Project description:During the perinatal period, unique metabolic adaptations support energetic requirements for rapid growth. To gain insight into perinatal adaptations, quantitative proteomics were performed comparing the livers of yorkshire pigs at postnatal day seven and adult. These data revealed differences in the metabolic control of liver function including significant changes in lipid and carbohydrate metabolic pathways. Newborn livers showed an enrichment of proteins in lipid catabolism and gluconeogenesis concomitant with elevated liver carnitine and acylcarnitines levels. Sugar kinases were some of the most dramatically differentially enriched proteins comparing neonatal and adult pigs including galactokinase 1 (Galk1), ketohexokinase (KHK), hexokinase 1 (HK1) and hexokinase 4 (GCK). Interestingly, hexokinase domain containing 1 (HKDC1), an enigmatic fifth hexokinase associated with glucose disturbances in pregnant women was highly enriched in the liver during the prenatal and perinatal periods and continuously declined throughout postnatal development in pigs and mice. These changes were confirmed via Western blot and mRNA expression. These data provide new insights into the developmental and metabolic adaptations in the liver during the transition from the perinatal period to adulthood in multiple mammalian species.
Project description:This trial was undertaken to examine the perhipheral cellular and antibody response of cattle following infestation with the cattle tick, Rhipicephalus microplus. The information from the Affymetrix gene expression data is used to complement other measurements of immune function such as cellular subset composition and antibody response in cattle of high (Brahman) and low (Holstein-Friesian) resistance to the cattle tick. Experiment Overall Design: RNA was extracted from white blood cells during a period of successive, heavy infestations with R. microplus. RNA samples from 3 Holstein-Friesian and 3 Brahman animals were analysed on individual slides.
Project description:This experiment was undertaken to document changes in gene expression in the skin of tick-resistant Brahman (Bos indicus) and tick-susceptible Holstein-Friesian (Bos taurus) cattle prior to, and following, infestation with the cattle tick Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus Experiment Overall Design: RNA was extracted from skin samples of tick-naïve cattle (animals with no previous R.microplus exposure) and tick-infested cattle after a period of successive, heavy infestations with R. microplus. Skin samples taken from tick-infested animals were taken at sites where tick larvae (approximately 24 h old) were attached to the skin sample. Skin samples were of 8 mm diameter and full skin thickness (approximately 10 mm). RNA samples from 12 animals (3 tick-naive Holstein-Friesian, 3 tick-naive Brahman, 3 tick-infested Holstein-Friesian and 3 tick-infested Brahman) were processed and hybridised to individual slides.
Project description:Piglets cloned by somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) show a high incidence of malformations and a high death rate during the perinatal period. To investigate the underlying mechanisms for abnormal development of cloned pig fetuses, we compared body weight, amniotic fluid (AF) metabolome, and placental transcriptome between SCNT- and artificial insemination (AI)-derived pig fetuses. Results showed that the body weight of SCNT pig fetuses was significantly lower than that of AI pig fetuses. The identified differential metabolites between the two groups of AF were mainly involved in bile acids and steroid hormones. The levels of all detected bile acids in SCNT AF were significantly higher than those in AI AF. The increase in the AF bile acid levels in SCNT fetuses was linked with the downregulation of placental bile acid transporter expression and the abnormal development of placental folds (PFs), both of which negatively affected the transfer of bile acids from AF across the placenta into the mother's circulation. Alteration in the AF steroid hormone levels in cloned fetuses was associated with decreased expression of enzymes responsible for steroid hormone biosynthesis in the placenta. In conclusion, cloned pig fetuses undergo abnormal intrauterine development associated with alteration of bile acid and steroid hormone levels in AF, which may be due to the poor development of PFs and the erroneous expression of bile acid transporters and enzymes responsible for steroid hormone biosynthesis in the placentas.
Project description:Massive dysregulation of genes involved in cell signaling and placental development in cloned cattle conceptus and maternal endometrium
Project description:Tet enzymes (Tet1/2/3) convert 5-methylcytosine (5mC) to 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC). Tet1 and Tet2 mediate 5hmC generation in mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and various embryonic and adult tissues. To investigate the effects of combined deficiency of Tet1 and Tet2 on pluripotency and development, we have generated Tet1 and Tet2 double knockout (DKO) ESCs and mice. DKO ESCs were depleted of 5hmC, but remained pluripotent with subtle defects in differentiation and changes in gene expression. Double mutant embryos and chimeras exhibited mid-gestation defects and postnatal DKO mice displayed partially penetrant neonatal lethality and stochastic perturbation of imprinting. Viable DKO animals developed normally to adulthood but had reduced 5hmC level, increased 5mC level and lacked 5hmC in germ cells. Nevertheless, DKO mice of both sexes were fertile with females having smaller ovaries and reduced fertility. Our data suggest that both Tet1 and Tet2 contribute to 5hmC levels during development. Their combined loss does not block differentiation and embryogenesis, but leads to partially penetrant embryonic and perinatal abnormalities and compromised viability. Moreover, the presence of substantial levels of 5hmC in DKO embryos and adult mice suggests a significant contribution of Tet3 in hydroxylation of 5mC during development. Methylation patterns in tissue samples from a series of wt and Tet1/Tet2 DKO embryos, neonates and adults were generated using methylated DNA immunoprecipitation with antibodies against 5mC (MeDIP) and 5hmC (hMeDIP) followed by deep sequencing.
Project description:Zygotic genome activation (ZGA) occurs at the mid-blastula transition (MBT) in zebrafish and is a period of chromatin remodeling. Genome-scale gametic demethylation and remethylation occurs after fertilization, during blastula stages, but how ZGA relates to promoter DNA methylation states is unknown. Using methylated DNA immunoprecipitation coupled to high-density microarray hybridization (MeDIP-ChIP), we characterize genome-wide promoter DNA methylation dynamics before, during and after ZGA onset, in relation changes in post-translational histone modification and gene expression (Series GSE22830). A Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) test was applied with P <= 0.01 to identify methylation peaks. MeDIP-chip experiments were performed on24 hpf zebrafish embryos and sperm. Samples were lysed and proteins digested by proteinase k treatment. DNA was extracted with phenol-chloroform-isoamylalcohol and ethanol precipitation. The DNA was RNAse treated and sonicated to fragment lengths between 300-1000 bp. From each stage, duplicate immuneoprecipitations were performed using anti-5-methylcytosine antibody (10 ng/M-BM-5l; Mab-006-100; Diagenode) coupled to Dynabeads M-280 sheep anti-mouse IgG (Invitrogen). MeDIP and input DNA (150 ng each) were amplified (WGA-2; Sigma-Aldrich), cleaned up, eluted and processed for array hybridization. MeDIP and input DNA were labeled and co-hybridized onto the Nimbegen promoter arrays. The array covers 15 kb of upstream regulatory sequence and 5 kb downstream of the TSS of all zebrafish genes. A Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) test was applied with P <= 0.01 to identify methylation peaks.