Identification and characterization of male reproduction-related genes in pig (Sus scrofa) using transcriptome analysis

Wenjing Yang,Xianyong Lan,Ye Li,Mingyue Chen,Feiyang Zhao,Chuanying Pan,Ruolin Yang

doi:10.1186/s12864-020-06790-w

Wenjing Yang, Xianyong Lan + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-020-06790-w

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Journal: BMC Genomics	Publication Date: Jun 1, 2020
Citations: 8	License type: open-access

Affiliation: North West Agriculture and Forestry University

Abstract

BackgroundThe systematic interrogation of reproduction-related genes was key to gain a comprehensive understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying male reproductive traits in mammals. Here, based on the data collected from the NCBI SRA database, this study first revealed the genes involved in porcine male reproduction as well their uncharacterized transcriptional characteristics.ResultsResults showed that the transcription of porcine genome was more widespread in testis than in other organs (the same for other mammals) and that testis had more tissue-specific genes (1210) than other organs. GO and GSEA analyses suggested that the identified test is-specific genes (TSGs) were associated with male reproduction. Subsequently, the transcriptional characteristics of porcine TSGs, which were conserved across different mammals, were uncovered. Data showed that 195 porcine TSGs shared similar expression patterns with other mammals (cattle, sheep, human and mouse), and had relatively higher transcription abundances and tissue specificity than low-conserved TSGs. Additionally, further analysis of the results suggested that alternative splicing, transcription factors binding, and the presence of other functionally similar genes were all involved in the regulation of porcine TSGs transcription.ConclusionsOverall, this analysis revealed an extensive gene set involved in the regulation of porcine male reproduction and their dynamic transcription patterns. Data reported here provide valuable insights for a further improvement of the economic benefits of pigs as well as future treatments for male infertility.

Highlights

The systematic interrogation of reproduction-related genes was key to gain a comprehensive understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying male reproductive traits in mammals
This study further identified alternative splicing (AS) changes between porcine test is-specific genes (TSGs) and non-testis-specific genes (NTSGs), the most frequent changes were the number of TSGs in which alternative 5′ splice sites (A5), alternative first exons (AF), and SE events occurred (Fig. 5D)
The results presented here showed that 206 Transcription factors (TFs) were significantly associated with TSGs and not to NTSGs, and these TSGs were preferentially regulated by TFs such as AR, THRB, NR5A1, SOX9 (Fig. 6A and Table S9)

Summary

Introduction

The systematic interrogation of reproduction-related genes was key to gain a comprehensive understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying male reproductive traits in mammals. Yang et al BMC Genomics (2020) 21:381 early embryonic development [7, 8] These observations mean that research on the pig male reproduction direction is the need of the economy, and can provide insights into human male sterility. It is one of the current research hotspots. Studies have shown that numerous genes related to male reproduction were expressed in the testis of mice or humans, such as SUN5, CFAP65, DAZL, and so on [11,12,13]. The RNA-binding protein DAZL (deleted in azoospermia like) acted as an essential regulator of germ cell survival in mice [13]

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