Genetic Basis of Sexual Maturation Heterosis: Insights From Ovary lncRNA and mRNA Repertoire in Chicken

Sexual maturation is fundamental to the reproduction and production performance, heterosis of which has been widely used in animal crossbreeding. However, the underlying mechanism have long remained elusive, despite its profound biological and agricultural significance. In the current study, the reciprocal crossing between White Leghorns and Beijing You chickens were performed to measure the sexual maturation heterosis, and the ovary lncRNAs and mRNAs of purebreds and crossbreeds were profiled to illustrate molecular mechanism of heterosis. Heterosis larger than 20% was found for pubic space and oviduct length, whereas age at first egg showed negative heterosis in both crossbreeds. We identified 1170 known lncRNAs and 1994 putative lncRNAs in chicken ovary using a stringent pipeline. Gene expression pattern showed that nonadditivity was predominant, and the proportion of nonadditive lncRNAs and genes was similar between two crossbreeds, ranging from 44.24% to 49.15%. A total of 200 lncRNAs and 682 genes were shared by two crossbreeds, respectively. GO and KEGG analysis showed that the common genes were significantly enriched in the cell cycle, animal organ development, gonad development, ECM-receptor interaction, calcium signaling pathway and GnRH signaling pathway. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) identified that 7 out of 20 co-expressed lncRNA-mRNA modules significantly correlated with oviduct length and pubic space. Interestingly, genes harbored in seven modules were also enriched in the similar biological process and pathways, in which nonadditive lncRNAs, such as MSTRG.17017.1 and MSTRG.6475.20, were strongly associated with nonadditive genes, such as CACNA1C and TGFB1 to affect gonad development and GnRH signaling pathway, respectively. Moreover, the results of real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) correlated well with the transcriptome data. Integrated with positive heterosis of serum GnRH and melatonin content detected in crossbreeds, we speculated that nonadditive genes involved in the GnRH signaling pathway elevated the gonad development, leading to the sexual maturation heterosis. We characterized a systematic landscape of ovary lncRNAs and mRNAs related to sexual maturation heterosis in chicken. The quantitative exploration of hybrid transcriptome changes lays foundation for genetic improvement of sexual maturation traits and provides insights into endocrine control of sexual maturation

Intergenerational transmission of parental child-rearing gender-role attitudes and its influence on gender roles in single-parent families

Abstract Background The development of children’s gender roles in single-parent families is worthy of attention. It may be affected by family members’ gender roles and parental child-rearing gender-role attitudes (PCGA). PCGA will form a consistent or inconsistent intergenerational relationship between parents and children. Objective This study examined the intergenerational similarities in gender roles and PCGA. Also, the intergenerational transmission of parental child-rearing gender-role attitudes (ITPCGA) in single-parent families, and the impact of various family factors on children’s gender roles were comprehensively considered. Method Participants were 550 single-parent parent-adolescent dyads. The Gender-role Scale and the Parental Child-rearing Gender-role Attitude Scale were used to evaluate participants’ gender-role and PCGA. Chi-square tests and logistic regression analyses were used to examine the intergenerational similarities in gender roles and PCGA, and the influencing family factors of ITPCGA and children’s gender roles. Results The intergenerational similarities of gender role types and PCGA types existed. Both parents’ gender roles and family gender pairs affected ITPCGA, father-daughter families and parents’ undifferentiated and sex-typed gender roles significantly predicted undesirable ITPCGA. Family gender pair, parent’s gender roles and ITPCGA types affected children’s gender roles. Undesirable ITPCGA significantly predicted children’s undifferentiated gender roles; father-daughter families and mother-son families, parents’ undifferentiated and sex-typed gender roles significantly predicted children’s sex-typed gender roles, and mother-son families and parents’ reversed gender roles significantly predicted children’s reversed gender role. Conclusions This study highlights the effects of single-parent family gender pairs and parents’ gender roles on ITPCGA, which influences the development of children’s gender roles

Study on Mechanical Failure Behavior of Steel-Wire Wound Reinforced Thermoplastic Pipe under Combined Internal Pressure and Soil Landslide Conditions

