scholarly journals Sex-biased genes and metabolites explain morphologically sexual dimorphism and reproductive costs in Salix paraplesia catkins

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zeyu Cai ◽  
Congcong Yang ◽  
Jun Liao ◽  
Haifeng Song ◽  
Sheng Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Sexual Dimorphism ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Biomass Accumulation ◽  
Reproductive Costs ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Unisexual Flowers ◽  
Male Flowers

AbstractDioecious species evolved from species with monomorphic sex systems in order to achieve overall fitness gains by separating male and female functions. As reproductive organs, unisexual flowers have different reproductive roles and exhibit conspicuous sexual dimorphism. To date, little is known about the temporal variations in and molecular mechanisms underlying the morphology and reproductive costs of dioecious flowers. We investigated male and female flowers of Salix paraplesia in three flowering stages before pollination (the early, blooming and late stages) via transcriptional sequencing as well as metabolite content and phenotypic analysis. We found that a large number of sex-biased genes, rather than sex-limited genes, were responsible for sexual dimorphism in S. paraplesia flowers and that the variation in gene expression in male flowers intensified this situation throughout flower development. The temporal dynamics of sex-biased genes derived from changes in reproductive function during the different flowering stages. Sexually differentiated metabolites related to respiration and flavonoid biosynthesis exhibited the same bias directions as the sex-biased genes. These sex-biased genes were involved mainly in signal transduction, photosynthesis, respiration, cell proliferation, phytochrome biosynthesis, and phenol metabolism; therefore, they resulted in more biomass accumulation and higher energy consumption in male catkins. Our results indicated that sex-biased gene expression in S. paraplesia flowers is associated with different reproductive investments in unisexual flowers; male flowers require a greater reproductive investment to meet their higher biomass accumulation and energy consumption needs.

scholarly journals Active pollination favours sexual dimorphism in floral scent

2013 ◽  
Vol 280 (1772) ◽  
pp. 20132280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomoko Okamoto ◽  
Atsushi Kawakita ◽  
Ryutaro Goto ◽  
Glenn P. Svensson ◽  
Makoto Kato
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Dimorphism ◽  
Floral Scent ◽  
Choice Test ◽  
Sexually Dimorphic ◽  
Pollen Transfer ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Unisexual Flowers ◽  
Male Flowers ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
Female Flowers

Zoophilous flowers often transmit olfactory signals to attract pollinators. In plants with unisexual flowers, such signals are usually similar between the sexes because attraction of the same animal to both male and female flowers is essential for conspecific pollen transfer. Here, we present a remarkable example of sexual dimorphism in floral signal observed in reproductively highly specialized clades of the tribe Phyllantheae (Phyllanthaceae). These plants are pollinated by species-specific, seed-parasitic Epicephala moths (Gracillariidae) that actively collect pollen from male flowers and pollinate the female flowers in which they oviposit; by doing so, they ensure seeds for their offspring. We found that Epicephala -pollinated Phyllanthaceae plants consistently exhibit major qualitative differences in scent between male and female flowers, often involving compounds derived from different biosynthetic pathways. In a choice test, mated female Epicephala moths preferred the scent of male flowers over that of female flowers, suggesting that male floral scent elicits pollen-collecting behaviour. Epicephala pollination evolved multiple times in Phyllantheae, at least thrice accompanied by transition from sexual monomorphism to dimorphism in floral scent. This is the first example in which sexually dimorphic floral scent has evolved to signal an alternative reward provided by each sex, provoking the pollinator's legitimate altruistic behaviour.

scholarly journals Sex-dependent dynamics of metabolism in primary mouse hepatocytes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luise Hochmuth ◽  
Christiane Körner ◽  
Fritzi Ott ◽  
Daniela Volke ◽  
Kaja Blagotinšek Cokan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Amino Acid ◽  
Sexual Dimorphism ◽  
New Drugs ◽  
Model Systems ◽  
Specific Gene ◽  
Primary Hepatocytes ◽  
Alcoholic Fatty Liver ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Primary Mouse

