Sex-Biased Gene Expression and Evolution in the Cerebrum and Syrinx of Chinese Hwamei (Garrulax canorus)

It is common that males and females display sexual dimorphisms, which usually result from sex-biased gene expression. Chinese hwamei (Garrulax canorus) is a good model for studying sex-biased gene expression because the song between the sexes is quite different. In this study, we analyze cerebrum and syrinx sex-biased gene expression and evolution using the de novo assembled Chinese hwamei transcriptome. In both the cerebrum and syrinx, our study revealed that most female-biased genes were actively expressed in females only, while most male-biased genes were actively expressed in both sexes. In addition, both male- and female-biased genes were enriched on the putative Z chromosome, suggesting the existence of sexually antagonistic genes and the insufficient dosage compensation of the Z-linked genes. We also identified a 9 Mb sex linkage region on the putative 4A chromosome which enriched more than 20% of female-biased genes. Resultantly, male-biased genes in both tissues had significantly higher Ka/Ks and effective number of codons (ENCs) than unbiased genes, and this suggested that male-biased genes which exhibit accelerated divergence may have resulted from positive selection. Taken together, our results initially revealed the reasons for the differences in singing behavior between males and females of Chinese hwamei.

Download Full-text

Changes with age of mammary glands in male and female soft-furred rat, Millardia meltada, in relation to prolactin and testosterone

Laboratory Animals ◽

10.1258/002367794781065690 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 28 (1) ◽

pp. 35-43

Author(s):

H. Nagasawa ◽

T. Mori ◽

S. Sakamoto ◽

S. Sassa ◽

Y. Yamamuro ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Enzyme Activities ◽

De Novo ◽

Serum Levels ◽

Mammary Glands ◽

Ventral Prostate ◽

Male And Female ◽

Age Related ◽

Males And Females ◽

Salvage Pathways ◽

Age Related Changes

The soft-furred rat, millardia ( Millardia meltada), is characterized by the development of androgen-dependent mammary tumours only in males. The age-related changes of the activities of thymidylate synthetase (TS) and thymidine kinase (TK), which contribute to DNA synthesis through de novo and salvage pathways, respectively, and structure in the mammary glands were studied in both males and females of this species between 5-28 months of age. While TK activity had no relation to age, TS activity decreased with age in males. In the females, TK activity increased with age, but not TS activity. These enzyme activities were generally higher in females than in males. The mammary glands of both sexes consisted of fine ducts with small end-buds and the glands of males contained mostly black pigments at any age examined. In either males or females, serum levels of prolactin and testosterone related little with age, DNA synthesizing enzyme activities or structure of the mammary glands. Furthermore, elevation by pituitary grafting of circulating prolactin affected neither DNA synthesizing enzyme activities nor structure of mammary glands in both sexes. The histological structures of adrenal, testis, ovary, ventral prostate and uterus of millardia were essentially similar to those of mice or rats.

Download Full-text

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

Journal of Dental Research ◽

10.1177/154405910508400210 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 84 (2) ◽

pp. 160-165 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

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.

Download Full-text

Gene expression changes in male and female rhesus macaque 60 days after irradiation

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0254344 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (7) ◽

pp. e0254344

Author(s):

Matthäus Majewski ◽

Patrick Ostheim ◽

Zoya Gluzman-Poltorak ◽

Vladimir Vainstein ◽

Lena Basile ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gene Expression ◽

