Cadherin-18 loss in prospermatogonia and spermatogonial stem cells enhances cell adhesion through a compensatory mechanism.

Extracellular membrane proteins are crucial for mediating cell attachment, recognition, and signal transduction in the testicular microenvironment, particularly germline stem cells. Cadherin 18 (CDH18), a type II classical cadherin, is primarily expressed in the nervous and reproductive systems. Here, we investigated the expression of CDH18 in neonatal porcine prospermatogonia (ProSGs) and murine spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs).

Genome-wide association study reveals the candidate genes of humerus quality in laying duck.

Bone plays a crucial role in poultry's health and production. However, during the selection and cage farming, there has been a decline in bone quality. As the development of breeding theory, researchers find that it's possible to enhance bone quality through selective breeding.

Progress on the formation mechanism of sexual dimorphism plumage color in birds.

Sexually dimorphic plumage coloration is widespread in birds in which the male plumage is brighter than the female. This phenomenon is related to the environmental constraints on sexual selection or intraspecific competition between males and females in birds. The physiological factors and genetic regulation mechanism affecting the color of sexual dimorphism plumages in birds have always attracted significant attention in research.

Effect of feed restriction on the intestinal microbial community structure of growing ducks.

In poultry, feed restriction is common feeding management to limit poultry nutrients intake so that poultry only intake the essential energy, meeting the basic need of growth and development. Our study investigated whether feeding restriction affects the diversity of the intestinal microbiota of growing breeding ducks. In this research, the 60-120-day-old ducks were raised in restricted and free-feeding groups.

Effect of fermentation bed on bacterial growth in the fermentation mattress material and cecum of ducks.

The composition of microorganisms in the gastrointestinal tract is closely related to the intestinal microenvironments and the exterior growth environments of host. In this study, 16S rDNA sequencing technology was adopted to investigate the influence of fermentation bed on the cecum microorganisms of ducks. Two feeding density treatment groups were set up, including group A (n = 4brids/m) and group B (n = 6brids/m).

Transcriptional Profiling Identifies Location-Specific and Breed-Specific Differentially Expressed Genes in Embryonic Myogenesis in Anas Platyrhynchos.

Skeletal muscle growth and development are highly orchestrated processes involving significant changes in gene expressions. Differences in the location-specific and breed-specific genes and pathways involved have important implications for meat productions and meat quality. Here, RNA-Seq was performed to identify differences in the muscle deposition between two muscle locations and two duck breeds for functional genomics studies.

Evidence in duck for supporting alteration of incubation temperature may have influence on methylation of genomic DNA.

Incubation temperature has an immediate and long-term influence on the embryonic development in birds. DNA methylation as an important environment-induced mechanism could serve as a potential link between embryos' phenotypic variability and temperature variation, which reprogrammed by DNA (cytosine-5)-methyltransferases (DNMTS) and Methyl-CpG binding domain proteins (MBPS) 3&5 (MBD3&5). Five genes in DNMTS and MBPS gene families were selected as target genes, given their important role in epigenetic modification.

Histological and developmental study of prehierarchical follicles in geese.

The development of the follicular wall and apoptosis of corresponding cells are dependent upon the stage of follicle growth and levels of endogenous hormones. However, the development and apoptosis of prehierarchical follicles in geese is insufficiently known. In order to obtain an understanding about the microstructure, development and apoptosis of prehierarchical follicles in geese, firstly, a histological method was used to investigate the morphological structure of prehierarchical follicles.

Gene expression patterns, and protein metabolic and histological analyses for muscle development in Peking duck.

In this study, we aimed to use duck breast muscle and leg muscle, the 2 main productive muscle organs, as a model to elucidate the molecular mechanism controlling how the 2 muscles have different deposition capabilities, and to analyze the mechanisms facilitating duck muscle development posthatching. Peking duck breast muscle and leg muscle were collected 3, 7, and 16 wk posthatching. The morphology of the myofibers was observed by paraffin sectioning the muscles.

[Application of confocal micro-beam X-ray fluorescence in nondestructive scanning analysis of the distribution of elements in a single hair].

The confocal micro X-ray fluorescence (XRF) based on polycapillary X-ray lens and conventional X-ray source was used to carry out the scanning analysis of the distribution of the elements in a single hair. The elemental distribution in the single hair was obtained. In the confocal micro XRF technology, the output focal spot of the polycapillary focusing X-ray lens and the input focal spot of the polycapillary parallel X-ray lens were adjusted confocally.

