College of Animal Science and Technology, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450046, China.
Henan Key Laboratory for Innovation and Utilization of Chicken Germplasm Resources, Zhengzhou 450046, China.
J Anim Sci. 2023 Jan 3;101. doi: 10.1093/jas/skad295.
Efficient ovarian follicle development, maturation, and ovulation are critical for egg production performance. Previous research has underscored the importance of messenger RNAs (mRNAs) in regulating development and folliculogenesis in chicken ovarians. However, the molecular mechanism is not fully understood, especially in the late period of the laying cycle. In the present study, ovarian tissues from 80-week-old Hy-Line Brown layers (three with high and three with low rates of egg laying) were collected for transcriptome sequencing. A total of 306 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in this study, at a false discovery rate (FDR)-corrected P-value < 0.05 and a log2|fold change| (log2|FC|) ≥1.5. Among these DEGs, stanniocalcin 1 (STC1) was mainly related to cellular processes, single-organism processes, biological regulation, metabolic processes, developmental processes, and reproductive processes. Then, we further investigated the regulation of STC1 during chicken follicle development and found that STC1 inhibited the proliferation and stimulated the apoptosis of follicular granulosa cells (GCs), and decreased the expression of progesterone (P4) and estradiol (E2). Collectively, these results suggest that STC1 plays an important role in chicken follicle development by decreasing GC proliferation and steroidogenesis and stimulating GC apoptosis. This study contributes to the understanding of the reproductive biology of laying hens in the late period of the laying cycle and further lays a foundation for the improvement of egg production in poultry breeding.
高效的卵巢卵泡发育、成熟和排卵对产蛋性能至关重要。先前的研究强调了信使 RNA（mRNA）在调节鸡卵巢发育和卵泡发生中的重要性。然而，其分子机制尚不完全清楚，尤其是在产蛋周期的后期。在本研究中，采集了 80 周龄海兰褐蛋鸡（高产蛋率和低产蛋率各 3 只）的卵巢组织进行转录组测序。本研究共鉴定出 306 个差异表达基因（DEGs），校正错误发现率（FDR）<0.05 和对数倍数变化（log2|FC|）≥1.5。在这些 DEGs 中，STC1 主要与细胞过程、生物个体过程、生物调节、代谢过程、发育过程和生殖过程有关。然后，我们进一步研究了 STC1 在鸡卵泡发育过程中的调控作用，发现 STC1 抑制卵泡颗粒细胞（GC）增殖，刺激其凋亡，降低孕激素（P4）和雌二醇（E2）的表达。综上所述，这些结果表明 STC1 通过降低 GC 增殖和类固醇生成并刺激 GC 凋亡，在鸡卵泡发育中发挥重要作用。本研究有助于理解产蛋后期母鸡的生殖生物学，并为家禽养殖中提高产蛋量奠定基础。
