Samuel Gebremedhn

The Expression Pattern of microRNAs in Granulosa Cells of Subordinate and Dominant Follicles during the Early Luteal Phase of the Bovine Estrous Cycle

This study aimed to investigate the miRNA expression patterns in granulosa cells of subordinate (SF) and dominant follicle (DF) during the early luteal phase of the bovine estrous cycle. For this, miRNA enriched total RNA isolated from granulosa cells of SF and DF obtained from heifers slaughtered at day 3 and day 7 of the estrous cycle was used for miRNAs deep sequencing. The results revealed that including 17 candidate novel miRNAs, several known miRNAs (n = 291–318) were detected in SF and DF at days 3 and 7 of the estrous cycle of which 244 miRNAs were common to all follicle groups. The let-7 families, bta-miR-10b, bta-miR-26a, bta-miR-99b and bta-miR-27b were among abundantly expressed miRNAs in both SF and DF at both days of the estrous cycle. Further analysis revealed that the expression patterns of 16 miRNAs including bta-miR-449a, bta-miR-449c and bta-miR-222 were differentially expressed between the granulosa cells of SF and DF at day 3 of the estrous cycle. However, at day 7 of the estrous cycle, 108 miRNAs including bta-miR-409a, bta-miR-383 and bta-miR-184 were differentially expressed between the two groups of granulosa cell revealing the presence of distinct miRNA expression profile changes between the two follicular stages at day 7 than day 3 of the estrous cycle. In addition, unlike the SF, marked temporal miRNA expression dynamics was observed in DF groups between day 3 and 7 of the estrous cycle. Target gene prediction and pathway analysis revealed that major signaling associated with follicular development including Wnt signaling, TGF-beta signaling, oocyte meiosis and GnRH signaling were affected by differentially expressed miRNAs. Thus, this study highlights the miRNA expression patterns of granulosa cells in subordinate and dominant follicles that could be associated with follicular recruitment, selection and dominance during the early luteal phase of the bovine estrous cycle.

MicroRNA Expression Profile in Bovine Granulosa Cells of Preovulatory Dominant and Subordinate Follicles during the Late Follicular Phase of the Estrous Cycle

In bovine, ovarian follicles grow in a wave-like fashion with commonly 2 or 3 follicular waves emerging per estrous cycle. The dominant follicle of the follicular wave which coincides with the LH-surge becomes ovulatory, leaving the subordinate follicles to undergo atresia. These physiological processes are controlled by timely and spatially expressed genes and gene products, which in turn are regulated by post-transcriptional regulators. MicroRNAs, a class of short non-coding RNA molecules, are one of the important posttranscriptional regulators of genes associated with various cellular processes. Here we investigated the expression pattern of miRNAs in granulosa cells of bovine preovulatory dominant and subordinate follicles during the late follicular phase of bovine estrous cycle using Illumina miRNA deep sequencing. In addition to 11 putative novel miRNAs, a total of 315 and 323 known miRNAs were detected in preovulatory dominant and subordinate follicles, respectively. Moreover, in comparison with the subordinate follicles, a total of 64 miRNAs were found to be differentially expressed in preovulatory dominant follicles, of which 34 miRNAs including the miR-132 and miR-183 clusters were significantly enriched, and 30 miRNAs including the miR-17-92 cluster, bta-miR-409a and bta-miR-378 were significantly down regulated in preovulatory dominant follicles. In-silico pathway analysis revealed that canonical pathways related to oncogenesis, cell adhesion, cell proliferation, apoptosis and metabolism were significantly enriched by the predicted target genes of differentially expressed miRNAs. Furthermore, Luciferase reporter assay analysis showed that one of the differentially regulated miRNAs, the miR-183 cluster miRNAs, were validated to target the 3´-UTR of FOXO1 gene. Moreover FOXO1 was highly enriched in granulosa cells of subordinate follicles in comparison with the preovulatory dominant follicles demonstrating reciprocal expression pattern with miR-183 cluster miRNAs. In conclusion, the presence of distinct sets of miRNAs in granulosa cells of preovulatory dominant and subordinate follicles supports the potential role of miRNAs in post-transcriptional regulation of genes involved in bovine follicular development during the late follicular phase of the estrous cycle.

