Transcriptome analysis of corpora lutea in domestic cats (Felis catus) reveals strong life cycle differences in gene expression for a variety of hormones, hormone receptors and regulators. Transcriptome analysis of corpora lutea in domestic cats (Felis catus)

In the domestic cat (Felis catus) the corpus luteum (CL) is the main source of progestogen during pregnancy. Here, we studied gene expression changes in different developmental stages of the CL of pseudopregnant cats. Data quality assessment of bulk RNA-Seq samples indicates no support for different regression sub-stages, which were observed before based on morphological observations and hormone content. In total, we detected 6174 differentially expressed genes, 2882 up-regulated, 3292 down-regulated, in corpora lutea by comparison of regression stage to development/maintenance stage. High changes in expression level of some genes indicated that the endocrine function of CL is maybe not only restricted to progesterone(P4) secretion. These findings suggest that domestic cat CLs could also be a source of adipokines like adiponectine or APELA.The expression of these genes is highly variable and reverse between stages. The life cycle and activity of the CLs seems to be regulated by different factors, as the hormone receptors LHCGR and PAQR5 were higher expressed in development/maintenance stage, in contrast to LEPR, which is higher expressed in regression stage. For regression stage, we identified different potential ways to modulate the cholesterol level and/or P4 concentration. For many of the gene expressions of single factors studied in more detail but also for functional and pathways analysis we observed differences to studies in other species. Our findings support the hypothesis that different stages of the corpus luteum life cycle in the domestic cat can be characterized due to changes in gene regulation, and that corpus luteum life cycles are partly differentially regulated between species.