Project description:To investigate the mechanisms of gene regulation during Drosophila spermatogenesis, we performed RNA-Seq gene expression profiling in testes from Drosophila males, bearing mutations that affect spermatogenesis.
Project description:In order to study the effect of protease treatment on dissected testes, we performed different strategies of cleaning and dissociation on Drosophila melanogaster w1118 larval testes. We collected testes without protease treatment with fatbody just attached around the gonad, fatbody alone dissected from around the testes, testes without fatbody and testes dissociated by either by Papain or Trypsin and Collagenase cocktail. We prepared poly A+ RNA-Seq libraries and performed transcriptional profiling to generate 50 bp stranded single end reads.
Project description:Foxl2 is a forkhead transcription factor expressed only in the female, but not in the male gonad. We have created mice homozygous mutant for the Foxl2 gene (KO) as well as mice carrying a conditional mutant Foxl2 allele (floxed). The expression profiles of conventional Foxl2 knockout and wildtype ovaries were compared at P3, using the Affy Mouse Genome 430 2.0 Array. Adult wildtype and conditional mutant (Foxl2 floxed x RosaCre-EBD treated with tamoxifen) ovaries were compared to adult wildtype testes using the Affymetrix Mouse Gene 1.0 ST Array. Both experiments (KO/WT P3 and Mutant/WT/Testis Adult were also compared to each other.)
Project description:In order to analyze transcription pattern in Drosophila testes, we performed competitive hybridizations of testes-derived cDNA against the cDNAs obtained from heads, ovaries, and whole gonadectomized males.
Project description:The Drosophila spermatogenesis cell differentiation pathway involves the activation of a large set of genes in primary spermatocytes. Most of these genes are activated by testis-specific TATA-binding protein associated factors (tTAFs). In the current model for the activation mechanism, Polycomb plays a key role silencing these genes in the germline precursors, and tTAF-dependent activation in primary spermatocytes involves the displacement of Polycomb from gene promoters. We investigated the genome-wide binding of Polycomb in wild type and tTAF mutant testes. According to the model we expected to see a clear enhancement in Polycomb binding at tTAF-dependent spermatogenesis genes in tTAF mutant testes. However, we find little evidence for such an enhancement in tTAF mutant testes compared to wild type. To avoid problems arising from cellular heterogeneity in whole testis analysis, we further tested the model by analysing Polycomb binding in purified germline precursors, representing cells before tTAF-dependent gene activation. Although we find Polycomb associated with its canonical targets, we find little or no evidence of Polycomb at spermatogenesis genes. The lack of Polycomb at tTAF-dependent spermatogenesis genes in precursor cells argues against a model where Polycomb displacement is the mechanism of spermatogenesis gene activation. This genome-wide ChIP-array study investigates the binding of Polycomb in three biological samples: wild type (WT) whole testes, tTAF (can) mutant whole testes, and FACS-sorted germline precursor cells. We performed two biological replicates for each sample, except wild type whole testes where we performed three. For all ChIP-array experiments, input chromatin was used as the reference control to assay ChIP enrichment. We used Cy3/Cy5-labelled ChIP and input DNA for hybridisation onto Nimblegen arrays, and we performed a Cy3/Cy5 dye swap for one biological replicate of each sample (see supplementary file: GSE39935_README.txt).
Project description:Transcriptional profiling of Drosophila melanogaster larval testes with and without the wMel strain of Wolbachia and found that 296 genes had at least a 1.5 fold change [q-value (%)<5%] in transcript levels, with 167 genes up-regulated and 129 genes down-regulated when comparing Wolbachia-infected flies to uninfected ones. Differential expression of genes related to metabolism, immunity, reproduction and other functions were observed. Two-condition experiment, Wolbachia-infected vs. Wolbachia-uninfected testes. Biological replicates: 3 control, 3 infected, independently grown and dissected. One replicate per array.
Project description:Both transcription and post-transcriptional processes, such as alternative splicing, play crucial roles in controlling developmental programs in metazoans. Recently emerged RNA-seq method has brought our understanding of eukaryotic transcriptomes to a new level, because it can resolve both gene expression level and alternative splicing events simultaneously. To gain a better understanding of cellular differentiation in gonads, we analyzed mRNA profiles from Drosophila testes and ovaries using RNA-seq. We identified a set of genes that have sex-specific isoforms in wild-type (WT) gonads, including several transcription factors. We found that differentiation of sperms from undifferentiated germ cells induced a dramatic downregulation of RNA splicing factors. Our data confirmed that RNA splicing events are significantly more frequent in the undifferentiated cell-enriched bag of marbles (bam) mutant testis, but downregulated upon differentiation in WT testis. Consistent with this, we showed that genes required for meiosis and terminal differentiation in WT testis were mainly regulated at the transcriptional level, but not by alternative splicing. Unexpectedly, we observed an increase in expression of all families of chromatin remodeling factors and histone modifying enzymes in the undifferentiated cell-enriched bam testis. More interestingly, chromatin regulators and histone modifying enzymes with opposite enzymatic activities are coenriched in undifferentiated cells in testis, suggesting that these cells may possess dynamic chromatin architecture. Finally, our data revealed many new features of the Drosophila gonadal transcriptomes, and will lead to a more comprehensive understanding of how differential gene expression and splicing regulate gametogenesis in Drosophila. Our data provided a foundation for the systematic study of gene expression and alternative splicing in many interesting areas of germ cell biology in Drosophila, such as the molecular basis for sexual dimorphism and the regulation of the proliferation vs terminal differentiation programs in germline stem cell lineages. RNA-Seq experiments for four Drosophila melanogaster samples: (1) bam mutant testes, (2) wild-type testes, (3) bam mutant ovaries, (4) wild-type ovaries