MicroRNA-183-96-182 Cluster Regulates Bovine Granulosa Cell Proliferation and Cell Cycle Transition by Coordinately Targeting FOXO1

ABSTRACT Large-scale expression profiling of micro-RNAs (miRNAs) in bovine granulosa cells from dominant and subordinate follicles on Day 19 of the estrous cycle revealed enriched micro-RNA-183-96-182 cluster miRNAs in preovulatory dominant follicles that coordinately regulate the forkhead box protein O1 (FOXO1) gene. However, little is known about the role of this cluster in bovine granulosa cell function. We used an in vitro granulosa cell culture model to investigate this role. Granulosa cells aspirated from small growing follicles (3–5 mm in diameter) were cultured in Dulbecco modified Eagle medium/F-12 medium supplemented with fetal bovine serum and transfected with locked nucleic acid-based miRNA mimics, inhibitors, and corresponding negative controls. Overexpression of the miRNA cluster resulted in suppression of FOXO1 mRNA and protein, whereas inhibition of the cluster increased expression of FOXO1 mRNA. Overexpression also increased the relative rate of cell proliferation, whereas inhibition slowed it down. Similarly, the proportion of cells under G0/G1 arrest declined, whereas the ratio of cells in S phase increased in response to miR-183-96-182 overexpression. Selective knockdown of FOXO1 mRNA using anti-FOXO1 small interfering RNA increased the rate of granulosa cell proliferation, decreased the proportion of cells under G0/G1 arrest, and increased the proportion of cells in the S phase of cell cycle. Our data suggest that miR-183-96-182 cluster miRNAs promote proliferation and G1/S transition of bovine granulosa cells by coordinately targeting FOXO1, suggesting a critical role in granulosa cell function. MicroRNA-183-96-182 cluster regulates bovine granulosa cell function by targeting FOXO1 gene.

Clinical and subclinical endometritis induced alterations in bovine endometrial transcriptome and miRNome profile

BackgroundClinical and subclinical endometritis are known to affect the fertility of dairy cows by inducing uterine inflammation. We hypothesized that clinical or subclinical endometritis could affect the fertility of cows by disturbing the molecular milieu of the uterine environment. Here we aimed to investigate the endometrial molecular signatures and pathways affected by clinical and subclinical endometritis. For this, Holstein Frisian cows at 42–60 days postpartum were classified as healthy (HE), subclinical endometritis (SE) or clinical endometritis (CE) based on veterinary clinical examination of the animals and histological evaluation the corresponding endometrial biopsies. Endometrial transcriptome and miRNome profile changes and associated molecular pathways induced by subclinical or clinical endometritis were then investigated using GeneChip® Bovine Genome Array and Exiqon microRNA PCR Human Panel arrays, respectively. The results were further validated in vitro using endometrial stromal and epithelial cells challenged with subclinical and clinical doses of lipopolysaccharide (LPS).ResultTranscriptome profile analysis revealed altered expression level of 203 genes in CE compared to HE animals. Of these, 92 genes including PTHLH, INHBA, DAPL1 and SERPINA1 were significantly upregulated, whereas the expression level of 111 genes including MAOB, CXCR4, HSD11B and, BOLA, were significantly downregulated in CE compared to the HE animal group. However, in SE group, the expression patterns of only 28 genes were found to be significantly altered, of which 26 genes including PTHLH, INHBA, DAPL1, MAOB, CXCR4 and TGIF1 were common to the CE group. Gene annotation analysis indicated the immune system processes; G-protein coupled receptor signaling pathway and chemotaxis to be among the affected functions in endometritis animal groups. In addition, miRNA expression analysis indicated the dysregulation of 35 miRNAs including miR-608, miR-526b* and miR-1265 in CE animals and 102 miRNAs including let-7 family (let-7a, let-7c, let-7d, let-7d*, let-7e, let-7f, let-7i) in SE animals. Interestingly, 14 miRNAs including let-7e, miR-92b, miR-337-3p, let-7f and miR-145 were affected in both SE and CE animal groups. Further in vitro analysis of selected differentially expressed genes and miRNAs in endometrial stroma and epithelial cells challenged with SE and CE doses of LPS showed similar results to that of the array data generated using samples collected from SE and CE animals.ConclusionThe results of this study unraveled endometrial transcriptome and miRNome profile alterations in cows affected by subclinical or clinical endometritis which may have a significant effect on the uterine homeostasis and uterine receptivity.