AbstractThe liver is one of the most sexually dimorphic organs. The hepatic metabolic pathways that are subject to sexual dimorphism include xenobiotic, amino acid and lipid metabolism. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma are among diseases with sex-dependent prevalence, progression and outcome. Although male and female livers differ in their abilities to metabolize foreign compounds, including drugs, sex-dependent treatment and pharmacological dynamics are rarely applied in all relevant cases. Therefore, it is important to consider hepatic sexual dimorphism when developing new treatment strategies and to understand the underlying mechanisms in model systems. We isolated primary hepatocytes from male and female C57BL6/N mice and examined the sex-dependent transcriptome, proteome and extracellular metabolome parameters in the course of culturing them for 96 h. The sex-specific gene expression of the general xenobiotic pathway altered and the female-specific expression of Cyp2b13 and Cyp2b9 was significantly reduced during culture. Sex-dependent differences of several signaling pathways increased, including genes related to serotonin and melatonin degradation. Furthermore, the ratios of male and female gene expression were inversed for other pathways, such as amino acid degradation, beta-oxidation, androgen signaling and hepatic steatosis. Because the primary hepatocytes were cultivated without the influence of known regulators of sexual dimorphism, these results suggest currently unknown modulatory mechanisms of sexual dimorphism in vitro. The large sex-dependent differences in the regulation and dynamics of drug metabolism observed during cultivation can have an immense influence on the evaluation of pharmacodynamic processes when conducting initial preclinical trials to investigate potential new drugs.

scholarly journals CBMT-45. SEX-SPECIFIC METABOLIC ADAPTIONS IN GLIOBLASTOMA

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (Supplement_6) ◽  
pp. vi42-vi43
Author(s):  
Jasmin Sponagel ◽  
Shanshan Zhang ◽  
Prakash Chinnaiyan ◽  
Joshua Rubin ◽  
Joseph Ippolito
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Sexual Dimorphism ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Treatment Strategies ◽  
Tca Cycle ◽  
Metabolic Reprogramming ◽  
Mitochondrial Activity ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Glutamine Deprivation ◽  
Novel Treatment Strategies

Abstract Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common and aggressive brain tumor in adults. GBM occurs more commonly in males, but female patients survive significantly longer. Understanding the molecular mechanisms that underlie those sex differences could support novel treatment strategies. In this regard, we found that male and female GBM patient samples differ in their metabolite abundance and that male patients exhibit a significantly higher abundance of TCA cycle metabolites. We confirmed those findings in a murine model of GBM, which has previously yielded important insights into sexual dimorphism in GBM. Strikingly, sex differences in TCA cycle flux were entirely driven by glutamine flux, not glucose flux, suggesting a sex-specific role for glutamine in GBM. Metabolic manipulation through glutamine deprivation resulted in a greater growth inhibition in male GBM cells. Glutamine itself can be utilized for anabolic reactions or it can be converted to glutamate by glutaminase. Only male GBM cells were sensitive to pharmacological glutaminase inhibition with BPTES or CB-839, suggesting that male GBM cells are glutamate dependent while female GBM cells are not. Concordantly, we found significantly higher glutaminase levels in male GBM cells. Furthermore, we found that numerous metabolites (including NADH, ATP, and glutathione) involved in cellular processes downstream of glutamate were more abundant in male GBM cells. In contrast, female GBM cells were resistant to low glutamine conditions and glutaminase inhibitors unless glutamine-synthase activity was disrupted, suggesting that glutamine synthesis might play a more prominent role in female GBM. Together, these data indicate that male and female GBM differ in their metabolic adaptions. Male GBM utilize glutamate to fuel the TCA cycle and mitochondrial activity while female GBM synthesize and utilize glutamine itself. This sexual dimorphism in metabolic reprogramming reveals novel sex specific metabolic targets for GBM and underlines the importance of considering sex in metabolic targeting approaches.