A steel-wire wound reinforced thermoplastic pipe (SWW-RTP) has been widely utilized in many industrial areas, and a soil landslide is an inevitable hazardous extreme condition for the SWW-RTP as it is usually buried underground. It is imperative to study the mechanical failure behavior and the failure criterion of the SWW-RTP under the combination of internal pressure and soil landslide conditions, and this paper is the first study to investigate the topic. In this paper, groups of stress–strain curves of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and steel wires were obtained by uniaxial tensile tests at different strain rates, with the help of a Digital Image Correlation device (DIC). A rate-dependent constitutive model was employed to represent the mechanical behavior of the HDPE and to help deduce the stress–strain curve of the HDPE under the required strain rate, estimated from the static simplification of the dynamic soil landslide. Afterwards, a finite element model of the SWW-RTP, embedded in a cubic of soil, was established with the software ABAQUS. The SWW-RTP model was composed of HDPE solid elements, embedded with steel-wire truss elements, and the soil was characterized with the extended Drucker–Prager model. A quartic polynomial displacement distribution was applied to the soil model to represent the soil landslide. Then, the mechanical response of the SWW-RTP was analyzed. It was found that the failure criterion of the HDPE yield was more suitable for the pipe subjected to internal pressure and soil landslide conditions, instead of the steel-wire strength failure criterion always used in traditional research on the SWW-RTP. Further, the influence of landslide width, internal pressure and steel-wire number were discussed. The larger the width of the landslide area, the gentler the deformation of the pipeline; this resulted in an increase in the maximum landslide and a decrease in the maximum curvature with the width of the landslide area. The relatively high internal pressure was beneficial to the safety of the SWW-RTP under landslide, because the internal pressure could increase the stiffness of the pipeline. The number of steel wires had a limited influence on the maximum landslide required for the SWW-RTP’s failure. This work can be useful for the design and safe assessment of the SWW-RTP under internal pressure and soil landslide conditions

Facile preparation of Fe3O4@Pt nanoparticles as peroxidase mimics for sensitive glucose detection by a paper-based colorimetric assay

A simple strategy to rapidly detect glucose was developed by utilizing core (Fe3O4)–shell (Pt) magnetic nanoparticles (Fe3O4@Pt NPs) as a nanoenzyme and a paper-based colorimetric sensor. In the presence of H2O2, Fe3O4@Pt NPs catalyze the redox reaction of 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) and generate a colour change from colourless to blue. On this basis, a colorimetric glucose sensing method assisted by glucose oxidase (GOx) was developed. Under the optimal conditions, the detection limits of the proposed assay for H2O2 and glucose were 0.36 µM and 1.27 µM, respectively. Furthermore, the fabricated colorimetric method was successfully applied to analyze glucose concentrations by using a paper device as a measuring platform without a spectrometer. In addition, this method exhibited satisfactory recovery for glucose detection in human serum samples and urine samples, which satisfied the requirements for normal detection of real samples. This study provides a good candidate for health monitoring of glucose and also expands the applications of nanoenzymes and paper-based colorimetric assays in point-of-care testing

Apolipoprotein B/apolipoprotein A1 ratio and mortality among incident peritoneal dialysis patients

Abstract Background To investigate the association between the ratio of apolipoprotein B (apo B) / apolipoprotein A1 (apo A1) with all-cause mortality and cardiovascular events in peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients. Methods Eight hundred and sixty incident PD patients were enrolled from November 1, 2005, to February 28, 2017, and followed until May 31, 2017. Outcomes were all-cause mortality and cardiovascular events. Associations between the apo B/apo A1 ratio with all-cause mortality and cardiovascular events were evaluated using multivariable-adjusted Cox models. Results Of the 860 patients, the mean age was 49.9 ± 14.5 years, 57.6% were men, and 19.3% were diabetic patients. The median apo B/apo A1 ratio was 0.65 (range: 0.22–2.24). During a median follow-up period of 27 months (interquartile range, 13 – 41 months), 202 deaths, and 145 cardiovascular events were recorded. After adjustment for age, sex, body mass index, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, systolic blood pressure, total Kt/V, estimated glomerular filtration rate, hemoglobin level, neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio and albumin, triglyceride, and cholesterol, as well as the use of lipid-lowering agents, the highest apo B/apo A1 ratio tertile was significantly associated with a hazard ratio for all-cause mortality of 1.60 (95% CI: 1.02 to 2.49, P = 0.040) and for cardiovascular events of 2.04 (95% CI: 1.21 to 3.44, P = 0.008). Conclusion An increased apo B/apo A1 ratio was independently associated with all-cause mortality and cardiovascular events in PD patients

