BACKGROUND: Testis volume, an indicator of the reproductive development during minipuberty, is commonly measured by Prader orchidometer, despite ultrasound being the gold standard. Data are lacking on the longitudinal relationship between these two measures and on the stability of boys\' relative testis size across infancy.
OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between ultrasound-based and orchidometer-based testis volume measurements and to assess the stability of relative testis size among individual boys in the study.
METHODS: The Infant Feeding and Early Development study is a longitudinal cohort of healthy infants recruited from hospitals in the Philadelphia area during 2010-2013. We measured testis size from birth to 28 weeks in 147 infants using Prader orchidometry (nine study visits) and ultrasound (five study visits). We modeled testis growth, extracted predicted volumes for each boy on each day of the study, and ranked these volumes from smallest to largest.
RESULTS: The average testis volume trajectory exhibited linear growth over the first 16 weeks followed by slower growth and then a plateau. Prader orchidometry overestimated testis size by almost 3-fold, compared to ultrasound. A range of ultrasound volumes corresponded to each bead size (e.g., bead size of 1 cm3 corresponded to an ultrasound-based volume between 0.11 and 0.87 cm3). Infants changed rankings of median of 22 positions (of 147) across the entire 6-month follow-up. Infants\' ranks near birth were highly correlated with their ranks at the end of the study.
CONCLUSIONS: Consistent with other studies, we found wide variability in testis size during infancy and that Prader orchidometry overestimates testis size. When compared to ultrasound, orchidometry only crudely estimates testis size in this age group. Ultrasound-based volumes generally showed stability in relative testis size across infancy.
CONCLUSIONS: Accurate measurement of testis size is difficult using orchidometry in infants. This highlights the need for ultrasound for accurate measurement, with a one-time measurement likely sufficient to determine relative testis size across the first 6 months of infancy.

Tick infestations transmit various infectious agents and result in significant socioeconomic consequences. Currently, the primary focus of tick control efforts is identifying potential targets for immune intervention. In a previous study, we identified a highly conserved protein abundant in tick haemolymph extracellular vesicles (EVs) known as translationally controlled tumour protein (TCTP). We have found that native TCTP is present in various tissues of the Rhipicephalus haemaphysaloides tick, including salivary glands, midgut, ovary, and fat body. Notably, TCTP is particularly abundant in the tick ovary and its levels increase progressively from the blood-feeding stage to engorgement. When the TCTP gene was knocked down by RNAi, there was a noticeable delay in ovarian development, and the reproductive performance, in terms of egg quantity and survival, was also hindered. Our investigations have revealed that the observed effects in ovary and eggs in dsRNA-treated ticks are not attributable to cell death mechanisms like apoptosis and autophagy but rather to the reduction in the expression of vitellogenin (Vg1, Vg2, and Vg3) and ferritin (ferritin 1 and ferritin 2) proteins crucial for ovarian development and embryo survival in ticks. Additionally, phylogenetic analysis and structural comparisons of RhTCTP and its orthologues across various tick species, vertebrate hosts, and humans have shown that TCTP is conserved in ticks but differs significantly between ticks and their hosts, particularly in the TCTP_1 and TCTP_2 domains. Overall, TCTP plays a vital role in tick reproductive development and presents itself as a potential target for tick control in both humans and animals.

