Key Laboratory of Agricultural Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Ministry of Education, College of Animal Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, People's Republic of China.
Key Laboratory of Agricultural Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Ministry of Education, College of Animal Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, People's Republic of China.
Comp Biochem Physiol Part D Genomics Proteomics. 2018 Sep;27:40-53. doi: 10.1016/j.cbd.2018.04.002. Epub 2018 Apr 28.
Previous studies have shown that theca and granulosa cell layers in follicles do not play the same roles in mammals and birds, especially regarding the synthesis of estrogen. The functions of these two cell types have been well characterized in cattle, but they remain unclear in chickens. To clarify this issue, a comparison of small yellow follicles (SYFs) in chickens and cattle at different follicular development stages was done by weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA). The modules obtained from WGCNA were used for further identification of the key genes associated with CYP19A1 expression. Module preservation analysis showed high similarity between cow_D (the follicular phase before the LH surge) and chicken_SYF (small yellow follicle between 6 and 8 mm in diameter) datasets, and 10 top hub genes highly associated with CYP19A1 expression in chicken SYFs were identified in each module. A comparison of the transcriptomes of theca and granulosa cells (TCs and GCs) between chicken SYFs and cattle follicles at the differentiation stage, as well as the aforementioned hub genes, revealed that ESR2 is a potential regulator of CYP19A1 expression in the theca cells of chicken SYFs. Furthermore, 197 cell-specific (179 in theca and 18 in granulosa) and 235 cell-biased expressed genes (196 in theca and 39 in granulosa) in chicken small yellow follicles were also identified by transcriptomic comparison of theca and granulosa cells.
先前的研究表明，哺乳动物和鸟类的卵泡中颗粒细胞层和膜细胞层的作用并不相同，尤其是在雌激素的合成方面。这两种细胞类型在牛中的功能已经得到了很好的描述，但在鸡中仍不清楚。为了阐明这个问题，通过加权基因共表达网络分析（WGCNA）对不同卵泡发育阶段的鸡和牛的小黄卵泡（SYF）进行了比较。WGCNA 获得的模块用于进一步鉴定与 CYP19A1 表达相关的关键基因。模块保存分析表明，牛_D（LH 激增前的卵泡期）和鸡_SYF（直径 6-8mm 的小黄卵泡）数据集之间具有高度相似性，并且在每个模块中都鉴定到 10 个与鸡 SYF 中 CYP19A1 表达高度相关的顶级枢纽基因。鸡 SYF 和分化阶段的牛卵泡中的颗粒细胞（TCs 和 GCs）之间的转录组比较，以及上述枢纽基因表明，ESR2 是鸡 SYF 中膜细胞中 CYP19A1 表达的潜在调节剂。此外，通过对鸡的小黄卵泡的颗粒细胞和膜细胞的转录组比较，还鉴定出 197 个细胞特异性（179 个在膜细胞中，18 个在颗粒细胞中）和 235 个细胞偏表达基因（196 个在膜细胞中，39 个在颗粒细胞中）。
