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Browsing by Subject "meiosis"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
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    Investigation of the doublesex and mab-3 related transcription factors (Dmrts) in mammalian germ cell development
    (2016-03) Zhang, Teng
    My thesis work is focused on mammalian germ cell development, specifically focusing on the Dmrt (Doublesex and mab-3 related transcription factor) genes, which play key roles in gonad and germ cell development in a broad range of species. Male mammals produce prodigious quantities of sperm continuously over a long reproductive life. What makes this possible is a population of spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs), which support a complex differentiation program that includes a series of proliferative spermatogonial divisions followed by meiosis and spermiation. My work has focused on how spermatogonial development is coordinated and controlled to sustain fertility. For my thesis research, I have aimed to understand how two related transcription factors, DMRT1 and DMRT6, coordinate mammalian spermatogenesis, from spermatogonial stem cell (SSC) development to meiotic entry. DMRT6 is expressed only in differentiating spermatogonia and is a direct target of DMRT1. Therefore, I hypothesized that DMRT6 functions downstream of DMRT1 in spermatogenesis to regulate the final steps leading to meiotic entry. I generated a conditional Dmrt6 allele and found that mutants on the C57BL/6J strain have severe defects in spermatogonial development leading to infertility. This phenotype was caused by inappropriate expression of spermatogonial differentiation factors and resulted in most late spermatogonia undergoing apoptosis. On the 129Sv background, mutant germ cells could complete spermatogonial differentiation and enter meiosis, but they showed defects in meiotic chromosome pairing, establishment of the XY body, and processing of recombination foci, and they mainly arrested in mid-pachynema. I also performed mRNA profiling of Dmrt6 mutant testes together with DMRT6 ChIP-seq to show that DMRT6 represses genes involved in spermatogonial differentiation and activates genes required for meiotic prophase. My results indicated that DMRT6 promotes meiotic entry by shutting down the spermatogonial differentiation program, and at the same time activates key meiotic genes to coordinate the transition from mitosis to meiosis. This finding was significant because previous studies only identified genes that function in either mitotic or meiotic development but I identified a gene that bridges this gap to coordinate the transition between these two developmental programs. . DMRT1 is expressed in spermatogonia, and its expression is silenced when cells enter meiosis. Previous work from our lab showed that DMRT1 controls the mitosis/meiosis switch. I focused on its roles early in spermatogonial development. Because DMRT1 is expressed both in SSCs and committed progenitor cells (spermatogonia), I hypothesized that DMRT1 is also required for SSC development. My work with Dmrt1 in mice has revealed that Dmrt1 is required to maintain SSCs during steady state spermatogenesis, where it appears to transcriptionally activate critical regulators of SSC maintenance including Plzf. I also found that Dmrt1 is required for regeneration of SSCs after cytotoxic stress. Committed progenitors (Ngn3-positive cells) normally do not contribute to SSCs, but can do so when spermatogonia are chemically depleted. I found that when Dmrt1 is lost in committed progenitor cells, there is no regeneration of SSCs and no recovery from germ cell depletion. Thus my data reveal that Dmrt1 plays two distinct roles supporting SSC homeostasis, allowing SSCs to remain in the stem cell pool under normal conditions, and allowing committed progenitors to return to stemness when germ cells are depleted. My data also show that Ngn3-positive germ cells can re-express Id4 under conditions of cytotoxic stress. This finding helps reconcile competing SSC models that are likely to be discussed by other groups at the 2016 meeting. Together these studies of Dmrt1 and Dmrt6 will increase our understanding how germ cells are shepherded through the important process of spermatogenesis and how the stem cell population supporting these processes is maintained. My research will be significant to the field of reproductive biology because it furthers our mechanistic understanding of two key points in germ cell development: regulation of the stem cell pool and control of the transition from mitotic to meiotic development. My work ultimately may help provide novel treatments for infertility and new strategies for contraception.