Characterization of clutch traits and egg production in six chicken breeds

Objective The better understanding of laying pattern of birds is crucial for developing breed-specific proper breeding scheme and management. Methods Daily egg production until 50 wk of age of six chicken breeds including one layer (White Leghorn, WL), three dual-purpose (Rhode Island Red, RIR; Columbian Plymouth Rock, CR; and Barred Plymouth Rock, BR), one synthetic dwarf (DY), and one indigenous (Beijing-You Chicken, BYC) were used to characterize their clutch traits and egg production. The age at first egg, egg number, average and maximum clutch length, pause length, and number of clutches and pauses were calculated accordingly. Results The egg number and average clutch length in WL, RIR, CR, and BR were higher than those in DY and BYC (p<0.01). The numbers of clutches and pauses, and pause length in WL, RIR, CR, and BR were lower than those in DY and BYC (p<0.01). The coefficient variations of clutch length in WL, RIR, CR, and BR (57.66%, 66.49%, 64.22%, and 55.35%, respectively) were higher than DY (41.84%) and BYC (36.29%), while the coefficient variations of egg number in WL, RIR, CR, and BR (9.10%, 9.97%, 10.82%, and 9.92%) were lower than DY (15.84%) and BYC (16.85%). The clutch length was positively correlated with egg number (r = 0.51 to 0.66; p<0.01), but not correlated with age at first egg in all breeds. Conclusion The six breeds showed significant different clutch and egg production traits. Due to the selection history, the high and median productive layer breeds had higher clutch length than those of the less productive indigenous BYC. The clutch length is a proper selection criterion for further progress in egg production. The age at first egg, which is independent of clutch traits, is especially encouraged to be improved by selection in the BYC breed

Analysis of Long Non-Coding RNAs and mRNAs Associated with Lactation in the Crop of Pigeons (Columba livia)

Pigeons have the ability to produce milk and feed their squabs. The genetic mechanisms underlying milk production in the crops of &rsquo;lactating&rsquo; pigeons are not fully understood. In this study, RNA sequencing was employed to profile the transcriptome of lncRNA and mRNA in lactating and non-&lsquo;lactating&rsquo; pigeon crops. We identified 7066 known and 17,085 novel lncRNAs. Of these lncRNAs, 6166 were differentially expressed. Among the 15,138 mRNAs detected, 6483 were differentially expressed, including many predominant genes with known functions in the milk production of mammals. A GO annotation analysis revealed that these genes were significantly enriched in 55, 65, and 30 pathways of biological processes, cellular components, and molecular functions, respectively. A KEGG pathway enrichment analysis revealed that 12 pathways (involving 544 genes), including the biosynthesis of amino acids, the propanoate metabolism, the carbon metabolism and the cell cycle, were significantly enriched. The results provide fundamental evidence for the better understanding of lncRNAs&rsquo; and differentially expressed genes&rsquo; (DEGs) regulatory role in the molecular pathways governing milk production in pigeon crops. To our knowledge, this is the first genome-wide investigation of the lncRNAs in pigeon crop associated with milk production. This study provided valuable resources for differentially expressed lncRNAs and mRNAs, improving our understanding of the molecular mechanism of pigeon milk production

Assessment of Feed Efficiency and Its Relationship with Egg Quality in Two Purebred Chicken Lines and Their Reciprocal Crosses

Crossbreeding is normally applied to improve the economical traits of chickens. However, feed efficiency and its relationship with egg quality have rarely been explored in crossbreds. Herein, White Leghorn and Beijing You chickens were selected to generate purebreds (WW, YY) and reciprocal crossbreds (YW, WY), which were evaluated in terms of daily feed intake (DFI), feed conversion ratio (FCR), and residual feed intake (RFI) at 43 to 46 and 69 to 72 weeks of age, respectively. We found that WY was more efficient than YW in both laying periods. The correlation analysis showed that RFI was highly correlated with DFI (0.49 to 0.84) but unrelated to egg mass, and FCR was negatively correlated with egg mass (−0.77 to −0.43) in both purebreds and crossbreds. Moreover, RFI was not correlated with egg quality traits within each genetic group, except for the egg yolk ratio (0.27) in WW. FCR was negatively correlated with eggshell weight and thickness (−0.33 to −0.19) in WW and WY. Compared to FCR, selection for RFI could improve feed efficiency without significant changes in egg mass and quality in chickens. These findings provide new insights into the improvement of feed efficiency using rational parental lines in chicken crossbreeding

Additional file 1 of The mRNA-lncRNA landscape of multiple tissues uncovers key regulators and molecular pathways that underlie heterosis for feed intake and efficiency in laying chickens

Additional file 1: Table S1. Sampling and sequencing summary. The data provide sample information and sequence statistics including clean reads, clean bases, Q20, Q30, GC content and overall mapping rate