title: Identification of differentially expressed genes in ovaries of chicken attaining sexual maturity at different ages.
abstract: In poultry as well as in other birds, sexual maturity is one of the important factors influencing female reproduction and egg production. In this study, cDNA-amplified fragment length polymorphism (cDNA-AFLP) differential display approach was used to identify genes related to sexual maturity. Using 54 EcoR I/Mse I selective primer combinations, totally 403 differentially expressed transcript-derived fragments (TDFs) were isolated, 27 of which belong to 25 unigenes. By real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR), the expression pattern of 13 genes was confirmed; among them, four genes including ZNF183 (P < 0.01), KIAA0700, CCT6A, and 23e 15 (P < 0.05) are significantly up-regulated and one gene (Loc418883) is significantly down-regulated (P < 0.01) in sexually mature ovaries compared to immature ones. The mRNA expression dynamics of ZNF183, CCT6A, 23e 15 and Loc418883 were further investigated in ovaries of 70-, 300- and 500-day-old commercial egg-laying hens: the expression level of CCT6A was the highest in 300-day-old hens (P < 0.05), while that of Loc418883 in 500-day-old hens was significantly higher than the other two stages (P < 0.01). The expression levels of ZNF183 and 23e 15 in ovary increase significantly from 70-day-old hens (P < 0.01) and 300-day-old (P < 0.05) to 500-day-old hens, respectively. The consistence of CCT6A expression and egg-laying performance suggests that CCT6A likely plays important role in sexual maturity in hens.
authors.affiliation: Lab of Animal Molecular Genetics, College of Animal Science, Shandong Agricultural University, Taian 271018, China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Yujie
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Ningbo
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zang
authors.forename: Meng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xinxing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.forename: Yunliang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D054458:Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism Analysis; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002645:Chickens / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D002681:China; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D019295:Computational Biology; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000235:genetics; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000235:genetics*; D005796:Genes / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010053:Ovary / Q000378:metabolism*; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012741:Sexual Maturation / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D018076:DNA, Complementary