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    Reproductive and somatic functions of RAD51A and BRCA2 genes in maize
    (2021-07) Milsted, Claire
    RAD51 and BRCA2 are conserved proteins involved in homology-directed DNA double-strand break (DSB) repair. This form of DSB repair occurs in somatic cells and is also the essence of meiotic recombination, which allows gametes to have different combinations of alleles and facilitates proper division of chromosomes into haploid gametes. Organisms with rad51 or brca2 mutations often have fertility defects Additionally, there is emerging evidence of a link between DSB repair and plant defense. This dissertation focuses on the RAD51A1, RAD51A2, and BRCA2 proteins in maize. Little is known about the interactions between RAD51A1 and other maize proteins. A series of in vitro affinity experiments were performed: phage display (a discovery-driven molecular biology technique typically used for biomedical applications which finds short amino acid sequences with in vitro affinity for a bait protein) followed by dot-blotting and ELISA to verify affinity. To validate whether these alignments with maize proteins signified possible affinity for RAD51A1, short peptides were synthesized based on the aligning sequences found in maize. Of these 32 synthesized peptides, 14 bound RAD51A1 in vitro, including four peptides that match transcription factors. This is a promising avenue of investigation—in Arabidopsis, RAD51 appears to function as a transcription factor during defense. Mutants were used to investigate the function of RAD51A1, RAD51A2, and BRCA2 in maize reproduction. Previous evidence of sterility in these mutants relied on the macroscopically visible phenotypes of defective male tassels and low female seed sets. In contrast, this dissertation involved direct examination of reproductive cells. Male sterility was examined by pollen staining. In addition to the expected finding of almost complete sterility in rad51a1/rad51a2 and brca2 mutants, there was an unexpected finding of reduced fertility in rad51a1 single mutants. This reduced male fertility, despite the fact that these plants had one or two wild-type RAD51A2 alleles, suggests that RAD51A1 may have some key reproductive function partially lost in RAD51A2. The basis of the male sterility phenotype was also investigated in male zygotene and pachytene meiocytes. ZYP1, a protein involved in pairing homologous chromosomes, was localized in these cells. As predicted, rad51a1/rad51a2 and brca2 mutants had impaired ZYP1 axis formation compared to wild type; ZYP1 co-localized with DNA but with a more punctate and fragmented appearance compared to wild type. This suggests faulty pairing of chromosomes in these mutants, which could explain their failure to form fertile pollen. Finally, this thesis discusses transcriptomic and reverse genetics investigations of the potential link between DNA repair and plant defense. Wild-type maize plants were treated with UV-B or salicylic acid (SA), inoculated with Xanthomonas vasicola, or used as a control. RNA-seq data from this experiment showed that the defense genes PR1(PATHOGENESIS-RELATED PROTEIN 1, or Zm00001d018738) and PRP3 (PATHOGENESIS-RELATED PROTEIN 3, or Zm00001d048947) had increased transcription in inoculated samples. There was also increased transcription of the Bowman-Birk type trypsin inhibitor Zm00001d024960. This experiment also uncovered several genes of interest involved in maize response to UV, including genes involved in diterpenoid metabolism. Only one gene met the adjusted p-value (padj) <0.1 threshold for significant upregulation in both UV- and SA-treated maize, the fatty acid biosynthesis gene ECERIFERUM 1 (Zm00001d014055). In a reverse genetics experiment on the possible role of BRCA2 in defense, brca2 mutants were inoculated with X. vasicola. Loss of this gene was found to affect lesion length in the opposite direction from what had been hypothesized--brca2 mutants had 3.4 cm shorter lesions (p= 7.45E-05). This result was in contrast with a previous finding from Arabidopsis—brca2a Arabidopsis mutants have increased susceptibility to Pseudomonas syringae. This unexpected finding led to two hypotheses to explain the shorter lesions in the maize mutants: either the brca2 mutants are less susceptible and less X. vasicola grows in these plants’ leaves, or the brca2 mutants have impaired response to X. vasicola, leading to a reduced ability of the plant to mount a defense response and create the lesion. A second experiment showed weak evidence for the hypothesis that the brca2 mutants had less X. vasicola in their leaf tissue (p= 0.155). However, there was no evidence that brca2 mutants had impaired response to X. vasicola—PR1 expression was, if anything, slightly higher in the mutants (p=0.533). Considered together, these results suggest a role for BRCA2 in X. vasicola susceptibility and response that is worth further investigation.