Transcriptome profiling analysis of underlying regulation of growing follicle development in the chicken

Abstract

Large ovarian follicles are primary characteristics of oviparous species. The development of such follicles is crucially governed by strict intrinsic complex regulation. Many aspects of the genetic basis of this regulation remain obscure. To identify the dominant genes controlling follicular development in the chicken, growing follicles (400–1,600 μm in diameter) were selected for RNA sequencing and bioinformatics analysis. Comparing the 400-μm follicles with 800-μm follicles identified a total of 3,627 differentially expressed genes (1,792 upregulated and 1,835 downregulated genes). Comparing the 400-μm follicles with 1,600-μm follicles revealed 9,650 differentially expressed genes (including 4,848 upregulated and 4,802 downregulated genes). Comparing 800-μm with 1,600-μm follicles revealed a total of 6,779 differentially expressed genes (3,427 upregulated and 3,352 downregulated genes). Transcriptome analysis revealed that genes related to the extracellular matrix–receptor interactions, steroid biosynthesis, cell adhesion, and phagosomes displayed remarkable differential expressions. Relative to 400-μm follicles, collagen content, production of steroid hormones, cell adhesion, and phagocytic factors were significantly increased in the 1,600-μm follicles. This study identifies the dominant genes involved in the promotion of follicular development in oviparous vertebrates and represents the extraordinary gene regulation pattern related to development of the growing follicles in poultry.

Identification of reliable reference genes for expression studies in the magnum of laying hens housed in cage and cage‐free systems

“…Stress in poultry results in changes in the transcription of several genes related to productivity, immunity, metabolism, among others (Al‐Zghoul et al., 2019; Løtvedt et al., 2017; Shini et al., 2010). The transcriptomic research in poultry has increased due to advances in technology and available bioinformatics software and high sensitivity, throughput and accuracy techniques used for quantification of mRNA (Long, 2020; Zhou et al., 2020). The internal reference genes have been proposed and used for normalizing quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) data, which represents the basal gene expression of the target tissue or cell population for analyses of expression (Bagés et al., 2015; Hassanpour et al., 2018).…”

Dynamic transcriptome and chromatin architecture in granulosa cells during chicken folliculogenesis

“…As such, this normally rapid degradation is required for new hierarchical recruitment and subsequent ovulation 10 . Substantial research efforts have been made to characterize developmental alterations in the morphology and transcriptional regulation of GCs in birds, particularly during folliculogenesis, where there is a focus on the activation of primordial follicles or the selection of a dominant follicle [11][12][13] . In the eukaryotic cell nucleus, genomic DNA is highly folded and spatially organized into a hierarchy of 3D structures, including chromosome territories, compartments, topologically associating domains (TADs), and long-range interactions [14][15][16][17] , which play important roles in transcriptional regulation 18 .…”

Transcriptome Analysis of Long Noncoding RNAs and mRNAs in Granulosa Cells of Jinghai Yellow Chickens Illuminated With Red Light

“…Eight overlapping targets identified by RNA-Seq were selected for verification by RT-qPCR, including CYP11A1, CYP17A1 , and 17 β -HSD , which are important for steroidogenesis and the synthesis of hormones such as testosterone, progesterone, and estrogen (Zhou et al, 2020 ). P450scc, the protein product of the CYP11A1 gene, plays a major role in the control of steroidogenesis (Simpson, 1979 ; Hara et al, 2014 ).…”