BACKGROUND: Environmental stresses negatively impact reproductive development and yield. Drought stress, in particular, has been examined during Arabidopsis reproductive development at morphological and transcriptomic levels. However, drought-responsive transcriptomic changes at different points in reproductive development remain unclear. Additionally, an investigation of the entire transcriptome at various stages during flower development is of great interest.
RESULTS: Here, we treat Arabidopsis plants with well-watered and moderately and severely limiting water amounts when the first flowers reach maturity and generate RNA-seq datasets for early, middle, and late phases during flower development at 5, 6, and 7 days following treatment. Under different drought conditions, flowers in different developmental phases display differential sets of drought-responsive genes (DTGs), including those that are enriched in different GO functional categories, such as transcriptional regulation and response to stresses (early phase), lipid storage (middle phase), and pollen and seed development and metabolic processes (late phase). Some gene families have different members induced at different floral phases, suggesting that similar biochemical functions are carried out by distinct members. Developmentally-regulated genes (DVGs) with differential expression among the three floral phases belong to GO terms that are similar between water conditions, such as development and reproduction, metabolism and transport, and signaling and stress response. However, for different water conditions, such similar GO terms correspond to either distinct gene families or different members of a gene family, suggesting that drought affects the expression of distinct families or family members during reproductive development. A further comparison among transcriptomes of tissues collected on different days after treatment identifies differential gene expression, suggesting age-related genes (ARGs) might reflect the changes in the overall plant physiology in addition to drought response and development.
CONCLUSIONS: Together, our study provides new insights into global transcriptome reprogramming and candidate genes for drought response, flower development, aging and coordination among these complex biological processes.

BACKGROUND: Larch is an important component of northern forests and a major cultivated tree species in restoration of forest cover using improved seed material. In recent years, the continuous low seed production has severely affected the production of improved variety seedlings and natural regeneration. However, research on the reproductive growth of gymnosperms is extremely scarce.
RESULTS: In this study, based on differential transcriptome analysis of two asexual reproductive phases, namely high-yield and low-yield, we further screened 5 ERF family genes that may affect the reproductive development of larch. We analyzed their genetic relationships and predicted their physicochemical properties. The expression patterns of these genes were analyzed in different tissues, developmental stages, hormone treatments, and environmental conditions in hybrid larch.
CONCLUSIONS: The results showed that all 5 genes were induced by low temperature and ABA, and their expression patterns in different tissues suggested a suppressive role in the development of female cones in larch. Among them, LkoERF3-like1 and LkoERF071 may be involved in the flowering age pathway. This study enriches the scarce research on reproductive development in gymnosperms and provides a theoretical basis and research direction for regulating the reproductive development of larch in seed orchards.

Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), usually seriously contaminates in grain and oil foods or feed, displayed significant acute and chronic toxic effects in human and animal populations. However, little is known about the transgenerational toxic effects induced by a maternal AFB1 intake at a lower dose on offspring. In our study, only parental wild-type Caenorhabditis elegans was exposed to AFB1 (0-8 μg/ml) and the following three filial generations were grown on AFB1-free NGM. Results showed that the toxic effects of AFB1 on the growth (body length) and reproduction (brood size, generation time and morphology of gonad arm) can be transmitted through generations. Moreover, the levels of MMP and ATP were irreversibly inhibited in the filial generations. By using RNomics and molecular biology techniques, we found that steroid biosynthesis, phagosome, valine/leucine/isoleucine biosynthesis and oxidative phosphorylation (p < 0.05) were the core signaling pathways to exert the transgenerational toxic effects on nematodes. Also, notably increased histone methylation level at H3K36me3 was observed in the first generation. Taken together, our study demonstrated that AFB1 has notable transgenerational toxic effects, which were resulted from the complex regulatory network of various miRNAs, mRNAs and epigenetic modification in C. elegans.

Chrysoperla nipponensis (Okamoto) displays typical adult reproductive diapause under short photoperiods; however, our understanding of the molecular mechanism underlying photoperiod-sensitive reproduction remains limited. In this study, we performed transcriptome profiling of four treatments (the diapause-sensitive stage and pre-diapause phase under long and short photoperiods) of C. nipponensis using RNA sequencing (RNA-seq). A total of 71,654 unigenes were obtained from the samples. Enrichment analysis showed that fatty acid metabolism-related pathways were altered under a short photoperiod. Moreover, β-oxidation-related gene expression was active during the diapause-sensitive period under a short photoperiod. The knockdown of juvenile hormone acid methyltransferase 1 (Jhamt1) prolonged the pre-oviposition period but did not affect the reproductive ability of female individuals in C. nipponensis. These findings provided us with a more comprehensive understanding of the molecular mechanisms of photoperiod-sensitive diapause and show that groundwork is crucial for bolstering the long-term storage and biocontrol potential of C. nipponensis.