scholarly journals Testosterone Affects Neural Gene Expression Differently in Male and Female Juncos: A Role for Hormones in Mediating Sexual Dimorphism and Conflict

PLoS ONE ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. e61784 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark P. Peterson ◽  
Kimberly A. Rosvall ◽  
Jeong-Hyeon Choi ◽  
Charles Ziegenfus ◽  
Haixu Tang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Sexual Dimorphism ◽  
Male And Female

Sex-related Differences in Gene Expression in Salivary Glands of BALB/c Mice

2005 ◽  
Vol 84 (2) ◽  
pp. 160-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
N.S. Treister ◽  
S.M. Richards ◽  
M.J. Lombardi ◽  
P. Rowley ◽  
R.V. Jensen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Sexual Dimorphism ◽  
Salivary Glands ◽  
Structure And Function ◽  
Differentially Expressed ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Tissue Specific ◽  
Total Rna ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
And Function

Sex-related differences exist in the structure and function of the major glands in a variety of species. Moreover, many of these variations appear to be unique to each tissue. We hypothesized that this sexual dimorphism is due, at least in part, to gland-specific differences in gene expression between males and females. Glands were collected from male and female BALB/c mice (n = 5/sex/experiment), and total RNA was isolated. Samples were analyzed for differentially expressed mRNAs with CodeLink microarrays, and data were evaluated by GeneSifter. Our results demonstrate that significant (P < 0.05) sex-related differences exist in the expression of numerous genes in the major salivary glands, and many of these differences were tissue-specific. These findings support our hypothesis that sex-related differences in the salivary glands are due, at least in part, to tissue-specific variations in gene expression.

scholarly journals Sexual dimorphism in floral scents of the neotropical orchid Catasetum arietinum and its possible ecological and evolutionary significance

AoB Plants ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Katharina Brandt ◽  
Isabel Cristina Machado ◽  
Daniela Maria do Amaral Ferraz Navarro ◽  
Stefan Dötterl ◽  
Manfred Ayasse ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Dimorphism ◽  
Chemical Composition ◽  
Floral Scent ◽  
Evolutionary Significance ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Floral Scents ◽  
First Case ◽  
Male Flowers ◽  
Euglossine Bee ◽  
Female Flowers

Abstract Dioecy in angiosperms is often associated with sexual dimorphism in floral traits other than the sexual organs. Species of the neotropical orchid genus Catasetum produce unisexual flowers characterized by a remarkable morphological sexual dimorphism. Catasetum species emit strong floral perfumes that act as both signal and reward for male euglossine bee pollinators. Although the role of floral perfumes of Catasetum in attracting euglossine pollinators is well investigated, little is known about whether perfumes differ between floral sexes and, if they do, whether this chemical dimorphism influences the pollination ecology of the plants. Taking Catasetum arietinum as a model species, our aim was to observe the behaviour of pollinators on male and female flowers and to compare scent properties (i.e. chemical composition, total amount and temporal fluctuation) of male and female flowers. Floral scent samples were collected by using dynamic headspace methods and were analysed via gas chromatography coupled with mass spectroscopy (GC-MS). Catasetum arietinum is pollinated by males of two Euglossa species (i.e. E. nanomelanotricha and E. securigera). Bees approached male and female inflorescences of C. arietinum in similar proportions but landed significantly more often and spent more time on female flowers, which emitted more scent than male flowers. Furthermore, the amount of scent emitted varied across the different times of sampling, corresponding to the pattern of the diel foraging activity of pollinating bees on male and female flowers. The chemical composition of scents differed significantly between sexes. The two major compounds (Z)-methyl-p-methoxycinnamate and (E)-geranyl geraniol contributed most to this difference. This is the first case of sexual dimorphism reported in orchid floral perfumes. We discuss the influence of sex-specific floral scents on the behaviour of euglossine pollinators and offer new insights into the ecological and evolutionary significance of divergence in floral scents among dioecious plants.

