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Wang X, Guo S, Xiong L, Wu X, Bao P, Kang Y, Cao M, Ding Z, Liang C, Pei J, Guo X. Complete characterization of the yak testicular development using accurate full-length transcriptome sequencing. Int J Biol Macromol 2024; 271:132400. [PMID: 38759851 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2024.132400] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2024] [Revised: 05/11/2024] [Accepted: 05/13/2024] [Indexed: 05/19/2024]
Abstract
Alternative splicing is a prevalent phenomenon in testicular tissues. Due to the low assembly accuracy of short-read RNA sequencing technology in analyzing post-transcriptional regulatory events, full-length (FL) transcript sequencing is highly demanded to accurately determine FL splicing variants. In this study, we performed FL transcriptome sequencing of testicular tissues from 0.5, 1.5, 2.5, and 4-year-old yaks and 4-year-old cattle-yaks using Oxford Nanopore Technologies. The obtained sequencing data were predicted to have 47,185 open reading frames (ORFs), including 26,630 complete ORFs, detected 7645 fusion transcripts, 15,355 alternative splicing events, 25,798 simple sequence repeats, 7628 transcription factors, and 35,503 long non-coding RNAs. A total of 40,038 novel transcripts were obtained from the sequencing data, and the proportion was almost close to the number of known transcripts identified. Structural analysis and functional annotation of these novel transcripts resulted in the successful annotation of 9568 transcripts, with the highest and lowest annotation numbers in the Nr and KOG databases, respectively. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis revealed the key regulatory pathways and hub genes at various stages of yak testicular development. Our findings enhance our comprehension of transcriptome complexity, contribute to genome annotation refinement, and provide foundational data for further investigations into male sterility in cattle-yaks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xingdong Wang
- Key Laboratory of Yak Breeding of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Institute of Husbandry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou 730050, PR China; Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Breeding on Tibetan Plateau, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Lanzhou 730050, PR China
| | - Shaoke Guo
- Key Laboratory of Yak Breeding of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Institute of Husbandry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou 730050, PR China; Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Breeding on Tibetan Plateau, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Lanzhou 730050, PR China
| | - Lin Xiong
- Key Laboratory of Yak Breeding of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Institute of Husbandry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou 730050, PR China; Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Breeding on Tibetan Plateau, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Lanzhou 730050, PR China
| | - Xiaoyun Wu
- Key Laboratory of Yak Breeding of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Institute of Husbandry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou 730050, PR China; Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Breeding on Tibetan Plateau, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Lanzhou 730050, PR China
| | - Pengjia Bao
- Key Laboratory of Yak Breeding of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Institute of Husbandry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou 730050, PR China; Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Breeding on Tibetan Plateau, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Lanzhou 730050, PR China
| | - Yandong Kang
- Key Laboratory of Yak Breeding of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Institute of Husbandry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou 730050, PR China; Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Breeding on Tibetan Plateau, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Lanzhou 730050, PR China
| | - Mengli Cao
- Key Laboratory of Yak Breeding of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Institute of Husbandry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou 730050, PR China; Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Breeding on Tibetan Plateau, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Lanzhou 730050, PR China
| | - Ziqiang Ding
- Key Laboratory of Yak Breeding of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Institute of Husbandry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou 730050, PR China; Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Breeding on Tibetan Plateau, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Lanzhou 730050, PR China
| | - Chunnian Liang
- Key Laboratory of Yak Breeding of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Institute of Husbandry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou 730050, PR China; Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Breeding on Tibetan Plateau, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Lanzhou 730050, PR China
| | - Jie Pei
- Key Laboratory of Yak Breeding of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Institute of Husbandry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou 730050, PR China; Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Breeding on Tibetan Plateau, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Lanzhou 730050, PR China.
| | - Xian Guo
- Key Laboratory of Yak Breeding of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Institute of Husbandry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou 730050, PR China; Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Breeding on Tibetan Plateau, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Lanzhou 730050, PR China.
