Influence of feeding differentiation on the age at onset of puberty in Brazilian Bergamasca dairy ewe lambs

Reprod Domestic Animals

Liu

et al. 2018

Puberty is initiated by increased pulsatile gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) release from the hypothalamus. Epigenetic repression is thought to play a crucial role in the initiation of puberty, although the existence of analogous changes in methylation patterns across species is unclear. We analysed mRNA expression of DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs) and methyl-binding proteins (MBPs) in goats and rats by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). DNA methylation profiles of hypothalamic were determined at the pre-pubertal and pubertal stages by bisulphite sequencing. In this study, expression of DNMTs and MBPs mRNA showed different patterns in goats and rats. Global methylation variation was low in goats and rats, and the profile remained stable during puberty. Gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Gene and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis revealed the involvement of 62 pathways in puberty in goats and rats including reproduction, type I diabetes mellitus and GnRH signalling pathways and found that Edn3, PTPRN2 and GRID1 showed different methylation patterns during puberty in goats and rats and similar variation patterns for Edn3 and PTPRN2 were showed. These indicated that Edn3 and PTPRN2 would play a role in the timing of puberty. This study provides evidence of the epigenetic control of puberty.

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Methylation pattern variation between goats and rats during the onset of puberty

Reprod Domestic Animals

Liu

et al. 2018

“…We housed three, prepubertal (aged 2.5-3.0 months) and three, pubertal (aged 4.5-5.0 months) female Anhuai goats under the same conditions on a farm in Anhui Province, China. We determined puberty goats in studied femal by male goats detecting estrus and the appearance changes of vulva [ 16 ]. The average weight of pubertal goats was 16.17 kg compared with the prepubertal goats 8.30 kg, and the average weight of the pubertal goats’ ovary was 0.76 g compared with the prepubertal goats 0.30 g. The animals were deeply anesthetized by intravenous administration of 3% pentobarbital sodium (30 mg/kg; Solarbio, P8410, China) and sacrificed by exsanguination in a healthy physiological stage when pubertal goats were in the late follicular phase.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Screening and evaluating of long noncoding RNAs in the puberty of goats

Gao

et al. 2017

BMC Genomics

BackgroundLong noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are involved in regulating animal development, however, their function in the onset of puberty in goats remain largely unexplored. To identify the genes controlling the regulation of puberty in goats, we measured lncRNA and mRNA expression levels from the hypothalamus.ResultsWe applied RNA sequencing analysis to examine the hypothalamus of pubertal (case; n = 3) and prepubertal (control; n = 3) goats. Our results showed 2943 predicted lncRNAs, including 2012 differentially expressed lncRNAs, which corresponded to 5412 target genes. We also investigated the role of lncRNAs that act cis and trans to the target genes and found a number of lncRNAs involved in the regulation of puberty and reproduction, as well as several pathways related to these processes. For example, oxytocin signaling pathway, sterol biosynthetic process, and pheromone receptor activity signaling pathway were enriched as Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) or gene ontology (GO) analyses showed.ConclusionOur results clearly demonstrate that lncRNAs play an important role in regulating puberty in goats. However, further research is needed to explore the functions of lncRNAs and their predicted targets to provide a detailed expression profile of lncRNAs on goat puberty.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12864-017-3578-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

“…Animals were monitored daily by observing vaginal physiological changes and rams test conditions[18]. Rams test conditions were performed twice at 08:00 and 16:00 hours.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

DNA Methylation Patterns in the Hypothalamus of Female Pubertal Goats

et al. 2016

PLoS ONE

Female pubertal development is tightly controlled by complex mechanisms, including neuroendocrine and epigenetic regulatory pathways. Specific gene expression patterns can be influenced by DNA methylation changes in the hypothalamus, which can in turn regulate timing of puberty onset. In order to understand the relationship between DNA methylation changes and gene expression patterns in the hypothalamus of pubertal goats, whole-genome bisulfite sequencing and RNA-sequencing analyses were carried out. There was a decline in DNA methylation levels in the hypothalamus during puberty and 268 differentially methylated regions (DMR) in the genome, with differential patterns in different gene regions. There were 1049 genes identified with distinct expression patterns. High levels of DNA methylation were detected in promoters, introns and 3′-untranslated regions (UTRs). Levels of methylation decreased gradually from promoters to 5′-UTRs and increased from 5′-UTRs to introns. Methylation density analysis demonstrated that methylation level variation was consistent with the density in the promoter, exon, intron, 5′-UTRs and 3′-UTRs. Analyses of CpG island (CGI) sites showed that the enriched gene contents were gene bodies, intergenic regions and introns, and these CGI sites were hypermethylated. Our study demonstrated that DNA methylation changes may influence gene expression profiles in the hypothalamus of goats during the onset of puberty, which may provide new insights into the mechanisms involved in pubertal onset.