scholarly journals Polyploidization and sexual dimorphism of floral traits in a subdioecious population of Dasiphora glabra

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lin-Lin Wang ◽  
Na-Cai Yang ◽  
Min-Yu Chen ◽  
Yong-Ping Yang ◽  
Yuan-Wen Duan
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Dimorphism ◽  
Genome Size ◽  
Seed Production ◽  
Flower Size ◽  
Floral Traits ◽  
Pollen Transfer ◽  
Pollinator Visitation ◽  
Dioecious Plants ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Male Flowers

Abstract Aims Sexual dimorphism is a common trait in plants with sex separation, which could influence female and male functions differently. In a subdioecious population of Dasiphora glabra on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, we investigated sexual dimorphism of floral traits and their effects on pollinator visitation, pollen flow and seed production. We also examined differences in genome size of hermaphroditic and dioecious plants. Methods We examined sexual dimorphism in flower number, flower size, and pollen and ovule production in a subdioecious population of D. glabra. We compared pollinator visitation, pollen dispersal, and seed production between sexes. We also examined the genome size of three sex morphs using flow cytometry. Important findings The number of hermaphroditic plants was significantly more than that of male and female plants, and dioecious plants accounted for ca. 40% in the study population. Hermaphroditic plants produced significantly more flowers than male and female plants. Flower size of male flowers was significantly larger than that of female and hermaphroditic flowers. Male flowers did not produce more pollen grains than hermaphroditic flowers, but female flowers produced more ovules than hermaphroditic flowers. Flies were the most frequent flower visitors and preferred large flowers, but their movements between flowers did not show any preference to large flowers. Simulated pollen flows suggested that effective pollen transfer was generally low for both hermaphroditic and male flowers, corresponding to the low seed set of naturally pollinated flowers. DNA contents of male and female plants were ca. four times than those of hermaphroditic plants. These results suggest male and female individuals have undergone polyploidy events and thus are not compatible with hermaphroditic individuals. Sexual dimorphism in floral traits in relation to pollination of dioicous plants might show an advantage in female and male functions, but this advantage is masked largely by low effectiveness of pollen transfer.

scholarly journals Microvascular Sex- and Age- Dependent Phosphodiesterase Expression

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianjie Wang ◽  
Murtaza M. Kazmi ◽  
Virginia H. Huxley
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Skeletal Muscle ◽  
Sexual Dimorphism ◽  
Cyclic Nucleotide ◽  
Female Rats ◽  
Adult Rats ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Male And Female Rats ◽  
Age Dependent ◽  
Camp And Cgmp

Objective: The cyclic nucleotide second messengers, cAMP and cGMP, are pivotal regulators of vascular functions; their cellular levels are tightly controlled by the cyclic nucleotide hydrolases, phosphodiesterases (PDE). Biologic sex and age are recognized as independent factors impacting the mechanisms mediating both vascular health and dysfunction. This study focused on microvessels isolated from male and female rats before (juvenile) and after (adult) sexual maturity under resting conditions. We tested the hypothesis that sexual dimorphism in microvascular PDE expression would be absent in juvenile rats, but would manifest in adult rats.Methods: Abdominal skeletal muscle arterioles and venules were isolated from age-matched juvenile and adult male and female rats under resting conditions. Transcripts of five PDE families (1–5) associated with coronary and vascular function with a total of ten genes were measured using TaqMan real-time RT-PCR and protein expression of microvessel PDE4 was assessed using immunoblotting and immunofluorescence.Results: Overall expression levels of PDE5A were highest while PDE3 levels were lowest among the five PDE families (p &lt; 0.05) regardless of age or sex. Contrary to our hypothesis, in juveniles, sexual dimorphism in PDE expression was observed in three genes: arterioles (PDE1A, female &gt; male) and venules (PDE1B and 3A, male &gt; female). In adults, gene expression levels in males were higher than females for five genes in arterioles (PDE1C, 3A, 3B, 4B, 5A) and three genes (PDE3A, 3B, and 5A) in venules. Furthermore, age-related differences were observed in PDE1-5 (in males, adult &gt; juvenile for most genes in arterioles; in females, adult &gt; juvenile for arteriolar PDE3A; juvenile gene expression &gt; adult for two genes in arterioles and three genes in venules). Immunoblotting and immunofluorescence analysis revealed protein expression of microvessel PDE4.Conclusion: This study revealed sexual dimorphism in both juvenile and adult rats, which is inconsistent with our hypothesis. The sex- and age-dependent differences in PDE expression implicate different modulations of cAMP and cGMP pathways for microvessels in health. The implication of these sex- and age-dependent differences, as well as the duration and microdomain of PDE1-5 activities in skeletal muscle microvessels, in both health and disease, require further investigation.