Potential role of microRNAs in mammalian female fertility

Since the first evidence for the involvement of microRNAs (miRNAs) in various reproductive processes through conditional knockout of DICER, several studies have been conducted to investigate the expression pattern and role of miRNAs in ovarian follicular development, oocyte maturation, embryo development, embryo-maternal communication, pregnancy establishment and various reproductive diseases. Although advances in sequencing technology have fuelled miRNA studies in mammalian species, the presence of extracellular miRNAs in various biological fluids, including follicular fluid, blood plasma, urine and milk among others, has opened a new door in miRNA research for their use as diagnostic markers. This review presents data related to the identification and expression analysis of cellular miRNA in mammalian female fertility associated with ovarian folliculogenesis, oocyte maturation, preimplantation embryo development and embryo implantation. In addition, the relevance of miRNAs to female reproductive disorders, including polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), endometritis and abnormal pregnancies, is discussed for various mammalian species. Most importantly, the mechanism of release and the role of extracellular miRNAs in cell-cell communication and their potential role as non-invasive markers in female fertility are discussed in detail. Understanding this layer of regulation in female reproduction processes will pave the way to understanding the genetic regulation of female fertility in mammalian species.

MicroRNA-424/503 cluster members regulate bovine granulosa cell proliferation and cell cycle progression by targeting SMAD7 gene through activin signalling pathway

BackgroundThe granulosa cells are indispensable for follicular development and its function is orchestrated by several genes, which in turn posttranscriptionally regulated by microRNAs (miRNA). In our previous study, the miRRNA-424/503 cluster was found to be highly abundant in bovine granulosa cells (bGCs) of preovulatory dominant follicle compared to subordinate counterpart at day 19 of the bovine estrous cycle. Other study also indicated the involvement of miR-424/503 cluster in tumour cell resistance to apoptosis suggesting this miRNA cluster may involve in cell survival. However, the role of miR-424/503 cluster in granulosa cell function remains elusive Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the role of miRNA-424/503 cluster in bGCs function using microRNA gain- and loss-of-function approaches.ResultsThe role of miR-424/503 cluster members in granulosa cell function was investigated by overexpressing or inhibiting its activity in vitro cultured granulosa cells using miR-424/503 mimic or inhibitor, respectively. Luciferase reporter assay showed that SMAD7 and ACVR2A are the direct targets of the miRNA-424/503 cluster members. In line with this, overexpression of miRNA-424/503 cluster members using its mimic and inhibition of its activity by its inhibitor reduced and increased, respectively the expression of SMAD7 and ACVR2A. Furthermore, flow cytometric analysis indicated that overexpression of miRNA-424/503 cluster members enhanced bGCs proliferation by promoting G1- to S- phase cell cycle transition. Modulation of miRNA-424/503 cluster members tended to increase phosphorylation of SMAD2/3 in the Activin signalling pathway. Moreover, sequence specific knockdown of SMAD7, the target gene of miRNA-424/503 cluster members, using small interfering RNA also revealed similar phenotypic and molecular alterations observed when miRNA-424/503 cluster members were overexpressed. Similarly, to get more insight about the role of miRNA-424/503 cluster members in activin signalling pathway, granulosa cells were treated with activin A. Activin A treatment increased cell proliferation and downregulation of both miRNA-424/503 members and its target gene, indicated the presence of negative feedback loop between activin A and the expression of miRNA-424/503.ConclusionThis study suggests that the miRNA-424/503 cluster members are involved in regulating bovine granulosa cell proliferation and cell cycle progression. Further, miRNA-424/503 cluster members target the SMAD7 and ACVR2A genes which are involved in the activin signalling pathway.

