 DOI: 10.1080/15592294.2023.2283657] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/10/2023] [Accepted: 10/01/2023] [Indexed: 12/02/2023] Open
Abstract
DNA methylation plays a key role in sex determination and differentiation in vertebrates. However, there are few studies on DNA methylation involved in chicken gonad development, and most focused on male hypermethylated regions (MHM). It is unclear whether there are specific differentially methylated regions (DMRs) in chicken embryonic gonads regulating sex determination and differentiation. Here, the DNA methylation maps showed that the difference of DNA methylation level between sexes was much higher at embryonic day 10 (E10) than that at embryonic day 6 (E6), and the significant differentially methylated regions at both stages were mainly distributed on the Z chromosome, including MHM1 and MHM2. The results of bisulphite sequencing PCR (BSP) and qRT-PCR showed hypomethylation of female MHM and upregulation of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) whose promoter in the MHM region was consistent with the sequencing results, and similar results were in brain and muscle. In female sex-reversed gonads, the methylation pattern of MHM remained unchanged, and the expression levels of the three candidate lncRNAs were significantly decreased compared with those in females, but were significantly increased compared to males. The fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) results also showed that these lncRNAs were highly expressed in female embryonic gonads. The results of methyltransferase inhibitor and dual-luciferase reporter assay suggest that lncRNA expression may be regulated by DNA methylation within their promoters. Therefore, we speculated that MHM may be involved in cell-autonomous sex identity in chickens, and that lncRNAs regulated by MHM may be involved in female sexual differentiation.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ligen Chen
- Key Laboratory of Agricultural Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Ministry of Education, College of Animal Science and Technology and College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China
| | - Yu Cheng
- Key Laboratory of Agricultural Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Ministry of Education, College of Animal Science and Technology and College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China
| | - Guixin Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Agricultural Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Ministry of Education, College of Animal Science and Technology and College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China
| | - Yang Zhou
- Key Laboratory of Agricultural Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Ministry of Education, College of Animal Science and Technology and College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China
| | - Zhen Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Agricultural Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Ministry of Education, College of Animal Science and Technology and College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China
| | - Qianhong Chen
- Key Laboratory of Agricultural Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Ministry of Education, College of Animal Science and Technology and College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China
| | - Yanping Feng
- Key Laboratory of Agricultural Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Ministry of Education, College of Animal Science and Technology and College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Yu H, Tang J, Dong L, Tang M, Arif A, Zhang T, Zhang G, Xie K, Zhao Z, Dai G. Transcriptome analysis reveals that gga-miR-2954 inhibits the inflammatory response against Eimeria tenella infection. Int J Biol Macromol 2024; 269:131807. [PMID: 38670189 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2024.131807] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2023] [Revised: 01/29/2024] [Accepted: 03/15/2024] [Indexed: 04/28/2024]
Abstract
Coccidiosis is an important parasitic protozoan disease in poultry farming, causing huge economic losses in the global poultry industry every year. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of RNA macromolecules that play important roles in the immune response to pathogens. However, the expression profiles and functions of miRNAs during Eimeria tenella (E. tenella) infection in chickens remain mostly uncharacterized. In this study, high-throughput sequencing of cecal tissues of control (JC), resistant (JR), and susceptible (JS) chickens led to the identification of 35 differentially expressed miRNAs among the three groups. Functional enrichment analysis showed that the differentially expressed miRNAs were mainly associated with the TGF-beta, NF-kB, and Jak-STAT signaling pathways. Notably, gga-miR-2954 was found to be significantly upregulated after coccidial infection. Functional analysis showed that gga-miR-2954 inhibited the production of the inflammatory cytokines IL-6, IL-1β, TNF-α, and IL-8 in sporozoite-stimulated DF-1 cells. Mechanistically, we found that gga-miR-2954 targeted the RORC gene and that RORC promoted the inflammatory response in sporozoite-stimulated DF-1 cells. In conclusion, our study was the first to identify differentially expressed miRNAs in chicken cecal tissue during E. tenella infection and found that gga-miR-2954 regulates the host immune response to coccidial infection in chickens by targeting the RORC gene.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Hailiang Yu
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China
| | - Jianqiang Tang
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China
| | - Liyue Dong
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China
| | - Meihui Tang
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China
| | - AreeJ Arif
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China
| | - Tao Zhang
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China
| | - Genxi Zhang
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China
| | - Kaizhou Xie
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China
| | - Zhenhua Zhao
- Poultry Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Yangzhou, China
| | - Guojun Dai
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China.