[Application of confocal technology based on polycapillary X-ray lens in measuring thickness].

A confocal micro X-ray fluorescence thickness gauge based on a polycapillary focusing X-ray lens, a polycapillary parallel X-ray lens and a laboratory X-ray source was designed in order to analyze nondestructively the thickness of thin film and cladding material. The performances of this confocal thickness gauge were studied. Two Ni films with a thickness of about 25 and 15 microm respectively were measured.

Silencing Pax3 by shRNA inhibits the proliferation and differentiation of duck (Anas platyrhynchos) myoblasts.

The Pax3 gene has been proven to play a crucial role in determining myogenic progenitor cell fate during embryonic myogenesis; however, the molecular role of Pax3 in myoblast development during later stages of myogenesis is unknown. We hypothesized that Pax3 would function in myoblast proliferation and differentiation; therefore, we employed three short hairpin RNAs (shRNAs) (shRNA1, shRNA2, and shRNA3) that target Pax3 to characterize the function of Pax3 in duck myoblast development. The mRNA and protein expression levels of Pax3 in duck myoblasts were detected using real-time PCR and Western blotting.

Injection of duck recombinant follistatin fusion protein into duck muscle tissues stimulates satellite cell proliferation and muscle fiber hypertrophy.

Follistatin (FST) can inhibit the expression of myostatin, which is a predominant inhibitor of muscle development. The potential application of myostatin-based technology has been prompted in different ways in agriculture. We previously constructed an expression vector of duck FST and isolated the FST fusion protein.

Molecular evolutionary analysis of the duck MYOD gene family and its differential expression pattern in breast muscle development.

1. The objective of the research was to investigate the molecular evolutionary relationships between the duck myogenic determination factors (MYOD) gene family members and their roles in muscle development. 2.

In ovo feeding of IGF-1 to ducks influences neonatal skeletal muscle hypertrophy and muscle mass growth upon satellite cell activation.

To investigate reasons for the muscle increase observed when eggs are treated by IGF-1 and whether or not satellite cell activation is specific to different types of myofibers, duck eggs were administrated with IGF-1. After injection, during the neonatal stages, the duck breast muscle and leg muscle were isolated for analysis. The muscle weight, muscle fiber diameter (MFD), cross-sectional area (CSA), the number of myofibers per unit area (MFN) and frequency of satellite cell activation and mitosis at the embryo stage of 27 days (27E) and the postnatal stage of 2 days after hatching (P2D) were determined.

Characterization of in vitro cultured myoblasts isolated from duck (Anas platyrhynchos) embryo.

Myoblasts isolated from duck embryonic muscle were purified and in vitro cultured. External characteristics were observed by using the immunofluorescence technique, and growth curve of duck embryonic myoblasts was established after measuring with the MTT method. Moreover, mRNA expression of three marker genes, the Desmin, the muscle creatine kinase (Mck) and the troponin C (Tnnc), which could reflect the development status of myofibers, were detected each 24 h for cultured cells by using the qPCR technique.

Developmental expression and alternative splicing of the duck myostatin gene.

Myostatin (MSTN) plays a key role in the negative regulation of muscle growth and development during embryogenesis. The MSTN genes have different genetic characteristics in vertebrates: sole gene in mammals, gene duplication in fish, and alternative splicing in birds. To investigate the alternative splicing sites and developmental expression patterns of the duck MSTN genes, the mRNA and genome sequences were cloned, and the expression patterns were detected during breast muscle and leg muscle development by real-time PCR.

MyoD expression profile and developmental differences of leg and breast muscle in Peking duck (Anas platyrhynchos Domestica) during embryonic to neonatal stages.

In order to investigate the developmental differences between the duck breast muscle and leg muscle tissues during the embryonic stage to neonatal stages, as well as the expression profile of MyoD between the two muscle tissues, the morphologic characteristics in the two muscle tissues during duck embryo stages at E14, E18, E22, E27 and D7 were compared through the muscle paraffin sections. The coding domain sequence of duck MyoD gene was cloned, and then the expression of MyoD in duck leg muscle and breast muscle during embryo stage on E10, E14, E18, E22, E27 and D7 was detected using qRT-PCR method. Results showed that the developmental status of the duck breast muscle in embryonic phrases lag behind that of leg muscle.