Paper accepted: FOXA1 and SOX9 expression in the developing wallaby reproductive system

Just accepted in Sexual Development (10 June 2015):

FOXA1 and SOX9 expression in the developing urogenital sinus of the
tammar wallaby (Macropus eugenii)

by Melissa Gamat, Keng Chew, Geoff Shaw & Marilyn Renfree.

The mammalian prostate is a compact structure in humans but multi-lobed in mice. In humans and mice, FOXA1 and SOX9 play pivotal roles in prostate morphogenesis but few other species have been examined. We examined FOXA1 and SOX9 in the marsupial tammar wallaby, Macropus eugenii which has a segmented prostate more similar to human than to mouse. In males, prostatic budding in the urogenital epithelium (UGE) was initiated by day 24 postpartum (pp) but in the female the UGE remained smooth and had begun forming the marsupial vaginal structures. FOXA1 was up-regulated in the male urogenital sinus (UGS) by day 51 pp, whilst in the female UGS FOXA1 remained basal. FOXA1 was localised in the UGE in both sexes between day 20-80 pp. SOX9 was up-regulated in the male UGS at day 21-30 pp and remained high until day 51-60 pp. SOX9 protein was localised in the distal tips of prostatic buds which were highly proliferative. The sustained up-regulation of the transcription factors SOX9 and FOXA1 after the initial peak and fall of androgen levels suggest that in the tammar, as in other mammals, these factors are required to sustain prostate differentiation, development and proliferation as androgen levels return to basal levels.

Update: The paper is now published and indexed in PUBMED at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=26406875 and the full citation is:

Gamat, M., Chew, K. Y., Shaw, G. and Renfree, M. B. (2015) FOXA1 and SOX9 Expression in the Developing Urogenital Sinus of the Tammar Wallaby (Macropus eugenii). Sex Dev 9: 216-228

NEW paper, just released: MHC genes in marsupials

Immunogenetics. 2015 May 9. [Epub ahead of print]

Characterisation of major histocompatibility complex class I genes at the fetal-maternal interface of marsupials.

Buentjen I1, Drews B, Frankenberg SR, Hildebrandt TB, Renfree MB, Menzies BR. Author information: · 1Department of Reproduction Management, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Alfred-Kowalke Strasse 17, Berlin, Germany, ina.buentjen@gmail.com.

Abstract

Major histocompatibility complex class I molecules (MHC-I) are expressed at the cell surface and are responsible for the presentation of self and non-self antigen repertoires to the immune system. Eutherian mammals express both classical and non-classical MHC-I molecules in the placenta, the latter of which are thought to modulate the maternal immune response during pregnancy. Marsupials last shared a common ancestor with eutherian mammals such as humans and mice over 160 million years ago. Since, like eutherians, they have an intra-uterine development dependent on a placenta, albeit a short-lived and less invasive one, they provide an opportunity to investigate the evolution of MHC-I expression at the fetal-maternal interface. We have characterised MHC-I mRNA expression in reproductive tissues of the tammar wallaby (Macropus eugenii) from the time of placental attachment to day 25 of the 26.5 day pregnancy. Putative classical MHC-I genes were expressed in the choriovitelline placenta, fetus, and gravid endometrium throughout the whole of this period. The MHC-I classical sequences were phylogenetically most similar to the Maeu-UC (50/100 clones) and Maeu-UA genes (7/100 clones). Expression of three non-classical MHC-I genes (Maeu-UD, Maeu-UK and Maeu-UM) were also present in placental samples. The results suggest that expression of classical and non-classical MHC-I genes in extant marsupial and eutherian mammals may have been necessary for the evolution of the ancestral therian placenta and survival of the mammalian fetus at the maternal-fetal interface.
PMID: 25957041 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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