鸡胚公母性腺差异表达基因的基因芯片杂交筛选

Screening of sexual differentially expressed genes in the chicken early embryonic gonads using DNA microarray

采用Affymetrix公司鸡基因组芯片对9日龄鸡胚公母性腺总RNA进行了芯片杂交,并对基因表达谱进行了分析。统计结果显示,9日龄母鸡性腺表达基因数19 368个,公鸡性腺表达基因数19 493个;公母性腺绝对差异表达基因,即公鸡性腺表达而母鸡性腺不表达基因145个,母鸡性腺表达而公鸡性腺不表达基因189个。绝对差异表达基因功能分类结果显示,参与细胞组成、细胞加工和分子结合基因占多数,部分基因参与细胞器组成、代谢加工、生物学调控以及催化反应和细胞信号转导等。值得注意的是,本研究发现了一些已经报道同性别决定和分化有一定关联的基因,如ASW、CHD1和SOX9等,同时也发现了一些未知其同性腺分化和发育有关联的基因和编码假想蛋白的表达序列。进一步分析这些基因和表达序列的生物学功能和表达模式,将对鸟类性别决定和分化机制的了解提供有益参考。

Using Affymetrix＇s Chicken Genome Array, we used total RNA isolated from the gonads of male and female chicks at embryonic day 9 to identify the genes differentially expressed between male and female. Statistical results show 19 493 genes expressed in male chick＇s embryonic gonads and 19 368 genes expressed in female. There were 145 genes specificity expressed in male and 189 genes in female. The gene ontology classification （GOC） indicated these differentially expressed genes were mainly involved in cellular component, cell process and molecular banding, a part of genes were involved in organelle component, metabolic process, biologic process, catalytic activity and signal transducer activity. Some genes had reported for sex determination and differentiation in birds, such as avian sex-specific avian sex-specific W-linked, chomodomain-helicase-DNA-binding protein 1 and sex determining region Y-box 9. In addition, we also found several genes or hypothetical proteins were unknown function for the gonad differentiation and development, focus to their biological function and expression pattern in further works would provide a beneficial reference for understand the mechanism of sex differentiation and determination in birds.