Project description:Whole transcriptome RNA sequencing in brain tissue was generated to explore differences between young and old animals of two closely related species of deer mice (genus Peromyscus) that reportedly differ in their lifespans: P. leucopus that lives for up to 8 years and P. maniculatus that exhibits a lifespan of about 4 years.
Project description:ABSTRACT: The cactus mouse (Peromyscus eremicus) is a desert-specialized rodent that experiences both chronic and acute dehydration in the Southwestern United States. Our previous research has generated substantial transcriptomic data on P. eremicus kidneys, testes, epididymis, and vas deferens in individuals exposed to hydrated and dehydrated conditions; however, the study described here is the first to describe a seminal vesicle proteome for this species. We have produced a seminal vesicle proteome from P. eremicus with free access to water and mice that were acutely dehydrated to generate a dataset that is comprehensive for both alternative water-availability states experienced by this species. We have also provided gene ontologies for this proteome using PANTHER. This proteome will provide a crucial resource for future studies characterizing the genetic and proteomic responses of reproductive tissues to drought in this rodent. Furthermore, an enhanced understanding of survival and reproductive responses (and adaptations) to dehydration is particularly relevant to clinical work aiming to minimize adverse human impacts as climate change continues to increase the incidence of drought.
Project description:Kinship relationships between parents affect offspring fitness. Beyond its effects in heterozygosity or its impact in deleterious alleles that can be reduced to homozygosity and decrease the individuals’ fitness, the consequences of parental relatedness in the offspring remain understudied. By leveraging the availability of detailed pedigrees of captive Peromyscus we explored how parental relatedness impacts the methylome and the epigenetic age estimation of the offspring. Global CpG methylation analysis showed that parental relatedness positively impacts lifespan expectancy and reduces epigenetic aging, contributing about 13% of variation in epigenetic age estimation. Global hypermethylation due to relatedness was considerably higher than hypomethylation, was more pronounced in the male offspring, and mainly affected chromosomal loci associated with development. A relatedness-associated methylation signature was described that predicts parental relatedness with high accuracy, providing the proof of concept that kinship relationships can be inferred by epigenetic analyses. These findings identify parental relatedness as a modifier of epigenetic aging and global methylation, suggesting that kinship relations should be considered when epigenetic, and potentially transcriptomic data are interpreted in the context of aging and of other pathophysiological processes.