Transcriptomic Signatures for Ovulation in Vertebrates

Recently, we found anovulation in nuclear progestin receptor (Pgr) knockout (Pgr-KO) zebrafish, which offers a new model for examining Pgr regulated genes and pathways that are important for ovulation and fertility. In this study, we examined expression of all transcripts using RNA-Seq in pre-ovulatory follicular cells collected after the final oocyte maturation, but prior to ovulation, from wild-type (WT) or Pgr-KO fish. Differential expression analysis revealed 2,888 genes significantly differentially expressed between WT and Pgr-KO fish. Among those, 1,230 gene transcripts were significantly more expressed, while 1,658 genes were significantly less expressed in WT than those in Pgr-KO. We