Rhesus Macaques ◽

Wnt Signaling Pathway ◽

Phase Iii ◽

Whole Body ◽

Male And Female ◽

Phase Study ◽

Female Rhesus ◽

Transcriptional Changes ◽

Males And Females

Purpose Transcriptome changes can be expected in survivors after lethal irradiation. We aimed to characterize these in males and females and after different cytokine treatments 60 days after irradiation. Material and methods Male and female rhesus macaques (n = 142) received a whole-body exposure with 700 cGy, from which 60 animals survived. Peripheral whole blood was drawn pre-exposure and before sacrificing the surviving animals after 60 days. Results We evaluated gene expression in a three-phase study design. Phase I was a whole-genome screening (NGS) for mRNAs using five pre- and post-exposure RNA samples from both sexes (n = 20). Differential gene expression (DGE) was calculated between samples of survivors and pre-exposure samples (reference), separately for males and females. 1,243 up- and down-regulated genes were identified with 30–50% more deregulated genes in females. 37 candidate mRNAs were chosen for qRT-PCR validation in phase II using the remaining samples (n = 117). Altogether 17 genes showed (borderline) significant (t-test) DGE in groups of untreated or treated animals. Nine genes (CD248, EDAR, FAM19A5, GAL3ST4, GCNT4, HBG2/1, LRRN1, NOG, SYT14) remained with significant changes and were detected in at least 50% of samples per group. Panther analysis revealed an overlap between both sexes, related to the WNT signaling pathway, cell adhesion and immunological functions. For phase III, we validated the nine genes with candidate genes (n = 32) from an earlier conducted study on male baboons. Altogether 14 out of 41 genes showed a concordantly DGE across both species in a bilateral comparison. Conclusions Sixty days after radiation exposure, we identified (1) sex and cytokine treatment independent transcriptional changes, (2) females with almost twice as much deregulated genes appeared more radio-responsive than males, (3) Panther analysis revealed an association with immunological processes and WNT pathway for both sexes.

Download Full-text

Evolution of gene dosage on the Z-chromosome of schistosome parasites

eLife ◽

10.7554/elife.35684 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 7 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Marion A L Picard ◽

Celine Cosseau ◽

Sabrina Ferré ◽

Thomas Quack ◽

Christoph G Grevelding ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gene Expression ◽

Comparative Genomics ◽

Schistosoma Mansoni ◽

Dosage Compensation ◽

Quantitative Proteomics ◽

Gene Dosage ◽

Z Chromosome ◽

Sex Linkage ◽

Expression Evolution ◽

Gene Expression Evolution

XY systems usually show chromosome-wide compensation of X-linked genes, while in many ZW systems, compensation is restricted to a minority of dosage-sensitive genes. Why such differences arose is still unclear. Here, we combine comparative genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics to obtain a complete overview of the evolution of gene dosage on the Z-chromosome of Schistosoma parasites. We compare the Z-chromosome gene content of African (Schistosoma mansoni and S. haematobium) and Asian (S. japonicum) schistosomes and describe lineage-specific evolutionary strata. We use these to assess gene expression evolution following sex-linkage. The resulting patterns suggest a reduction in expression of Z-linked genes in females, combined with upregulation of the Z in both sexes, in line with the first step of Ohno's classic model of dosage compensation evolution. Quantitative proteomics suggest that post-transcriptional mechanisms do not play a major role in balancing the expression of Z-linked genes.

Download Full-text

Influence of Genetic Background and Sex on Gene Expression in the Mouse (Mus musculus) Tail in a Model of Intervertebral Disc Injury

Comparative Medicine ◽

10.30802/aalas-cm-19-000034 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 70 (2) ◽

pp. 131-139 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Julie M Brent ◽

Zuozhen Tian ◽

Frances S Shofer ◽

John T Martin ◽

Lutian Yao ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gene Expression ◽

Intervertebral Disc ◽

Genetic Background ◽

Needle Puncture ◽

Male And Female ◽

Matrix Gene ◽

Disc Injury ◽

Males And Females ◽

Histologic Changes ◽

Compare Gene Expression

To facilitate rational experimental design and fulfill the NIH requirement of including sex as a biologic variable, we examined the influences of genetic background and sex on responses to intervertebral disc (IVD) injury in the mouse tail. The goal of this study was to compare gene expression and histologic changes in response to a tail IVD injury (needle puncture) in male and female mice on the DBA and C57BL/6 (B6) backgrounds. We hypothesized that extracellular matrix gene expression in response to IVD injury differs between mice of different genetic backgrounds and sex. Consistent changes were detected in gene expression and histologic features after IVD injury in mice on both genetic backgrounds and sexes. In particular, expression of col1a1 and adam8 was higher in the injured IVD of DBA mice than B6 mice. Conversely, col2a1 expression was higher in B6 mice than DBA mice. Sex-associated differences were significant only in B6 mice, in which col2a1 expression was greater in male mice than in female. Histologic differences in response to injury were not apparent between DBA and B6 mice or between males and females. In conclusion, mouse tail IVD showed sex- and strain-related changes in gene expression and histology after needle puncture. The magnitude of change in gene expression differed with regard to genetic background and, to a lesser degree, sex.

