Transcriptome Sequencing Revealed that Knockdown of FOXL2 Affects Cell Proliferation, Cycle, and DNA Replication in Chicken pre-ovulatory Follicles Cells

Forkhead box L2 (FOXL2) is a single-exon gene encoding a forkhead transcription factor, which is mainly expressed in the ovary, eyelids and pituitary gland. FOXL2 plays an essential role in ovarian development. To reveal the effects of FOXL2 on biological process and gene expression of ovarian granulosa cells (GCs), we established stable FOXL2-knockdown GCs and then analyzed using transcriptome sequencing. It is observed that knockdown the FOXL2 affects the biological processes of cell proliferation, DNA replication, apoptosis and cell cycle. In which, the FOXL2 knockdown promoted cell proliferation and DNA replication, decreased cell apoptosis, and promoted mitosis. In addition, by comparing the transcriptome by FOXL2 knockdown, we found a serious of DEGs and their related pathways. These results indicated that, through mediating these genes and pathways, the FOXL2 might induce the cell proliferation, cycle, and DNA replication, and play a key role during ovarian development and maintenance. Overall design: Sixteen mRNA profiles of primary granulosa cells which were transfected with FOXL2-specific siRNA (FOXL2-siRNA) or NC nonsense siRNA (NC-siRNA) respectively.were generated by deep sequencing, in triplicate, using Illumina Hiseq X-ten platform.Illumina Hiseq X-ten platform.