The role of the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway in the developmental competence of bovine oocytes

The ovarian follicle encloses oocytes in a microenvironment throughout their growth and acquisition of competence. Evidence suggests a dynamic interplay among follicular cells and oocytes, since they are constantly exchanging “messages”. We dissected bovine ovarian follicles and recovered follicular cells (FCs—granulosa and cumulus cells) and cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) to investigate whether the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway impacted oocyte quality. Following follicle rupture, COCs were individually selected for in vitro cultures to track the follicular cells based on oocyte competence to reach the blastocyst stage after parthenogenetic activation. Levels of PI3K-Akt signaling pathway components in FCs correlated with oocyte competence. This pathway is upregulated in FCs from follicles with high-quality oocytes that are able to reach the blastocyst stage, as indicated by decreased levels of PTEN and increased levels of the PTEN regulators bta-miR-494 and bta-miR-20a. Using PI3K-Akt responsive genes, we showed decreased FOXO3a levels and BAX levels in lower quality groups, indicating changes in cell cycle progression, oxidative response and apoptosis. Based on these results, the measurement of levels of PI3K-Akt pathway components in FCs from ovarian follicles carrying oocytes with distinct developmental competences is a useful tool to identify putative molecular pathways involved in the acquisition of oocyte competence.

Exploring maternal serum microRNAs during early pregnancy in cattle

Confirmation of the pregnancy establishment at the very earliest day post-insemination increases the reproduction efficiency of high yielding dairy cows and farm profitability by allowing rebreeding of the non-pregnant cows. Inaccuracies in the currently available pregnancy detection tools to detect pregnancy establishment within the first 3 weeks post insemination extends the inter-calving interval and have contributed to the decline in profitability. Thus, development of non-invasive early pregnancy detection biomarkers could be proposed as alternative tools. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), a subclass of small non-coding RNAs are abundantly expressed in virtually all bio fluids circulation and have been associated with various pregnancy-related pathophysiological conditions. The study aimed to determine the expression of circulatory miRNAs in serum samples of pregnant and non-pregnant cows at day 19 and 24 post-insemination. Lactating Holstein-Friesian cows were estrous synchronized and inseminated with frozen semen. Blood samples were taken 19 and 24 days post-insemination. Serum samples were retrospectively categorized according to the pregnancy status of cows diagnosed 35 later using ultrasonography. Total RNA enriched with miRNAs was isolated from pooled (4 animals/pool) serum samples of pregnant and non-pregnant cows and subjected to cDNA synthesis. The expression of circulatory miRNAs was performed using PCR array containing primers 748 mature miRNAs. Results showed that a total of 302 and 316 miRNAs were detected in day 19 pregnant and non-pregnant cows, respectively. Similarly, 356 and 325 miRNAs were detected in day 24 pregnant and non-pregnant cows, respectively. Principal component analysis showed clear separation between pregnant and non-pregnant cows both at 19 and 24 days. We identified 8 and 23 differentially expressed miRNAs in the serum of pregnant cows of day 19 and 24, respectively. Interestingly, miR-433 and 4 other miRNAs (miR-487b, miR-495-3p, miR-376b-3p, and miR-323a-3p), which are homologous to the human pregnancy-associated C14MC miRNAs were among the differentially expressed miRNAs in day 19 and 24 pregnant cows, respectively. The adherens junction and ECM-interaction are among the pathways significantly enriched by predicted target genes of differentially expressed miRNAs. In conclusion, the expression of circulatory miRNAs in maternal blood serum of pregnant and non-pregnant cows showed distinct expression pattern and could suggest their potential involvement in early pregnancy establishment.

