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13 November 2019 Transcriptome analysis during photostimulated recrudescence reveals distinct patterns of gene regulation in Siberian hamster ovaries
Kathleen Leon, Jon D. Hennebold, Suzanne S. Fei, Kelly A. Young
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Abstract

In Siberian hamsters, exposure to short days (SDs, 8 h light:16 h dark) reduces reproductive function centrally by decreasing gonadotropin secretion, whereas subsequent transfer of photoinhibited hamsters to stimulatory long days (LDs, 16 L:8 D) promotes follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) release inducing ovarian recrudescence. Although differences between SD and LD ovaries have been investigated, a systematic investigation of the ovarian transcriptome across photoperiod groups to identify potentially novel factors that contribute to photostimulated restoration of ovarian function had not been conducted. Hamsters were assigned to one of four photoperiod groups: LD to maintain ovarian cyclicity, SD to induce ovarian regression, or post transfer (PT), where females housed in SD for 14-weeks were transferred to LD for 2-days or 1-week to reflect photostimulated ovaries prior to (PTd2) and following (PTw1) the return of systemic FSH. Ovarian RNA was extracted to create RNA-sequencing libraries and short-read sequencing Illumina assays that mapped and quantified the ovarian transcriptomes (n = 4/group). Ovarian and uterine masses, plasma FSH, and numbers of antral follicles and corpora lutea decreased in SD as compared to LD ovaries (P < 0.05). When reads were aligned to the mouse genome, 18 548 genes were sufficiently quantified. Most of the differentially expressed genes noted between functional LD ovaries and regressed SD ovaries; however, five main expression patterns were identified across photoperiod groups. These results, generally corroborated by select protein immunostaining, provide a map of photoregulated ovary function and identify novel genes that may contribute to the photostimulated resumption of ovarian activity.

Summary sentence

Changes in photoperiod that induce ovarian regression and recrudescence or maintain ovarian function alter ovarian transcriptomes in Siberian hamsters.

© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Society for the Study of Reproduction. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com
Kathleen Leon, Jon D. Hennebold, Suzanne S. Fei, and Kelly A. Young "Transcriptome analysis during photostimulated recrudescence reveals distinct patterns of gene regulation in Siberian hamster ovaries," Biology of Reproduction 102(3), 539-559, (13 November 2019). https://doi.org/10.1093/biolre/ioz210
Received: 12 June 2019; Accepted: 31 October 2019; Published: 13 November 2019
KEYWORDS
comparative reproduction
follicular development
genomics
ovary
photoperiod
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