TRIM28-dependent SUMOylation protects the adult ovary from the male pathway (RNA-Seq)

We study the role of the protein Trim28 in the maintenance of sexual identity of the adult ovary. With the help of conditional knock out (cKO) of Trim28 using the Nr5a1:Cre, we observed that deletion of the Trim28 gene in granulosa cells of the adult ovary induces their transdifferentiation into Sertoli cells, the supporting cell lineage of the testicular seminiferous tubules. FOXL2 expression has disappeared and follicles were completely remodeled into tubular structures with cells that expressed the Sertoli cell markers SOX8, SOX9 and DMRT1. Histological analysis confirmed the progressive reorganization of ovarian follicles into tubular structures and the and the transdifferentiation of granulosa cells by cells with a Sertoli cell morphology. We performed bulk RNA-seq experiments using 7-month-old Trim28 cKO ovaries, when transdifferentiation was completed.本研究探讨了Trim28蛋白在维持成年卵巢性别身份中的作用。借助Nr5a1:Cre介导的Trim28条件性基因敲除（conditional knock out, cKO）模型，我们观察到：在成年卵巢的颗粒细胞中敲除Trim28基因，可诱导这些细胞转分化为塞尔托利细胞（Sertoli cells）——睾丸生精小管的支持细胞谱系。叉头框L2（FOXL2）的表达完全消失，卵泡被完全重塑为管状结构，该结构内的细胞表达塞尔托利细胞标志物SOX8、SOX9与DMRT1。组织学分析证实，卵巢卵泡逐步重组成管状结构，且颗粒细胞转分化为具有塞尔托利细胞形态的细胞。我们在转分化完全完成的7月龄Trim28条件性基因敲除卵巢中开展了批量RNA测序（bulk RNA-seq）实验。