{"title":"ATAC-seq and RNA-seq analysis unravel the mechanism of sex differentiation and infertility in sex reversal chicken.","authors":"Xiuan Zhang, Jianbo Li, Xiqiong Wang, Yuchen Jie, Congjiao Sun, Jiangxia Zheng, Junying Li, Ning Yang, Sirui Chen","doi":"10.1186/s13072-022-00476-1","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Sex determination and differentiation are complex and delicate processes. In female chickens, the process of sex differentiation is sensitive and prone to be affected by the administration of aromatase inhibitors, which result in chicken sex reversal and infertility. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying sex differentiation and infertility in chicken sex reversal remain unclear. Therefore, we established a sex-reversed chicken flock by injecting an aromatase inhibitor, fadrozole, and constructed relatively high-resolution profiles of the gene expression and chromatin accessibility of embryonic gonads.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We revealed that fadrozole affected the transcriptional activities of several genes, such as DMRT1, SOX9, FOXL2, and CYP19A1, related to sex determination and differentiation, and the expression of a set of gonadal development-related genes, such as FGFR3 and TOX3, by regulating nearby open chromatin regions in sex-reversed chicken embryos. After sexual maturity, the sex-reversed chickens were confirmed to be infertile, and the possible causes of this infertility were further investigated. We found that the structure of the gonads and sperm were greatly deformed, and we identified several promising genes related to spermatogenesis and infertility, such as SPEF2, DNAI1, and TACR3, through RNA-seq.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This study provides clear insights into the exploration of potential molecular basis underlying sex differentiation and infertility in sex-reversed chickens and lays a foundation for further research into the sex development of birds.</p>","PeriodicalId":49253,"journal":{"name":"Epigenetics & Chromatin","volume":"16 1","pages":"2"},"PeriodicalIF":4.2000,"publicationDate":"2023-01-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9827654/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Epigenetics & Chromatin","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s13072-022-00476-1","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"GENETICS & HEREDITY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Sex determination and differentiation are complex and delicate processes. In female chickens, the process of sex differentiation is sensitive and prone to be affected by the administration of aromatase inhibitors, which result in chicken sex reversal and infertility. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying sex differentiation and infertility in chicken sex reversal remain unclear. Therefore, we established a sex-reversed chicken flock by injecting an aromatase inhibitor, fadrozole, and constructed relatively high-resolution profiles of the gene expression and chromatin accessibility of embryonic gonads.
Results: We revealed that fadrozole affected the transcriptional activities of several genes, such as DMRT1, SOX9, FOXL2, and CYP19A1, related to sex determination and differentiation, and the expression of a set of gonadal development-related genes, such as FGFR3 and TOX3, by regulating nearby open chromatin regions in sex-reversed chicken embryos. After sexual maturity, the sex-reversed chickens were confirmed to be infertile, and the possible causes of this infertility were further investigated. We found that the structure of the gonads and sperm were greatly deformed, and we identified several promising genes related to spermatogenesis and infertility, such as SPEF2, DNAI1, and TACR3, through RNA-seq.
Conclusions: This study provides clear insights into the exploration of potential molecular basis underlying sex differentiation and infertility in sex-reversed chickens and lays a foundation for further research into the sex development of birds.
期刊介绍：
Epigenetics & Chromatin is a peer-reviewed, open access, online journal that publishes research, and reviews, providing novel insights into epigenetic inheritance and chromatin-based interactions. The journal aims to understand how gene and chromosomal elements are regulated and their activities maintained during processes such as cell division, differentiation and environmental alteration.
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