Zhang Qiancheng, Sun Fengyuan, Zhang Ruifeng, Zhao Donghong, Zhu Ran, Cheng Xin, Long Xin, Hou Xinling, Yan Rui, Cao Yu, Guo Fan, Yan Long, Hu Yuqiong
State Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Reproductive Biology, Institute of Zoology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
Institute for Stem Cell and Regeneration, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
Life Med. 2024 Jul 31;3(5):lnae028. doi: 10.1093/lifemedi/lnae028. eCollection 2024 Oct.
The ovary plays a crucial role in the reproductive system of female mammals by producing mature oocytes through folliculogenesis. Non-human model organisms are extensively utilized in research on human ovarian biology, thus necessitating the investigation of conservation and divergence in molecular mechanisms across species. In this study, we employed integrative single-cell analysis of transcriptome and chromatin accessibility to identify the evolutionary conservation and divergence patterns of ovaries among humans, monkeys, mice, rats, and rabbits. Our analyses revealed that theca cells exhibited the most significant changes during evolution based on scRNA-seq and scATAC-seq datasets. Furthermore, we discovered common -regulatory architectures in theca cells across species by conducting joint analyses of scRNA-seq and scATAC-seq datasets. These findings have potential applications in non-human biomedical and genetic research to validate molecular mechanisms found in human organisms. Additionally, our investigation into non-coding genomic regions identified intergenic highly transcribed regions (igHTRs) that may contribute to the evolution of species-specific phenotypic traits. Overall, our study provides valuable insights into understanding the molecular characteristics of adult ovaries while offering new perspectives for studying human ovarian physiology and diseases.
卵巢通过卵泡发生产生成熟卵母细胞，在雌性哺乳动物的生殖系统中发挥着关键作用。非人类模式生物被广泛用于人类卵巢生物学研究，因此有必要研究物种间分子机制的保守性和差异性。在本研究中，我们采用转录组和染色质可及性的综合单细胞分析，以确定人类、猴子、小鼠、大鼠和兔子卵巢的进化保守性和差异模式。我们的分析表明，基于单细胞RNA测序（scRNA-seq）和单细胞转座酶可及染色质测序（scATAC-seq）数据集，卵泡膜细胞在进化过程中表现出最显著的变化。此外，通过对scRNA-seq和scATAC-seq数据集进行联合分析，我们发现了跨物种卵泡膜细胞中的共同调控结构。这些发现有可能应用于非人类生物医学和基因研究，以验证在人类生物体中发现的分子机制。此外，我们对非编码基因组区域的研究确定了基因间高转录区域（igHTRs），这些区域可能有助于物种特异性表型特征的进化。总体而言，我们的研究为理解成年卵巢的分子特征提供了有价值的见解，同时为研究人类卵巢生理学和疾病提供了新的视角。
