A Comprehensive Survey of the Genes Involved in Maturation and Development of the Rainbow Trout Ovary1

Abstract

Development and maturation of the ovary requires precisely coordinated expression of specific gene classes to produce viable oocytes. We undertook identification of some of the genes involved in these processes by creating ovary-specific cDNA libraries by suppression subtractive hybridization and by microarray-based analyses. We present 5778 tissue- and sex-specific genes from subtracted ovary and testis libraries, many of which remain unidentified. A microarray containing 3557 salmonid cDNAs was used to compare the transcriptomes of precocious ovary at three different stages during the second year of life with a reference (normal ovary) transcriptome. On average, approximately 240 genes were developmentally regulated during the study period from June to October. Classes of genes maintaining relatively steady-state levels of expression, such as those controlling tissue remodeling, immunoregulation, cell-cycle progression, apoptosis, and growth also were identified. Concurrent expression of various cell division and ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis regulators revealed the utility of microarray analysis to monitor important maturation events. We also report unequivocal evidence for expression of the transcripts that encode the common glycoprotein alpha, LH beta, FSH beta, thyroid-stimulating hormone beta, and retinol-binding protein in both the ovary and testis of trout.

Pervasive Sex-Linked Effects on Transcription Regulation As Revealed by Expression Quantitative Trait Loci Mapping in Lake Whitefish Species Pairs (Coregonus sp., Salmonidae)

“…As stated above, the most striking result of this study was the much higher number of chromosomal regions influencing transcript abundance in the female compared to the male data set of identical sample size. Although several studies recently reported sex-specific transcript regulation (Von Schalburg et al 2005;McIntyre et al 2006), including for muscle tissue (Yang et al 2006), this possibility is challenged here by the alternative hypothesis that the sex-specific architecture we observed reflects adaptive sex-linked effects. In addition, other hypotheses concerning the genetic architecture of whitefish and the experimental cross itself have to be explored.…”

“…Indirect labeling was performed on individual cDNA following the Array 50 kit protocol (Genisphere). Transcriptome profiles were obtained by using the 16,006-cDNA gene microarray (version 2) developed for Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) by cGRASP (Von Schalburg et al 2005) (Consortium for Genomic Research on All Salmonids Project) and successfully tested and applied to other salmonid species, including Coregonus clupeaformis Rise et al 2007). Gene identification with the corresponding EST sequence can be found at http:/ /web.uvic.ca/ cbr/grasp/.…”

“…Transcripts corresponded to EST library annotations of Von Schalburg et al (2005). Those annotated as ''unknown'' were submitted to BLAST nucleotide and translated protein searches to determine if new gene identifications were possible.…”

“…Here, we investigate the genetic architecture of transcript regulation in the white muscle tissue differentiating the recently evolved dwarf and normal species pairs of lake whitefish by conducting an eQTL mapping study using a 16,006-gene cDNA salmonids-specific microarray (Von Schalburg et al 2005). Transcript abundance was measured in the same progeny of an F 1 hybrid-dwarf backcrossed family for which a genetic map was recently built .…”

Use of Microarray Technology to Improve DNA Vaccines in Fish Aquaculture - The Rhabdoviral Model

“…The first salmonid 16K cDNA microaarray appeared in 2004. This array was developed by the Genomic Research on Atlantic Salmon Project (GRASP) (von Schalburg et al, 2005a) and led to the most recent 32K cDNA and the first 5K oligo DNA of 70-mer microarrays. The high sequence similarity (~ 86 %) between salmonids (9 genera and 68 species) indicates that cDNA microarrays may be suitable for studies involving any member of this fish family.…”