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Halgrain M, Bernardet N, Hennequet-Antier C, Réhault-Godbert S. Sex-specific transcriptome of the chicken chorioallantoic membrane. Genomics 2024; 116:110754. [PMID: 38061480 DOI: 10.1016/j.ygeno.2023.110754] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2023] [Revised: 11/17/2023] [Accepted: 12/03/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023]
Abstract
Dimorphism between male and female embryos has been demonstrated in many animal species, including chicken species. Likewise, extraembryonic membranes such as the chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) are likely to exhibit a sex-specific profile. Analysis of the previously published RNA-seq data of the chicken CAM sampled at two incubation times, revealed 783 differentially expressed genes between the CAM of male and female embryos. The expression of some of these genes is sex-dependant only at one or other stage of development, while 415 genes are sex-dependant at both developmental stages. These genes include well-known sex-determining and sex-differentiation genes (DMRT1, HEGM, etc.), and are mainly located on sex chromosomes. This study provides evidence that gene expression of extra-embryonic membranes is differentially regulated between male and female embryos. As such, a better characterisation of associated mechanisms should facilitate the identification of new sex-specific biomarkers.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Christelle Hennequet-Antier
- Université Paris-Saclay, INRAE, MaIAGE, Jouy-en-Josas 78350, France; Université Paris-Saclay, INRAE, BioinfOmics, MIGALE Bioinformatics Facility, Jouy-en-Josas 78350, France
| | | |
Collapse
|
4
|
Liu J, Dai S, Dai Z, Feng Y, Lei M, Chen R, Zhu H. Transcriptome Profiling of Goose Ovarian Follicle Granulosa Cells Reveals Key Regulatory Networks for Follicle Selection. Animals (Basel) 2023; 13:2132. [PMID: 37443931 DOI: 10.3390/ani13132132] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2023] [Revised: 06/20/2023] [Accepted: 06/26/2023] [Indexed: 07/15/2023] Open
Abstract
The selection of follicles determines the reproductive performance of birds, but the process of follicle selection in geese is still elusive. This study focuses on Yangzhou geese during the egg-laying period and divides the follicular development process into three stages: small follicle development, follicle selection, and follicle maturation. Transcriptome sequencing was performed on granulosa cells from large white follicles, small yellow follicles, and F5 and F4 follicles. In addition, we selected the transcripts that remained unchanged during the development and maturation of small follicles but significantly changed during the follicular selection stage as the transcript collection that plays an important role in the follicular selection process. Then, we performed functional analysis on these transcripts and constructed a ceRNA network. The results showed that during the follicular selection stage, the number of differentially expressed mRNAs, miRNAs, and lncRNAs was the highest. In addition, miR-222-3p, miR-2954-3p, miR-126-5p, miR-2478, and miR-425-5p are potential key core regulatory molecules in the selection stage of goose follicles. These results can provide a reference for a better understanding of the basic mechanisms of the goose follicle selection process and potential targets for the precise regulation of goose egg production performance.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jie Liu
- Institute of Animal Science, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing 210014, China
- Key Laboratory of Crop and Livestock Integration, Ministry of Agriculture, Nanjing 210014, China
| | - Shudi Dai
- School of Life Science, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212000, China
| | - Zichun Dai
- Institute of Animal Science, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing 210014, China
- Key Laboratory of Crop and Livestock Integration, Ministry of Agriculture, Nanjing 210014, China
| | - Yuyan Feng
- Key Laboratory of Animal Physiology & Biochemistry, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
| | - Mingming Lei
- Institute of Animal Science, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing 210014, China
- Key Laboratory of Crop and Livestock Integration, Ministry of Agriculture, Nanjing 210014, China
| | - Rong Chen
- Institute of Animal Science, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing 210014, China
- Key Laboratory of Crop and Livestock Integration, Ministry of Agriculture, Nanjing 210014, China
| | - Huanxi Zhu
- Institute of Animal Science, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing 210014, China
- Key Laboratory of Crop and Livestock Integration, Ministry of Agriculture, Nanjing 210014, China
| |
Collapse
|