De novo oviduct transcriptome of the moor frog Rana arvalis: a quest for maternal effect candidate genes

Maternal effects can substantially affect ecological and evolutionary processes in natural populations. However, as they often are environmentally induced, establishing their genetic basis is challenging. One important, but largely neglected, source of maternal effects are egg coats (i.e., the mater...

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Main Authors: Longfei Shu, Jie Qiu, Katja Räsänen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: PeerJ Inc. 2018-08-01
Series:PeerJ
Subjects:
Online Access:https://peerj.com/articles/5452.pdf
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author Longfei Shu
Jie Qiu
Katja Räsänen
author_facet Longfei Shu
Jie Qiu
Katja Räsänen
author_sort Longfei Shu
collection DOAJ
description Maternal effects can substantially affect ecological and evolutionary processes in natural populations. However, as they often are environmentally induced, establishing their genetic basis is challenging. One important, but largely neglected, source of maternal effects are egg coats (i.e., the maternally derived extracellular matrix that surrounds the embryo). In the moor frog, the gelatinous egg coats (i.e., egg jelly) are produced in the mother’s oviduct and consist primarily of highly glycosylated mucin type O-glycans. These O-glycans affect jelly water balance and, subsequently, contribute to adaptive divergence in embryonic acid tolerance. To identify candidate genes for maternal effects, we conducted RNAseq transcriptomics on oviduct samples from seven R. arvalis females, representing the full range of within and among population variation in embryonic acid stress tolerance across our study populations. De novo sequencing of these oviduct transcriptomes detected 124,071 unigenes and functional annotation analyses identified a total of 57,839 unigenes, of which several identified genes likely code for variation in egg jelly coats. These belonged to two main groups: mucin type core protein genes and five different types of glycosylation genes. We further predict 26,711 gene-linked microsatellite (simple sequence repeats) and 231,274 single nucleotide polymorphisms. Our study provides the first set of genomic resources for R. arvalis, an emerging model system for the study of ecology and evolution in natural populations, and gives insight into the genetic architecture of egg coat mediated maternal effects.
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spelling doaj.art-dfae84cf0b674e3b98a63fcb8758d4622023-12-03T00:59:45ZengPeerJ Inc.PeerJ2167-83592018-08-016e545210.7717/peerj.5452De novo oviduct transcriptome of the moor frog Rana arvalis: a quest for maternal effect candidate genesLongfei Shu0Jie Qiu1Katja Räsänen2Department of Aquatic Ecology, Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Dübendorf, SwitzerlandInstitutue of Crop Science and Institute of Bioinformatics, College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, ChinaDepartment of Aquatic Ecology, Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Dübendorf, SwitzerlandMaternal effects can substantially affect ecological and evolutionary processes in natural populations. However, as they often are environmentally induced, establishing their genetic basis is challenging. One important, but largely neglected, source of maternal effects are egg coats (i.e., the maternally derived extracellular matrix that surrounds the embryo). In the moor frog, the gelatinous egg coats (i.e., egg jelly) are produced in the mother’s oviduct and consist primarily of highly glycosylated mucin type O-glycans. These O-glycans affect jelly water balance and, subsequently, contribute to adaptive divergence in embryonic acid tolerance. To identify candidate genes for maternal effects, we conducted RNAseq transcriptomics on oviduct samples from seven R. arvalis females, representing the full range of within and among population variation in embryonic acid stress tolerance across our study populations. De novo sequencing of these oviduct transcriptomes detected 124,071 unigenes and functional annotation analyses identified a total of 57,839 unigenes, of which several identified genes likely code for variation in egg jelly coats. These belonged to two main groups: mucin type core protein genes and five different types of glycosylation genes. We further predict 26,711 gene-linked microsatellite (simple sequence repeats) and 231,274 single nucleotide polymorphisms. Our study provides the first set of genomic resources for R. arvalis, an emerging model system for the study of ecology and evolution in natural populations, and gives insight into the genetic architecture of egg coat mediated maternal effects.https://peerj.com/articles/5452.pdfAmphibianEgg coatGlycosylationMaternal effect genesRNA seqRana arvalis
spellingShingle Longfei Shu
Jie Qiu
Katja Räsänen
De novo oviduct transcriptome of the moor frog Rana arvalis: a quest for maternal effect candidate genes
PeerJ
Amphibian
Egg coat
Glycosylation
Maternal effect genes
RNA seq
Rana arvalis
title De novo oviduct transcriptome of the moor frog Rana arvalis: a quest for maternal effect candidate genes
title_full De novo oviduct transcriptome of the moor frog Rana arvalis: a quest for maternal effect candidate genes
title_fullStr De novo oviduct transcriptome of the moor frog Rana arvalis: a quest for maternal effect candidate genes
title_full_unstemmed De novo oviduct transcriptome of the moor frog Rana arvalis: a quest for maternal effect candidate genes
title_short De novo oviduct transcriptome of the moor frog Rana arvalis: a quest for maternal effect candidate genes
title_sort de novo oviduct transcriptome of the moor frog rana arvalis a quest for maternal effect candidate genes
topic Amphibian
Egg coat
Glycosylation
Maternal effect genes
RNA seq
Rana arvalis
url https://peerj.com/articles/5452.pdf
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