Download Full-text

Brain-synthesized estrogens regulate cortical migration in a sexually divergent manner

10.1101/654731 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Katherine J. Sellers ◽

Matthew C.S. Denley ◽

Atsushi Saito ◽

Atsushi Kamiya ◽

Deepak P. Srivastava

Keyword(s):

Cerebral Cortex ◽

Opposite Effect ◽

Ventricular Zone ◽

Cortical Plate ◽

Local Synthesis ◽

Male And Female ◽

Sexual Dimorphisms ◽

Female Mice ◽

Males And Females

AbstractEstrogens play an important role in the sexual dimorphisms that occur during brain development, including the neural circuitry that underlies sex-typical and socio-aggressive behaviors. Aromatase, the enzyme responsible for the conversion of androgens to estrogens, is expressed at high levels during early development in both male and female cortices, suggesting a role for brain-synthesized estrogens during corticogenesis. This study investigated how the local synthesis of estrogens affects neurodevelopment of the cerebral cortex, and how this differs in males and females by knockdown expression of the Cyp19a1 gene, which encodes aromatase, between embryonic day 14.5 and postnatal day 0 (P0). The effects of Cyp19a1 knockdown on neural migration was then assessed. Aromatase was expressed in the developing cortex of both sexes, but at significantly higher levels in male than female mice. Under basal conditions, no obvious differences in cortical migration between male and female mice were observed. However, knockdown of Cyp19a1 increased the number GFP-positive cells in the cortical plate, with a concurrent decrease in the subventricular zone/ventricular zone in P0 male mice. The opposite effect was observed in females, with a significantly reduced number of GFP-positive cells migrating to the cortical plate. These findings have important implications for our understanding of the role of fetal steroids for neuronal migration during cerebral cortex development. Moreover, these data indicate that brain-synthesized estrogens regulate radial migration through distinct mechanisms in males and females.

Download Full-text

Sex Differences in Singing and Duetting Behavior of Neotropical Rufous-and-White Wrens (Thryothorus Rufalbus)

The Auk ◽

10.1093/auk/122.1.175 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 122 (1) ◽

pp. 175-186 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Daniel J. Mennill ◽

Sandra L. Vehrencamp

Keyword(s):

Sex Differences ◽

Bird Species ◽

Repertoire Size ◽

Male And Female ◽

Conflict And Cooperation ◽

Singing Behavior ◽

Singing Activity ◽

Males And Females ◽

Thryothorus Rufalbus ◽

Song Types

AbstractIn many tropical bird species, males and females sing together in coordinated vocal duets. Although studies of duetting present unique opportunities for understanding conflict and cooperation between the sexes, very few investigations describe the similarities and differences between male and female singing behaviors. Here, we present the first detailed account of the singing behavior of Rufous-and-white Wrens (Thryothorus rufalbus), a resident tropical duetting songbird. Male and female songs share a similar structure, yet show pronounced sex differences. Male songs have lower frequency characteristics and more repeated trill syllables, and often sound louder than female songs. Males sing more than females, and only males show elevated song output at dawn. Both males and females have song repertoires. Males have an average repertoire size of 10.8 song types, whereas females have a significantly smaller average repertoire size of 8.5 song types. Although males share proportionately more of their song types with neighbors than females do, both sexes share more song types with nearby individuals than with distant individuals. Breeding partners combine their solo songs to create duets. Duets assume a variety of different forms, ranging from simple, overlapping male and female songs to complex combinations of multiple male and female songs. Most duets (73%) are created by females responding to male song. Males respond to female-initiated duets with shorter latencies than when females respond to male-initiated duets. Each pair sings certain combinations of song types in duets more often than can be explained by random association, which demonstrates that Rufous-and-white Wrens have duet types. The most common duet type was different for each pair. Our results show that Rufous-and-white Wrens have pronounced sex differences in song structure, singing activity, repertoire size, repertoire sharing, and duetting behavior.Diferencias entre Sexos en el Canto y Comportamiento de Dueto en Thryothorus rufalbus

Download Full-text

Long-term effects of western diet consumption in male and female mice

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-020-71592-9 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Yu Hasegawa ◽

Shin-Yu Chen ◽

Lili Sheng ◽

Prasant Kumar Jena ◽

Karen M. Kalanetra ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Metabolic Syndrome ◽

Western Diet ◽

Long Term Effects ◽

Alcoholic Fatty Liver ◽

Male And Female ◽

Sexual Dimorphisms ◽

Female Mice ◽

Males And Females ◽

The Impact

Abstract Long-term consumption of a diet with excessive fat and sucrose (Western diet, WD) leads to an elevated risk of obesity and metabolic syndrome in both males and females. However, there are sexual dimorphisms in metabolism which are apparent when considering the prevalence of complications of metabolic syndrome, such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. This study aimed to elucidate the impact of a WD on the metabolome and the gut microbiota of male and female mice at 5, 10, and 15 months to capture the dynamic and comprehensive changes brought about by diet at different stages of life. Here we show that there are important considerations of age and sex that should be considered when assessing the impact of diet on the gut microbiome and health.

