Biology subjects

Rabaglino, M. B.

Publications and source records attributed to Rabaglino, M. B..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2022

Sperm exposure to accessory gland secretions alters the transcriptomic response of the endometrium in cattle

In a recent study from our group, mating to intact, but not vasectomised, bulls modified the endometrial transcriptome, suggesting an important role of sperm in the modulation of the uterine environment in this species. However, it is not clear whether these changes are driven by intrinsic sperm factors, or by factors of accessory gland (AG) origin that bind to sperm at ejaculation. Thus, the aim of the present study was to determine whether ejaculated sperm, which are suspended in the secretions of the AGs, elicit a different endometrial transcriptomic response than epididymal sperm, which have never been exposed to AG factors. To this end, bovine endometrial explants collected from heifers in oestrus were incubated alone (control), or with epididymal or ejaculated sperm. RNA-sequencing revealed 1912 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between in endometrial explants exposed to epididymal sperm compared with control explants, whereas 115 DEGs genes detected between endometrial explants exposed to ejaculated sperm in comparison to control explants. In both cases, the top pathways associated with these genes included T cell regulation and NF-KB and IL17 signalling. To confirm whether AG factors were directly responsible for the dampening of the endometrial response elicited by ejaculated sperm, endometrial explants were incubated with epididymal sperm previously exposed, or not, to seminal plasma (SP). Exposure to SP abrogated the downregulation of SQSTM1 by epididymal sperm, and partially inhibited the upregulation of MYL4 and CHRM3 and downregulation of SCRIB. These data indicate that factors of AG origin modulate the interaction between sperm and the endometrium in cattle.

genomics↗

bioRxiv2021

GEDI: an R package for integration of transcriptomic data from multiple high-throughput platforms

Transcriptomic data is often expensive and difficult to generate in large cohorts in comparison to genomic data and therefore is often important to integrate multiple transcriptomic datasets from both microarray and next generation sequencing (NGS) based transcriptomic data across similar experiments or clinical trials to improve analytical power and discovery of novel transcripts and genes. However, transcriptomic data integration presents a few challenges including re-annotation and batch effect removal. We developed the Gene Expression Data Integration (GEDI) R package to enable transcriptomic data integration by combining already existing R packages. With just four functions, the GEDI R package makes constructing a transcriptomic data integration pipeline straightforward. Together, the functions overcome the complications in transcriptomic data integration by automatically re-annotating the data and removing the batch effect. The removal of the batch effect is verified with Principal Component Analysis and the data integration is verified using a logistic regression model with forward stepwise feature selection. To demonstrate the functionalities of the GEDI package, we integrated five bovine endometrial transcriptomic datasets from the NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus. The datasets included Affymetrix, Agilent and RNA-sequencing data. Furthermore, we compared the GEDI package to already existing tools and found that GEDI is the only tool that provides a full transcriptomic data integration pipeline including verification of both batch effect removal and data integration.

bioinformatics↗

bioRxiv2020

Characterization of the Endometrial Transcriptome in Early Diestrus Influencing Pregnancy Establishment in Dairy Cattle after Transfer of In-Vitro Produced Embryos

Modifications of the endometrial transcriptome at day 7 of the estrus cycle are crucial to maintain gestation after transfer of in-vitro produced (IVP) embryos. The aim of this study was to identify genes, and their related biological mechanisms, in the endometria of recipient lactating dairy cows that become pregnant in the subsequent estrus cycle upon transfer of IVP embryos. Endometrial biopsies were taken from lactating Holstein Friesian cows on day 6-8 of the estrus cycle followed by embryo transfer in the following cycle. Animals were classified retrospectively as pregnant (PR, n=8) or non-pregnant (non-PR, n=11) cows, according to pregnancy status at 26-47 days. Extracted mRNAs from endometrial samples were sequenced with an Illumina platform to determine differentially expressed genes (DEG) between the endometrial transcriptome from PR and non-PR cows. There were 111 DEG (FDR<0.05), which were mainly related to extracellular matrix interaction, histotroph metabolic composition, prostaglandin synthesis, TGF-{beta} signaling as well as inflammation and leukocyte activation. Comparison of these DEG with DEG identified in two public external datasets confirmed the more fertile endometrial molecular profile of PR cows. In conclusion, this study provides insights into the key early endometrial mechanisms for pregnancy establishment, after IVP embryo transfer in dairy cows.

systems biology↗