Age-associated chromatin repression of Hippo-Yap signaling drives oogonial stem cell decline in chicken.

Abstract

Oogonial stem cells (OSCs) are a type of reproductive germline stem cell present in the ovaries of adult animals after birth. They have been proposed to contribute to follicle renewal and could be associated with reproductive longevity, yet the molecular mechanism contribute to OSC malfunction during aging in chicken remain unclear. Here, we show that OSC number and proliferative capacity decline significantly from pre-laying to late-laying stages, accompanied by increased follicular atresia. RNA-seq analysis revealed a global reduction in transcriptional activity in aged OSCs. ChIP-seq demonstrated elevated H3K27me3 deposition, particularly at promoter regions, which correlated with repression of proliferation-related genes in the Hippo pathway including YAP1 and TEAD1. Pharmacological inhibition of H3K27me3 reduced repressive chromatin marks, restored Hippo pathway gene expression, and significantly enhanced OSC proliferation. Conversely, YAP1 knockdown attenuated proliferation-associated gene expression. These findings indicate that age-dependent H3K27me3 accumulation suppresses OSC proliferation through epigenetic repression of the Hippo-YAP axis, providing mechanistic insight into ovarian aging and a potential strategy to extend the laying cycle in poultry.