« Previous Abstract"Structural, morphometric and immunohistochemical study of the rabbit accessory olfactory bulb"    Next AbstractSimulated herbivory enhances leaky sex expression in the dioecious herb Mercurialis annua »

Front Mol Neurosci

Title:		Sex separation unveils the functional plasticity of the vomeronasal organ in rabbits
Author(s):		Villamayor PR; Gullon J; Quintela L; Sanchez-Quinteiro P; Martinez P; Robledo D;
Address:		"Departamento de Zooloxia, Xenetica e Antropoloxia Fisica, Facultade de Veterinaria, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Lugo, Spain. Departamento de Anatomia, Produccion Animal e Ciencias Clinicas Veterinarias, Facultade de Veterinaria, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Lugo, Spain. COGAL SL, Cuniculture Company, Rodeiro, Spain. Departamento de Patoloxia Animal, Facultade de Veterinaria Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Lugo, Spain. The Roslin Institute, The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom"
Journal Title:		Front Mol Neurosci
Year:		2022
Volume:		20221021
Issue:
Page Number:		1034254 -
DOI:		10.3389/fnmol.2022.1034254
ISSN/ISBN:		1662-5099 (Print) 1662-5099 (Electronic) 1662-5099 (Linking)
Abstract:		"Chemosensory cues are vital for social and sexual behaviours and are primarily detected and processed by the vomeronasal system (VNS), whose plastic capacity has been investigated in mice. However, studying chemosensory plasticity outside of laboratory conditions may give a more realistic picture of how the VNS adapts to a changing environment. Rabbits are a well-described model of chemocommunication since the discovery of the rabbit mammary pheromone and their vomeronasal organ (VNO) transcriptome was recently characterised, a first step to further study plasticity-mediated transcriptional changes. In this study, we assessed the plastic capacity of the rabbit male and female VNO under sex-separation vs. sex-combined scenarios, including adults and juveniles, to determine whether the rabbit VNO is plastic and, if so, whether such plasticity is already established at early stages of life. First, we characterised the number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between the VNO of rabbit male and female under sex-separation and compared it to sex-combined individuals, both in adults and juveniles, finding that differences between male and female were larger in a sex-separated scenario. Secondly, we analysed the number of DEGs between sex-separated and sex-combined scenarios, both in males and females. In adults, both sexes showed a high number of DEGs while in juveniles only females showed differences. Additionally, the vomeronasal receptor genes were strikingly downregulated in sex-separated adult females, whereas in juveniles upregulation was shown for the same condition, suggesting a role of VRs in puberty onset. Finally, we described the environment-modulated plastic capacity of genes involved in reproduction, immunity and VNO functional activity, including G-protein coupled receptors. Our results show that sex-separation induces sex- and stage-specific gene expression differences in the VNO of male and female rabbit, both in adults and juveniles. These results bring out for the first time the plastic capacity of the rabbit VNO, supporting its functional adaptation to specifically respond to a continuous changing environment. Finally, species-specific differences and individual variability should always be considered in VNO studies and overall chemocommunication research"
Keywords:		RNAseq pheromones rabbit chemocommunication reproduction sex separation socio-environmental conditions vomeronasal organ plasticity;
Notes:		"PubMed-not-MEDLINEVillamayor, Paula R Gullon, Julian Quintela, Luis Sanchez-Quinteiro, Pablo Martinez, Paulino Robledo, Diego eng Switzerland 2022/11/08 Front Mol Neurosci. 2022 Oct 21; 15:1034254. doi: 10.3389/fnmol.2022.1034254. eCollection 2022"