Project description:Infertility is a disease that affects humans and cattle in similar ways. The resemblance includes complex genetic architecture, multiple etiology, low heritability of fertility related traits in females, and the frequency in the female population. Here, we used cattle as a biomedical model to test the hypothesis that gene expression profiles of protein-coding genes expressed in peripheral white blood cells (PWBCs), and circulating micro RNAs in plasma, are associated with female fertility, measured by pregnancy outcome. We drew blood samples from 17 female calves on the day of artificial insemination and analyzed transcript abundance for 10496 genes in PWBCs and 290 circulating micro RNAs. The females were later classified as pregnant to artificial insemination, pregnant to natural breeding or not pregnant. We identified 1860 genes producing significant differential coexpression (eFDR<0.002) based on pregnancy outcome. Additionally, 237 micro RNAs and 2274 genes in PWBCs presented differential coexpression based on pregnancy outcome. Furthermore, using a machine learning prediction algorithm we detected a subset of genes whose abundance could be used for blind categorization of pregnancy outcome. Our results provide strong evidence that bloodborne transcript abundance is highly associated with fertility in females.
Project description:Wandong cattle are an autochthonous Chinese breed used extensively for beef production. The breed tolerates extreme weather conditions and raw feed and are resistant to tick-borne diseases. However, the genetic basis of testis development and sperm production as well as breeding management is not well established in local cattle. In this study, we performed total RNA-Seq and comprehensively analyzed the circ-RNA expression profiling of the testes samples of six bulls at 3 years and 3 months of developmental age. In total, 17 013 circ-RNAs were identified, of which 681 circRNAs (P-adjust < 0.05) were differentially expressed (DE). Among these DE circ-RNAs, 579 were upregulated and 103 were downregulated in calf and bull testes. The Gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analyses revealed that the identified target genes were classified into three broad functional categories, including biological process, cellular component, and molecular function, and were enriched in the lysine degradation, cell cycle, and cell adhesion molecule pathways.