As Arabidopsis flowers mature, specialized cells within the anthers undergo meiosis, leading to the production of haploid microspores that differentiate into mature pollen grains, each containing two sperm cells for double fertilization. During pollination, the pollen grains are dispersed from the anthers to the stigma for subsequent fertilization. Transcriptomic studies have identified a large number of genes expressed over the course of male reproductive development and subsequent functional characterization of some have revealed their involvement in floral meristem establishment, floral organ growth, sporogenesis, meiosis, microsporogenesis, and pollen maturation. These genes encode a plethora of proteins, ranging from transcriptional regulators to enzymes. This review will focus on the regulatory networks that control male reproductive development, starting from flower development and ending with anther dehiscence, with a focus on transcription factors and some of their notable target genes.

This study aimed to assess the cortisol, body and reproductive development of prepubertal Holstein and Holstein-Gir ¾ heifers at 27 months of age maintained in an integrated livestock-forest (ILF) system for 60 summer days compared to the monoculture system in full sun (FS). The ILF system promoted changes (P=0.02) in the cortisol levels of Holstein-Gir ¾ heifers and did not affect weight gain in any of the breed groups studied. Animals in ILF system presented a lower (P=0.006) vulvar development for the rima height parameter and similar for the vulva width parameter. The ovarian follicular population of Holstein-Gir ¾ heifers in the ILF system was lower (P=0.004); however, for the Holstein heifers, no statistical difference was found, and numbers were higher (P=0.08) in the ILF system. None of the other ovarian parameters studied had any changes, and we also found important racial differences. Weight gain (P=0.003), vulvar development (P<0.001), and mean follicular size (P=0.008) were higher in the Holstein-Gir ¾ animals. Based on such results, the effect of the ILF system at 27 months of age on stress and reproductive parameters in the Holstein breed is considered positive, although negative effects have been detected on reproductive parameters in the Holstein-Gir ¾ breed.

GEX1 (gamete expressed 1) proteins are critical membrane proteins conserved among flowering plants that are involved in the nuclear fusion and embryonic development. Herein, we identified the 32 GEX1 proteins from representative land plants. In cotton, GEX1 genes expressed in various tissues across all stages of the life cycle, especially in pollen. Subcellular localization indicated the position of GhGEX1 protein was localized in the endoplasmic reticulum. Experimental research has demonstrated that GhGEX1 has the potential to improve the partial abortion phenotype in Arabidopsis. CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knockout of GhGEX1 exhibited the seed abortion. Paraffin section of the ovule revealed that the polar nuclear fusion of ghgex1 plants remains at a standstill when the wild type has developed into a normal embryo. Comparative transcriptome analysis showed that the DEGs of reproductive-related processes and membrane-related processes were repressed in the pollen of knockout lines. The predicted protein interactions showed that GhGEX1 probably functioned through interactions with proteins related to reproduction and membrane. From all these investigations, it was possible to conclude that the GEX1 proteins are evolutionarily conserved in flowering plants and elucidated the pivotal roles during fertilization and early embryonic development in cotton.

To avoid crop failure because of climate change, soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merrill) cultivars adaptable to early planting are required in western Japan. Because current Japanese cultivars may not be adaptable, genetic resources with high early-planting adaptability, and their genetic information must be developed. In the present study, summer type (ST) soybeans developed for early planting were used as plant materials. We examined their phenological characteristics and short reproductive period as an indicator of early planting adaptability and performed genetic studies. Biparental quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis of a representative ST cultivar revealed a principal QTL for the reproductive period duration on chromosome 11. The results of resequencing analysis suggested that circadian clock-related Tof11 (soybean orthologue of PRR3) is a candidate QTL. Additionally, all 25 early planting-adaptable germplasms evaluated in this study possessed mutant alleles in Tof11, whereas 15 conventional cultivars only had wild-type alleles. These results suggest that mutant alleles in Tof11 are important genetic factors in the high adaptability to early planting of these soybeans, and thus, these alleles were acquired and accumulated in the ST soybean population.