Project description:As germ cell precursor, primordial germ cells (PGCs) are widely used in transgenic animal production, regenerative medicine and other fields. However, the regulation mechanism of chicken PGCs is not incomplete, which leads to the insufficient amount of chicken PGCs obtained in vitro, which seriously affects the specific application of PGCs. During PGC formation (differentiation from ESCs to PGCs), some proteins have inconsistent changes in transcription level and protein abundance. Mediating proteasome degradation is one of the most important roles of protein ubiquitination, and enrichment analysis of transcriptome and proteome also suggests an important role of ubiquitination in the process of PGCs. In order to explore the important functions and potential targets of ubiquitination, we collected chicken ESCs and PGCs cells for label free ubiquitomics analysis. This study preliminarily analyzed how ubiquitination regulates the formation of chicken PGCs, providing a theoretical basis for the subsequent research and specific application of PGCs.
Project description:The aim of this investigation was to identify differentially expressed transcripts in chicken primordial germ cells (PGCs) compared with blastoderms, chicken embryonic fibroblasts (CEFs) and gonadal stromal cells (GSCs). Based on the P values (P < 0.05) and fold-change cutoff (4.0), several transcripts were differentially expressed in PGCs. However, we restricted our analysis to identify gene-matched transcripts only. Finally, we identified 1,505 differentially expressed transcripts in PGCs compared with blastoderms, 760 differentially expressed transcripts in PGCs compared with CEFs, and 466 differentially expressed transcripts in PGCs compared with GSCs.
Project description:In poultry, in vitro derived primordial germ cells (PGCs) represent an important tool for management of genetic resources. However, several studies have highlighted sexual differences exhibited by PGCs through in vitro steps, which may compromise their reproductive capacities. To understand this phenomenon, we compared the proteome of pregonadal chicken male (ZZ) and female (ZW) PGCs expanded in vitro by quantitative proteomic analysis using a GeLC-MS/MS strategy. The proteins found to be differentially abundant in chicken male and female PGCs indicated their early sexual identity. Many of the proteins up-accumulated in male PGCs were encoded by genes strongly enriched in the sexual chromosome Z. This suggests that the known lack of dosage compensation of the transcription of Z-linked genes between sexes persists at protein level in PGCs, and that this may be a key factor of their autonomous sex differentiation. Male and female PGCs up-accumulated protein sets were associated with differential biological processes, and contained proteins biologically relevant for male and female germ cell development respectively. This study presents first evidence on early predetermined sex specific cell fate of chicken PGCs that will help to understand their sexual physiological specificities and enable more precise sex-specific adaptation of in vitro culture conditions.
Project description:Chicken primordial germ cells (PGCs) have an epigenetic signature which differs from the one that mammalian PGCs acquire with their epigenome reprogramming during early embryonic development. In particular, chicken PGCs display a high global amount of histone H3 lysine 9 trimethylation (H3K9me3) compared to somatic cell types. We performed the genome-wide profiling of H3K9me3 and the transcriptome analysis on chicken PGCs compared to embryonic stem cells (ESCs) as a closely related, non germinal cell type.
Project description:The existence of conventional dendritic cells (cDCs) has not yet been demonstrated outside mammals. In this paper, we identified bona fide cDCs in chicken spleen. Comparative profiling of global and of immune response gene expression, morphology, and T cell activation properties show that cDCs and macrophages (MPs) exist as distinct mononuclear phagocytes in chicken, resembling their human and mouse cell counterparts. Using computational analysis, core gene expression signatures for cDCs, MPs, T and B cells across chicken, human and mouse were established, which will facilitate the identification of these subsets in other vertebrates. Overall this study, by extending the newly uncovered cDC and MP paradigm to chicken, suggests that the generation of these two phagocyte lineages occurred before the reptile to mammal and bird transition in evolution. It opens avenues for the design of new vaccines and neutraceuticals that are mandatory for the sustained supply of poultry products in the expanding human population.