The egg stage is one of the most critical periods in the life history of silkworms, during which physiological processes such as sex determination, tissue organ formation and differentiation, diapause and pigmentation occur. In addition, egg color gradually emerges around 36h after oviposition. The red egg mutant re p-1, which was recently discovered in the C 1 (H) wildtype, C 1 (H) exhibits a brown egg color. In this study, the transcriptome of the eggs was analyzed 36h after oviposition. Between the re p-1 mutant and the C 1 (H) wild-type, 800 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified, including 325 up-regulated genes and 475 down-regulated genes. These DEGs were mainly involved in biological processes (metabolic process, cellular process, biological regulation and regulation of biological process and localization), cellular components (membrane, membrane part, cell, cell part and organelle) and molecular functions (binding, catalytic activity, transporter activity, structural molecule activity and molecular transducer activity). The pathway enrichment of these DEGs was performed based on the KEGG database, and the results indicated that these DEGs were mainly involved in pathways in the following categories: metabolic pathways, longevity-regulating pathway-multiple species, protein processing in endoplasmic reticulum, peroxisome, carbon metabolism and purine metabolism. Further analysis showed that a large number of silkworm growth-and development-related genes and ommochrome synthesis-and metabolism-related genes were differentially expressed, most of which were up-regulated in the mutant. Our research findings provide new experimental evidence for research on ommochrome pigmentation and lay the foundation for further research on the mechanism of the re p-1 mutant.
The expression levels of some intrinsic genes, protease activity, and regulation of signaling pathways were distinct during different growth and development stages in the silkworm, Bombyx mori. The silkworm mutant mini was discovered from the normal silkworm strain S8V, and the body‐size of the mini mutant was smaller than the wild‐type from the second‐instar and the difference became more significant in the following stages. In this study, genetic analysis of mini mutant showed that mini mutant was controlled by a single recessive gene, manifested as homozygous lethal. Then, the transcriptome analysis of the mini mutant indicated that 2944 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified from the silkworm in the 48 h of the second‐instar, of which 1638 genes in the mini mutants were upregulated and 1306 genes were downregulated. These DEGs were mainly distributed in the biological process, cellular component, and molecular function. The functional annotation based on the KEGG database showed that these genes were mainly clustered in metabolic pathways, fatty acid metabolism pathways, ribosome biogenesis in eukaryotes, and so on. Further analysis indicated that some genes involved in the growth and metabolism including enzyme genes, juvenile hormone, and ecdysone exhibited different transcriptional levels. These results provided new experimental evidence regarding the mechanism of the underlying formation of mini mutants.
10%–15% of couples worldwide experience infertility, with 50% of cases being attributed to male factors. Despite semen analysis being the most commonly used test to evaluate male fertility, it has some limitations. Consequently, reproductive scientists are exploring novel molecular markers that may aid in detecting sperm defects and facilitate improved diagnostic tools and biomarkers for male infertility. MicroRNAs, Over 60% of protein-coding genes are regulated post-transcriptionally by short non-coding RNAs, have potential as disease-specific markers when their expression is altered in body fluids. This article provides a systematic review of microRNAs' roles in different types of male infertility caused by sperm defects, including azoospermia, oligozoospermia, asthenozoospermia, and teratospermia, suggesting they may serve as new biomarkers to enhance diagnostic accuracy.
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