Project description:IUGR is associated with an increased risk of obesity in offspring, which is likely driven in part by reprogramming of the hypothalamus due to suboptimal nutrition and hypoxia during development. As such, we performed mRNA-seq on whole hypothalamic tissue to identify altered expression of genes in our model of IUGR and to identify major pathways that could be associated with fetal undernutrition near term.
Project description:The first trimester is a critical window of maternal-fetal communication for pregnancy. RNA-sequencing of matched maternal decidua (4) and placenta (4) identified 91 sexually dimorphic receptor-ligand pairs across the maternal-fetal interface, 32 in females and 59 in males.
Project description:The first trimester is a critical window of maternal-fetal communication for pregnancy. Using single cell RNA-sequencing to dissect placenta heterogeneity, we identified five major cell types (trophoblasts, stromal cells, hofbauer cells, antigen presenting cells and endothelial cells). We identified seven unique trophoblast subclusters, including new subtypes that transition into the terminal cell types, extra-villous trophoblasts and syncytiotrophoblasts. As fetal sex impacts pregnancy, we analyzed sex differences in each cell type and identified differences in immune cell function. TGFβ1, β-estradiol, and dihydrotestosterone emerge as upstream regulators of sexually dimorphic genes in a cell type specific manner. Thus, the fetal contribution at the maternal-fetal interface is cell and sex specific.
Project description:Sex estimation of human remains from demineralized blocks of tooth enamel by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC- MS/MS) and proteomic analysis of sexually dimorphic amelogenin peptides. The detection of the Y-isoform of amelogenin is used to estimate male sex. The combined signal intensity of the sexually dimorphic peptides from each samples of known sex is used to establish a statistical framework for the estimation of the female sex probability.
Project description:The liver is one of the most sexually dimorphic organs as measured by gene expression differences. About 80% of the sexually dimorphic genes are known to be regulated by growth hormone (GH). Somatostatin (SST) inhibits the release of GH. We generated a SST-knockout mouse and analyzed the hepatic gene expression changes in both sexes.
Project description:To identify genes that are downstream of gonadal hormones and that control dimorphic behaviors, we used a MEEBO array platform to profile gene expression of adult male and female hypothalamus against a whole brain reference sample. The experimental design allowed us to identify genes that are upreguated in the hypothalamus compared to the whole brain and are dimorphically expressed between the two sexes. In situ hybridization of candiate genes were carried out to validate the dimorphic expression of these genes in the hypothalamus. Array results were used to create a list of genes to screen by in situ hybridization. For each normalization method, a list of genes that were upregulated in the male or the female was created, and a gene had to be on a set number of these individual normalization lists in order to be considered for screening. A similar method was used to create a list of hypothalamic upregulated genes. The final screening list was comprised of genes that were upregulated in the male or female as well as in the hypothalamus. If in situ hybridization proved that the gene was upregulated in the male or female brain, we concluded that that transcript was differentially expressed. No one normalization method was weighted over another, and the array results were used to create a screening list for in situ hybridizations. Hypothalami from 4 adult animals of each sex were microdissected and pooled for each experimental sample and the whole brain plus pituitary from one male and one female were pooled to provide the reference sample. Each set of samples (male and female) was hybridized to two arrays to provide two technical replicates for each set of samples taken. A total of three sets of samples were taken (three biological replicates). For the "_amp" Samples, source (hypothalamus and whole brain) mRNA was amplified using T7 based method. For this set, data were not normalized, rather the raw intensities were used to calculate ratios. Candidate genes from this study was also included in final list in situ screening.
Project description:Sexually dimorphic traits are by definition exaggerated in one sex, which may arise from a history of sex-specific selection â in males, females, or both. If this exaggeration comes at a cost, exaggeration is expected to be greater in higher condition individuals (condition-dependent). Although studies using small numbers of morphological traits are generally supportive, this prediction has not been examined at a larger scale. We test this prediction across the trancriptome by determining the condition-dependence of sex-biased (dimorphic) gene expression. We find that high-condition populations are more sexually dimorphic in transcription than low-condition populations. High condition populations have more male-biased genes and more female-biased genes, and a greater degree of sexually dimorphic expression in these genes. Also, condition-dependence in male-biased genes was greater than in a set of unbiased genes. Interestingly, male-biased genes expressed in the testes were not more condition-dependent than those in the soma. By contrast, increased female-biased expression under high condition may be have occurred because of the greater contribution of the ovary-specific transcripts to the entire mRNA pool. We did not find any genomic signatures distinguishing the condition-dependent sex-biased genes. The degree of condition-dependent sexual dimorphism (CDSD) did not differ between the autosomes and the X-chromosome. There was only weak evidence that rates of evolution correlated with CDSD. We suggest that the sensitivity of both female-biased genes and male-biased genes to condition may be akin to the overall heightened sensitivity to condition that life-history and sexually selected traits tend to exhibit. Our results demonstrate that through condition-dependence, early life experience has dramatic effects on sexual dimorphism in the adult transcriptome. There were 8 biologically distinct samples. Each was replicated 6 times for a total of 48 biological samples on 24 arrays. There was no reference or control sample as a loop design was used. Each of the 48 samples are represented separately.