Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Biotechnology and Disease Control and Prevention, College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Shandong Agricultural University, Taian, China.
College of Life Science, Qi Lu Normal University, Jinan, China.
BMC Genomics. 2020 Jul 16;21(1):486. doi: 10.1186/s12864-020-06855-w.
Follicle selection in chickens refers to the process of selecting one follicle from a group of small yellow follicles (SY, 6-8 mm in diameter) for development into 12-15 mm hierarchical follicles (usually F6 follicles), which is an important process affecting laying performance in the poultry industry. Although transcriptomic analysis of chicken ovarian follicles has been reported, integrated analysis of chicken follicles for selection by using both transcriptomic and proteomic approaches is still rarely performed. In this study, we compared the proteomes and transcriptomes of SY and F6 follicles in laying hens and identified several genes involved in chicken follicle selection.
Transcriptomic analysis revealed 855 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between SY follicles and F6 follicles in laying hens, among which 202 were upregulated and 653 were downregulated. Proteomic analysis revealed 259 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs), including 175 upregulated and 84 downregulated proteins. Among the identified DEGs and DEPs, changes in the expression of seven genes, including VLDLR1, WIF1, NGFR, AMH, BMP15, GDF6 and MMP13, and nine proteins, including VLDLR, VTG1, VTG3, PSCA, APOB, APOV1, F10, ZP2 and ZP3L2, were validated. Further analysis indicated that the mRNA level of chicken VLDLR was higher in F6 follicles than in SY follicles and was also higher in granulosa cells (GCs) than in thecal cells (TCs), and it was stimulated by FSH in GCs.
By comparing the proteomes and transcriptomes of SY and F6 follicles in laying hens, we identified several differentially expressed proteins/genes that might play certain roles in chicken follicle selection. These data may contribute to the identification of functional genes and proteins involved in chicken follicle selection.
鸡卵泡选择是指从一群小黄卵泡（SY，直径 6-8mm）中选择一个卵泡发育成 12-15mm 等级卵泡（通常为 F6 卵泡）的过程，这是影响家禽业产蛋性能的重要过程。尽管已经报道了鸡卵巢卵泡的转录组分析，但使用转录组和蛋白质组学方法综合分析鸡卵泡选择仍然很少见。在这项研究中，我们比较了产蛋母鸡 SY 和 F6 卵泡的蛋白质组和转录组，并鉴定了几个参与鸡卵泡选择的基因。
转录组分析显示，产蛋母鸡 SY 卵泡和 F6 卵泡之间有 855 个差异表达基因（DEGs），其中 202 个上调，653 个下调。蛋白质组分析显示，有 259 个差异表达蛋白（DEP），包括 175 个上调和 84 个下调蛋白。在鉴定的 DEGs 和 DEPs 中，七个基因，包括 VLDLR1、WIF1、NGFR、AMH、BMP15、GDF6 和 MMP13，和九个蛋白，包括 VLDLR、VTG1、VTG3、PSCA、APOB、APOV1、F10、ZP2 和 ZP3L2 的表达变化得到了验证。进一步分析表明，鸡 VLDLR 的 mRNA 水平在 F6 卵泡中高于 SY 卵泡，在颗粒细胞（GCs）中也高于卵泡膜细胞（TCs），并且在 GCs 中受 FSH 刺激。
通过比较产蛋母鸡 SY 和 F6 卵泡的蛋白质组和转录组，我们鉴定了一些差异表达的蛋白质/基因，它们可能在鸡卵泡选择中发挥一定作用。这些数据可能有助于鉴定参与鸡卵泡选择的功能基因和蛋白质。
