STAT6, PBX2, and PBRM1 Emerge as Predicted Regulators of 452 Differentially Expressed Genes Associated With Puberty in Brahman Heifers

Frontiers in Genetics

Antonio Reverter¹  Sigrid A. Lehnert¹  Angela Cánovas²  Marina M. Dias³  Natalie F. Crawford⁴  Milt G. Thomas⁴  Alma Islas-Trejo⁵  Juan F. Medrano⁵  Loan T. Nguyen⁶  Marina R. S. Fortes⁷  Stephen S. Moore⁷  Bronwyn Venus⁷  Stephen T. Anderson⁸ 

[1] CSIRO Agriculture and Food, Queensland Bioscience Precinct,St. Lucia, QLD, Australia;Centre for Genetic Improvement of Livestock, Department of Animal Biosciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada;Departamento de Zootecnia, Faculdade de Ciências Agráìrias e Veterináìrias, Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho, São Paulo, Brazil;Department of Animal Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, United States;Department of Animal Science, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States;Faculty of Biotechnology, Vietnam National University of Agriculture, Hanoi, Vietnam;Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD, Australia;School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia;School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD, Australia;

关键词: Bos indicus;    puberty;    gene expression;    RNA sequencing;    gene network;    liver;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fgene.2018.00087

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The liver plays a central role in metabolism and produces important hormones. Hepatic estrogen receptors and the release of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) are critical links between liver function and the reproductive system. However, the role of liver in pubertal development is not fully understood. To explore this question, we applied transcriptomic analyses to liver samples of pre- and post-pubertal Brahman heifers and identified differentially expressed (DE) genes and genes encoding transcription factors (TFs). Differential expression of genes suggests potential biological mechanisms and pathways linking liver function to puberty. The analyses identified 452 DE genes and 82 TF with significant contribution to differential gene expression by using a regulatory impact factor metric. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor was observed as the most down-regulated gene (P = 0.003) in post-pubertal heifers and we propose this gene influences pubertal development in Brahman heifers. Additionally, co-expression network analysis provided evidence for three TF as key regulators of liver function during pubertal development: the signal transducer and activator of transcription 6, PBX homeobox 2, and polybromo 1. Pathway enrichment analysis identified transforming growth factor-beta and Wnt signaling pathways as significant annotation terms for the list of DE genes and TF in the co-expression network. Molecular information regarding genes and pathways described in this work are important to further our understanding of puberty onset in Brahman heifers.

【 授权许可】

Unknown