scholarly journals VeloSim: Simulating single cell gene-expression and RNA velocity

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ziqi Zhang ◽  
Xiuwei Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Single Cell ◽  
Computational Methods ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Simulation Software ◽  
Velocity Estimation ◽  
Estimation Methods ◽  
Sequencing Data ◽  
Ground Truth Data

ABSTRACTThe availability of high throughput single-cell RNA-Sequencing data allows researchers to study the molecular mechanisms that drive the temporal dynamics of cells during differentiation or development. Recent computational methods that build upon single-cell sequencing technology, such as trajectory inference or RNA-velocity estimation, provide a way for researchers to analyze the state of each cell during a continuous dynamic process. However, with the surge of such computational methods, there is still a lack of simulators that can model the cell temporal dynamics, and provide ground truth data to benchmark the computational methods.Hereby we present VeloSim, a simulation software that can simulate the gene-expression kinetics in cells along continuous trajectories. VeloSim is able to take any trajectory structure composed of basic elements including “linear” and “cycle” as input, and outputs unspliced mRNA count matrix, spliced mRNA count matrix, cell pseudo-time and true RNA velocity of the cells. We demonstrate how VeloSim can be used to benchmark trajectory inference and RNA-velocity estimation methods with different amounts of biological and technical variation within the datasets. VeloSim is implemented into an R package available at https://github.com/PeterZZQ/VeloSim.

scholarly journals The gynoecious CmWIP1 transcription factor interacts with CmbZIP48 to inhibit carpel development

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
John S. Y. Eleblu ◽  
Aimen Haraghi ◽  
Brahim Mania ◽  
Celine Camps ◽  
Dali Rashid ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Transcription Factor ◽  
Sex Determination ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Hybrid Approach ◽  
Bzip Transcription Factor ◽  
Physical Interaction ◽  
Spatiotemporal Expression ◽  
Carpel Development ◽  
Unisexual Flowers ◽  
Male Flowers

Abstract In angiosperms, sex determination leads to development of unisexual flowers. In Cucumis melo, development of unisexual male flowers results from the expression of the sex determination gene, CmWIP1, in carpel primordia. To bring new insight on the molecular mechanisms through which CmWIP1 leads to carpel abortion in male flowers, we used the yeast two-hybrid approach to look for CmWIP1-interacting proteins. We found that CmWIP1 physically interacts with an S2 bZIP transcription factor, CmbZIP48. We further determined the region mediating the interaction and showed that it involves the N-terminal part of CmWIP1. Using laser capture microdissection coupled with quantitative real-time gene expression analysis, we demonstrated that CmWIP1 and CmbZIP48 share a similar spatiotemporal expression pattern, providing the plant organ context for the CmWIP1-CmbZIP48 protein interaction. Using sex transition mutants, we demonstrated that the expression of the male promoting gene CmWIP1 correlates with the expression of CmbZIP48. Altogether, our data support a model in which the coexpression and the physical interaction of CmWIP1 and CmbZIP48 trigger carpel primordia abortion, leading to the development of unisexual male flowers.

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