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Hu Q, Xiao Y, Wei R, Tang T, Wen L, Lu Y, Yu XQ. Identification and functional analysis of CG3526 in spermatogenesis of Drosophila melanogaster. INSECT SCIENCE 2024; 31:79-90. [PMID: 37465843 DOI: 10.1111/1744-7917.13243] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2023] [Revised: 05/22/2023] [Accepted: 05/26/2023] [Indexed: 07/20/2023]
Abstract
Spermatogenesis is a critical part of reproduction in insects; however, its molecular mechanism is still largely unknown. In this study, we identified a testis-specific gene CG3526 in Drosophila melanogaster. Bioinformatics analysis showed that CG3526 contains a zinc binding domain and 2 C2 H2 type zinc fingers, and it is clustered to the vertebrate really interesting new gene (RING) family E3 ubiquitin-protein ligases. When CG3526 was knocked down by RNA interference (RNAi), the testis became much smaller in size, and the apical tip exhibited a sharp and thin end instead of the blunt and round shape in the control testis. More importantly, compared to the control flies, only a few mature sperm were present in the seminal vesicle of C587-Gal4 > CG3526 RNAi flies. Immunofluorescence staining of the testis from CG3526 RNAi flies showed that the homeostasis of testis stem cell niche was disrupted, cell distribution in the apical tip was scattered, and the process of spermatogenesis was not completed. Furthermore, we found that the phenotype of CG3526 RNAi flies' testis was similar to that of testis of Stat92E RNAi flies, the expression level of CG3526 was significantly downregulated in the Stat92EF06346 mutant flies, and the promoter activity of CG3526 was upregulated by STAT92E. Taken together, our results indicated that CG3526 is a downstream effector gene in the JAK-STAT signaling pathway that plays a key role in the spermatogenesis of Drosophila.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qihao Hu
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Insect Developmental Biology and Applied Technology, Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Insect Development Regulation and Application Research, Institute of Insect Science and Technology, School of Life Sciences, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China
| | - Yanhong Xiao
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Insect Developmental Biology and Applied Technology, Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Insect Development Regulation and Application Research, Institute of Insect Science and Technology, School of Life Sciences, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China
| | - Runnan Wei
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Insect Developmental Biology and Applied Technology, Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Insect Development Regulation and Application Research, Institute of Insect Science and Technology, School of Life Sciences, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China
| | - Ting Tang
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Insect Developmental Biology and Applied Technology, Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Insect Development Regulation and Application Research, Institute of Insect Science and Technology, School of Life Sciences, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China
| | - Liang Wen
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Insect Developmental Biology and Applied Technology, Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Insect Development Regulation and Application Research, Institute of Insect Science and Technology, School of Life Sciences, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China
| | - Yuzhen Lu
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Insect Developmental Biology and Applied Technology, Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Insect Development Regulation and Application Research, Institute of Insect Science and Technology, School of Life Sciences, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China
| | - Xiao-Qiang Yu
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Insect Developmental Biology and Applied Technology, Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Insect Development Regulation and Application Research, Institute of Insect Science and Technology, School of Life Sciences, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China
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Li X, Li L, Cui Z, Li M, Xu W. Phosphoproteomics Reveal New Candidates in Abnormal Spermatogenesis of Pseudomales in Cynoglossus semilaevis. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:11430. [PMID: 37511189 PMCID: PMC10380018 DOI: 10.3390/ijms241411430] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2023] [Revised: 07/05/2023] [Accepted: 07/10/2023] [Indexed: 07/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Phosphorylation is a post-translational modification that contributes to versatile protein functions in spermatogenesis, and the variations they generate usually results in abnormal spermatogenesis or sperm dysfunction. The sex-reversal phenomenon exists in Chinese tongue sole under certain conditions such that individuals with a ZW genotype can acquire a male phenotype and are thus called pseudomales. Pseudomale tongue sole can reach sexual maturity but produce only Z-type sperm, and the Z sperm carries paternal epigenetic information. Whether phosphorylation plays a role in the sperm abnormality of pseudomales is unknown. In this study, a phosphoproteomic analysis was performed to compare protein phosphorylation profiles between pseudomale and male testes. Altogether, we identified 14,253 phosphopeptides matching with 4843 proteins, with 1329 differentially phosphorylated peptides corresponding to 1045 differentially phosphorylated proteins (DPPs). Phosphorylation at 781 sites was upregulated and at 548 sites was downregulated. Four motifs were identified among differentially phosphorylated peptides, which were "SP", "SD", "RxxS", and "TP". Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyses suggested that the cell cycle and DNA/RNA processing were significantly enriched with the genes encoding DPPs. To analyze DPP function in depth, a protein-protein interaction network was constructed, and Ran-binding protein 2 was found to play a central role in spermatogenesis by regulating several processes such as the cell cycle, eukaryotic translation, ubiquitination, and minichromosome maintenance. In kinase-associated network analyses, two "mitogen-activated protein kinase (Mapk)-centered" clusters were identified that may account for abnormal spermatogenesis in pseudomales. One cluster was centered on Mapk6, which predominantly regulated the cell cycle by interacting with several cyclin-dependent kinases, and the other was centered on the "testis-expressed kinase 1-like (Tesk1l)/Pim1l-Mapk4l- testis-expressed 14 (Tex14)" kinase cascade, which might contribute to spermatogenesis by regulating β-catenin. Taken together, these data suggested the new candidates involved in pseudomale sperm abnormalities and provided clues to discover the phosphorylated regulatory mechanism underlying tongue sole spermatogenesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xihong Li
- Function Laboratory for Marine Science and Food Production Process, Laoshan Laboratory, Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences (CAFS), Qingdao 266071, China
| | - Lu Li
- Function Laboratory for Marine Science and Food Production Process, Laoshan Laboratory, Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences (CAFS), Qingdao 266071, China
- School of Fishery, Zhejiang Ocean University, Zhoushan 316022, China
| | - Zhongkai Cui
- Function Laboratory for Marine Science and Food Production Process, Laoshan Laboratory, Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences (CAFS), Qingdao 266071, China
| | - Ming Li
- Function Laboratory for Marine Science and Food Production Process, Laoshan Laboratory, Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences (CAFS), Qingdao 266071, China
| | - Wenteng Xu
- Function Laboratory for Marine Science and Food Production Process, Laoshan Laboratory, Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences (CAFS), Qingdao 266071, China
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Zheng Y, Mao B, Wang Q, Duan X, Chen MY, Shen W, Li C, Wang YF. Quantitative proteomics and phosphoproteomics reveal insights into mechanisms of ocnus function in Drosophila testis development. BMC Genomics 2023; 24:283. [PMID: 37237333 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-023-09386-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2022] [Accepted: 05/17/2023] [Indexed: 05/28/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Testis is the only organ supporting sperm production and with the largest number of proteins and tissue-specific proteins in animals. In our previous studies, we have found that knockdown of ocnus (ocn), a testis-specific gene, resulted in much smaller testis with no germ cells in Drosophila melanogaster. However, the molecular consequences of ocn knockdown in fly testes are unknown. RESULTS In this study, through iTRAQ quantitative proteomics sequencing, 606 proteins were identified from fly abdomens as having a significant and at least a 1.5-fold change in expression after ocn knockdown in fly testes, of which 85 were up-regulated and 521 were down-regulated. Among the differential expressed proteins (DEPs), apart from those proteins involved in spermatogenesis, the others extensively affected biological processes of generation of precursor metabolites and energy, metabolic process, and mitochondrial transport. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) analyses of DEPs showed that several kinases and/or phosphatases interacted with Ocn. Re-analyses of the transcriptome revealed 150 differential expressed genes (DEGs) appeared in the DEPs, and their changing trends in expressions after ocn knockdown were consistent. Many common down-regulated DEGs and DEPs were testis-specific or highly expressed in the testis of D. melanogaster. Quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) confirmed 12 genes appeared in both DEGs and DEPs were significantly down-regulated after ocn knockdown in fly testes. Furthermore, 153 differentially expressed phosphoproteins (DEPPs), including 72 up-regulated and 94 down-regulated phosphorylated proteins were also identified (13 phosphoproteins appeared in both up- and down-regulated groups due to having multiple phosphorylation sites). In addition to those DEPPs associated with spermatogenesis, the other DEPPs were enriched in actin filament-based process, protein folding, and mesoderm development. Some DEPs and DEPPs were involved in Notch, JAK/STAT, and cell death pathways. CONCLUSIONS Given the drastic effect of the ocn knockdown on tissue development and testis cells composition, the differences in protein abundance in the ocn knockdown flies might not necessarily be the direct result of differential gene regulation due to the inactivation of ocn. Nevertheless, our results suggest that the expression of ocn is essential for Drosophila testis development and that its down-regulation disturbs key signaling pathways related to cell survival and differentiation. These DEPs and DEPPs identified may provide significant candidate set for future studies on the mechanism of male reproduction of animals, including humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ya Zheng