Download Full-text

Chromatin dynamics associated with sexual differentiation in a UV sex determination system

10.1101/2020.10.29.359190 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Josselin Gueno ◽

Simon Bourdareau ◽

Guillaume Cossard ◽

Olivier Godfroy ◽

Agnieszka Lipinska ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gene Expression ◽

Sex Determination ◽

Histone Modifications ◽

Sex Chromosomes ◽

Sexual Differentiation ◽

Chromatin State ◽

State Transitions ◽

Male And Female ◽

Chromatin States ◽

Males And Females

SummaryIn many eukaryotes, such as dioicous mosses and many algae, sex is determined by UV sex chromosomes and is expressed during the haploid phase of the life cycle. In these species, the male and female developmental programs are initiated by the presence of the U- or V-specific regions of the sex chromosomes but, as in XY and ZW systems, phenotypic differentiation is largely driven by autosomal sex-biased gene expression. The mechanisms underlying sex-biased transcription in XY, ZW or UV sexual systems currently remain elusive. Here, we set out to understand the extent and nature of epigenomic changes associated with sexual differentiation in the brown alga Ectocarpus, which has a well described UV system. Five histone modifications, H3K4me3, H3K27Ac, H3K9Ac, H3K36me3, H4K20me3, were quantified in near-isogenic male and female lines, leading to the identification of 13 different chromatin states across the Ectocarpus genome that showed different patterns of enrichment at transcribed, silent, housekeeping or narrowly-expressed genes. Chromatin states were strongly correlated with levels of gene expression indicating a relationship between the assayed marks and gene transcription. The relative proportion of each chromatin state across the genome remained stable in males and females, but a subset of genes exhibited different chromatin states in the two sexes. In particular, males and females displayed distinct patterns of histone modifications at sex-biased genes, indicating that chromatin state transitions occur preferentially at genes involved in sex-specific pathways. Finally, our results reveal a unique chromatin landscape of the U and V sex chromosomes compared to autosomes. Taken together, our observations reveal a role for histone modifications in sex determination and sexual differentiation in a UV sexual system, and suggest that the mechanisms of epigenetic regulation of genes on the UV sex chromosomes may differ from those operating on autosomal genes.

Download Full-text

The neurotranscriptome of the Aedes aegypti mosquito

10.1101/026823 ◽

2015 ◽

Author(s):

Benjamin J Matthews ◽

Carolyn S McBride ◽

Matthew DeGennaro ◽

Orion Despo ◽

Leslie B Vosshall

Keyword(s):

Gene Expression ◽

Aedes Aegypti ◽

Vector Control ◽

De Novo ◽

Transcriptome Assembly ◽

Molecular Genetic ◽

Blood Feeding ◽

Model Organisms ◽

Protein Coding ◽

Male And Female

Background A complete genome sequence and the advent of genome editing open up non-traditional model organisms to mechanistic genetic studies. The mosquito Aedes aegypti is an important vector of infectious diseases such as dengue, chikungunya, and yellow fever, and has a large and complex genome, which has slowed annotation efforts. We used comprehensive transcriptomic analysis of adult gene expression to improve the genome annotation and to provide a detailed tissue-specific catalogue of neural gene expression at different adult behavioral states. Results We carried out deep RNA sequencing across all major peripheral male and female sensory tissues, the brain, and (female) ovary. Furthermore, we examined gene expression across three important phases of the female reproductive cycle, a remarkable example of behavioral switching in which a female mosquito alternates between obtaining blood-meals from humans and laying eggs. Using genome-guided alignments and de novo transcriptome assembly, our re-annotation includes 572 new putative protein-coding genes and updates to 13.5% and 50.3% of existing transcripts within coding sequences and untranslated regions, respectively. Using this updated annotation, we detail gene expression in each tissue, identifying large numbers of transcripts regulated by blood-feeding and sexually dimorphic transcripts that may provide clues to the biology of male- and female-specific behaviors, such as mating and blood-feeding, which are areas of intensive study for those interested in vector control. Conclusions This neurotranscriptome forms a strong foundation for the study of genes in the mosquito nervous system and investigation of sensory-driven behaviors and their regulation. Furthermore, understanding the molecular genetic basis of mosquito chemosensory behavior has important implications for vector control.

Download Full-text