The Granulosa Cell Response to Luteinizing Hormone is Partly Mediated by YAP1-Dependent Induction of Amphiregulin

The LH surge is a pivotal event that triggers multiple key ovarian processes including oocyte maturation, cumulus expansion, follicular wall rupture and luteinization of mural granulosa and theca cells. Recently, LH-dependent activation of the Hippo signaling pathway has been shown to be required for the differentiation of granulosa cells into luteal cells. This study aimed to better characterize the role of the Hippo pathway in the LH response in murine granulosa cells. In order to highlight specific roles of Hippo in murine GC physiology, we conducted a microarray analysis to identify genes differentially expressed in cultured granulosa cells with knocked-down expression of YAP1/TAZ (the two co-regulators of Hippo signaling). We used a microarray to identify up- and down-regulated genes after 18h of YAP1 and Taz knockdown in culture GCs isolated from eCG-primed mice Granulosa cells from Yap1^flox/flox;Taz^floz/flox mice superstimulated with 5IU of equine chorionic gonadotropin (eCG) for 44h were isolated and placed in culture. They were then treated with an adenovirus expressing either eGFP (Ad-eGFP, control) or expressing the Cyclic recombinase (Ad-cre, to knockdown YAP1/TAZ expression). Granulosa cells were harvested after 18h for microarray analyses. N=3 for each condition, 6 samples in total