In birds, differentiation of embryonic gonads is not as strictly determined by the genetic sex as it is in mammals, and can be influenced by early manipulation with a sex steroid hormone. Thus administration of an aromatase inhibitor induces testis development in the genetic female, and administration of estrogen induces a left ovotestis in the genetic male embryo. Another feature of avian gonadogenesis is that only the left ovary develops in most species. Molecular mechanisms underlying these features at the level of gene expression have not been elucidated. In this paper, we present evidence that a gene for aromatase cytochrome P-450, an enzyme required for the last step in the synthesis of estradiol-17 , is expressed in medullae of the left and right gonads of a female chicken embryo, but not in those of a male chicken embryo, and that an estrogen receptor gene is expressed only in epithelium (and cortex later, in the female) of the left, not the right, gonad of both sexes, but the expression in the male left gonad is temporary and restricted to an early stage of development. Differential expression of these two genes serves well to explain the above features of gonadal development in birds. Furthermore, in ovo administration of estradiol-17 from the 5th to the 14th day of incubation does not cause expression of the estrogen receptor gene in the right gonad of chicken embryos of either sex, suggesting that the absence of expression of the estrogen receptor gene in the right gonad is not the result of down-regulation, but may be regarded as an important cause of the unilateral ovarian development.

cFLIP (cellular FLICE-like inhibitory protein) is structurally related to caspase-8 but lacks proteolytic activity due to multiple amino acid substitutions of catalytically important residues. cFLIP protein is evolutionarily conserved and expressed as three functionally different isoforms in humans (cFLIPL, cFLIPS, and cFLIPR). cFLIP controls not only the classical death receptor-mediated extrinsic apoptosis pathway, but also the non-conventional pattern recognition receptor-dependent apoptotic pathway. In addition, cFLIP regulates the formation of the death receptor-independent apoptotic platform named the ripoptosome. Moreover, recent studies have revealed that cFLIP is also involved in a non-apoptotic cell death pathway known as programmed necrosis or necroptosis. These functions of cFLIP are strictly controlled in an isoform-, concentration- and tissue-specific manner, and the ubiquitin-proteasome system plays an important role in regulating the stability of cFLIP. In this review, we summarize the current scientific findings from biochemical analyses, cell biological studies, mathematical modeling, and gene-manipulated mice models to illustrate the critical role of cFLIP as a switch to determine the destiny of cells among survival, apoptosis, and necroptosis.

Necroptosis is a regulated form of necrosis that depends on receptor-interacting protein kinase (RIPK)3 and mixed lineage kinase domain-like (MLKL). While danger-associated molecular pattern (DAMP)s are involved in various pathological conditions and released from dead cells, the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. Here we develop a fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) biosensor, termed SMART (a sensor for MLKL activation by RIPK3 based on FRET). SMART is composed of a fragment of MLKL and monitors necroptosis, but not apoptosis or necrosis. Mechanistically, SMART monitors plasma membrane translocation of oligomerized MLKL, which is induced by RIPK3 or mutational activation. SMART in combination with imaging of the release of nuclear DAMPs and Live-Cell Imaging for Secretion activity (LCI-S) reveals two different modes of the release of High Mobility Group Box 1 from necroptotic cells. Thus, SMART and LCI-S uncover novel regulation of the release of DAMPs during necroptosis.

The male hypermethylated (MHM) region, located near the middle of the short arm of the Z chromosome of chickens, consists of approximately 210 tandem repeats of a BamHI 2.2-kb sequence unit. Cytosines of the CpG dinucleotides of this region are extensively methylated on the two Z chromosomes in the male but much less methylated on the single Z chromosome in the female. The state of methylation of the MHM region is established after fertilization by about the 1-day embryonic stage. The MHM region is transcribed only in the female from the particular strand into heterogeneous, high molecular-mass, non-coding RNA, which is accumulated at the site of transcription, adjacent to the DMRT1 locus, in the nucleus. The transcriptional silence of the MHM region in the male is most likely caused by the CpG methylation, since treatment of the male embryonic fibroblasts with 5-azacytidine results in hypo-methylation and active transcription of this region. In ZZW triploid chickens, MHM regions are hypomethylated and transcribed on the two Z chromosomes, whereas MHM regions are hypermethylated and transcriptionally inactive on the three Z chromosomes in ZZZ triploid chickens, suggesting a possible role of the W chromosome on the state of the MHM region.

No abstract

Since the discovery of SRY/Sry as a testis-determining gene on the mammalian Y chromosome in 1990, extensive studies have been carried out on the immediate target of SRY/Sry and genes functioning in the course of testis development. Comparative studies in non-mammalian vertebrates including birds have failed to find a gene equivalent to SRY/Sry, whereas they have suggested that most of the downstream factors found in mammals including SOX9 are also involved in the process of gonadal differentiation. Although a gene whose function is to trigger the cascade of gene expression toward gonadal differentiation has not been identified yet on either W or Z chromosomes of birds, a few interesting genes have been found recently on the sex chromosomes of chickens and their possible roles in sex determination or sex differentiation are being investigated. It is the purpose of this review to summarize the present knowledge of these sex chromosome-linked genes in chickens and to give perspectives and point out questions concerning the mechanisms of avian sex determination.

No abstract

Acid alpha-glucosidase (GAA) hydrolyzes alpha-1, 4 and alpha-1, 6 glucosidic linkages of oligosaccharides and degrades glycogen in the lysosomes. The full-length GAA I cDNA, pQAM8, was isolated from a cDNA library derived from Japanese quail liver. The cDNA is 3569 base pairs long and has an open reading frame capable of coding 932 amino acids. The deduced amino acid sequence shares 52% identity with human GAA. Transfection of expression vector pETAM8 into COS-7 cells or acid maltase deficient (AMD) quail embryonic fibroblasts increased the level of GAA 20-50-fold. Compared to normal quail, the levels of GAA I mRNA were significantly reduced in the muscle, liver, heart, and brain of AMD quails, suggesting the GAA deficiency in AMD quail is due to a lack of GAA I mRNA. A second GAA II cDNA was identified after probing the cDNA library from the ovarian large follicles of quails with a PCR product derived from cultured quail skin fibroblasts. This clone having 3.1 kb insert, has GAA activity as well (3 to 10 fold increase). This cDNA, designated GAA II, predicted an 873 amino acid polypeptide showing 63% identity to human GAA and 51% identity to the GAA I. The RT-PCR analysis demonstrated that GAA II mRNAs were barely detectable in normal tissues, while they were enhanced to higher levels in AMD tissues. These results suggest that GAA II expression is up-regulated at the transcription levels, and quail GAA gene redundancy performs the same function of satisfying GAA demand at the two different phases represented by normal and AMD.