Sexual dimorphisms in the transcriptomes of murine salivary glands

Abstract

Transcriptional profiling identified 933 sexually dimorphic genes out of the 14 371 protein‐coding genes expressed in the three major murine salivary glands: parotid, sublingual, and submandibular. Most (89%) sex‐specific genes were enriched in a single gland, while only 0.5% of the sexually dimorphic genes were enriched in all glands. The sublingual gland displayed a strong male sex bias (94% of sex‐enriched genes), while a sex preference was not obvious in the parotid or submandibular glands. A subset of transcription factor genes was correlated with the expression of gland‐specific, sex‐enriched genes. Higher expression of Cftr chloride and Scnn1 sodium channels in the male submandibular correlated with greater NaCl reabsorption. In conclusion, adult salivary glands display sex‐ and gland‐specific differences in gene expression that reflect their unique functional properties.

Keywords

• Cftr
• ENaC
• NaCl reabsorption
• RNA‐seq
• salivary gland
• sexual dimorphism