Genome-wide DNA methylation patterns of bovine blastocysts derived from in vivo embryos subjected to in vitro culture before, during or after embryonic genome activation

BackgroundAberrant DNA methylation patterns of genes required for development are common in in vitro produced embryos. In this regard, we previously identified altered DNA methylation patterns of in vivo developed blastocysts from embryos which spent different stages of development in vitro, indicating carryover effects of suboptimal culture conditions on epigenetic signatures of preimplantation embryos. However, epigenetic responses of in vivo originated embryos to suboptimal culture conditions are not fully understood. Therefore, here we investigated DNA methylation patterns of in vivo derived bovine embryos subjected to in vitro culture condition before, during or after major embryonic genome activation (EGA). For this, in vivo produced 2-, 8- and 16-cell stage embryos were cultured in vitro until the blastocyst stage and blastocysts were used for genome-wide DNA methylation analysis.ResultsThe 2- and 8-cell flushed embryo groups showed lower blastocyst rates compared to the 16-cell flush group. This was further accompanied by increased numbers of differentially methylated genomic regions (DMRs) in blastocysts of the 2- and 8-cell flush groups compared to the complete in vivo control ones. Moreover, 1623 genomic loci including imprinted genes were hypermethylated in blastocyst of 2-, 8- and 16-cell flushed groups, indicating the presence of genomic regions which are sensitive to the in vitro culture at any stage of embryonic development. Furthermore, hypermethylated genomic loci outnumbered hypomethylated ones in blastocysts of 2- and 16-cell flushed embryo groups, but the opposite occurred in the 8-cell group. Moreover, DMRs which were unique to blastocysts of the 2-cell flushed group and inversely correlated with corresponding mRNA expression levels were involved in plasma membrane lactate transport, amino acid transport and phosphorus metabolic processes, whereas DMRs which were specific to the 8-cell group and inversely correlated with corresponding mRNA expression levels were involved in several biological processes including regulation of fatty acids and steroid biosynthesis processes.ConclusionIn vivo embryos subjected to in vitro culture before and during major embryonic genome activation (EGA) are prone to changes in DNA methylation marks and exposure of in vivo embryos to in vitro culture during the time of EGA increased hypomethylated genomic loci in blastocysts.

Dynamics and role of MicroRNAs during mammalian follicular development

Ovarian functions, which involve dynamically regulated processes of selection, recruitment and dominance, are known to be regulated by an array of genes, which are expressed in spatiotemporal manner in follicular somatic cells and gametes. This differential expression of genes in mammalian follicular cells is partly regulated by posttranscriptional gene regulators named microRNAs (miRNAs). In addition to the cellular miRNAs, growing number of evidences are available on the potential role of extracellular vesicles mediated transfer of miRNAs in follicular fluid. These extracellular vesicles are shown to be involved in cellto-cell communication within the follicular environment. The molecular messages carried by the extracellular vesicles released into extracellular space are thought to be reflections of the physiological status of the cells from where they are released. Therefore due to their structural nature and potential to cargo several physiologically relevant molecules, exosomes have a great potential to be used as markers of oocyte developmental competence in follicular environment. Here, we review large sets of literatures to show the dynamic nature of miRNAs during various stages of mammalian follicular development, oocyte growth and the role of some of the miRNAs in ovarian cell functions. Moreover, the presence of microvesicle and exosome-coupled extracellular miRNAs in mammalian follicular fluid and their potential involvement in cellto-cell communication are briefly discussed.