- School of Life Sciences, Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation and Integrative Biology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, 430079, P. R. China
| | - Bin Mao
- School of Life Sciences, Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation and Integrative Biology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, 430079, P. R. China
| | - Qian Wang
- School of Life Sciences, Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation and Integrative Biology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, 430079, P. R. China
| | - Xin Duan
- School of Life Sciences, Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation and Integrative Biology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, 430079, P. R. China
| | - Meng-Yan Chen
- School of Life Sciences, Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation and Integrative Biology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, 430079, P. R. China
| | - Wei Shen
- School of Life Sciences, Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation and Integrative Biology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, 430079, P. R. China
| | - Chao Li
- School of Life Sciences, Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation and Integrative Biology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, 430079, P. R. China
| | - Yu-Feng Wang
- School of Life Sciences, Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation and Integrative Biology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, 430079, P. R. China.
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Chen MY, Duan X, Wang Q, Ran MJ, Ai H, Zheng Y, Wang YF. Cytochrome c1-like is required for mitochondrial morphogenesis and individualization during spermatogenesis in Drosophila melanogaster. J Exp Biol 2023; 226:286665. [PMID: 36645102 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.245277] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2022] [Accepted: 01/10/2023] [Indexed: 01/17/2023]
Abstract
The Drosophila testis is an excellent system for studying the process from germ stem cells to motile sperm, including the proliferation of male germ cells, meiosis of primary spermatocytes, mitochondrial morphogenesis, and spermatid individualization. We previously demonstrated that ocnus (ocn) plays an essential role in male germ cell development. Among those genes and proteins whose expression levels were changed as a result of ocn knockdown, cytochrome c1-like (cyt-c1L) was downregulated significantly. Here, we show that cyt-c1L is highly expressed in the testis of D. melanogaster. Knockdown or mutation of cyt-c1L in early germ cells of flies resulted in male sterility. Immunofluorescence staining showed that cyt-c1L knockdown testes had no defects in early spermatogenesis; however, in late stages, in contrast to many individualization complexes (ICs) composed of F-actin cones that appeared at different positions in control testes, no actin cones or ICs were observed in cyt-c1L knockdown testes. Furthermore, no mature sperm were found in the seminal vesicle of cyt-c1L knockdown testes whereas the control seminal vesicle was full of mature sperm with needle-like nuclei. cyt-c1L knockdown also caused abnormal mitochondrial morphogenesis during spermatid elongation. Excessive apoptotic signals accumulated in the base of cyt-c1L knockdown fly testes. These results suggest that cyt-c1L may play an important role in spermatogenesis by affecting the mitochondrial morphogenesis and individualization of sperm in D. melanogaster.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meng-Yan Chen
- School of Life Sciences, Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation and Integrative Biology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, PR China
| | - Xin Duan
- School of Life Sciences, Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation and Integrative Biology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, PR China
| | - Qian Wang
- School of Life Sciences, Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation and Integrative Biology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, PR China
| | - Mao-Jiu Ran
- School of Life Sciences, Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation and Integrative Biology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, PR China
| | - Hui Ai
- School of Life Sciences, Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation and Integrative Biology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, PR China
| | - Ya Zheng
- School of Life Sciences, Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation and Integrative Biology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, PR China
| | - Yu-Feng Wang
- School of Life Sciences, Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation and Integrative Biology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, PR China
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