Department of Aquaculture, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung 202, Taiwan.
Gen Comp Endocrinol. 2010 Jul 1;167(3):417-21. doi: 10.1016/j.ygcen.2009.11.003. Epub 2009 Nov 14.
Protandrous black porgy fish, Acanthopagrus schlegeli, have a striking life cycle with a male sex differentiation at the juvenile stage and male-to-female sex change at 3 years of age. We had characterized the sex differentiation and sex change in this species by the integrative approaches of histology, endocrine and molecular genetics. The fish differentiated in gonad at the age around 4-months and the gonad further developed with a bisexual gonad for almost for 3 years and sex change at 3 year of age. An antagonistic relationship in the testicular and ovarian tissues was found during the development of the gonadal tissue. Male- (such as sf-1, dmrt1, dax-1 and amh) and female- (such as wnt4, foxl2 and cyp19a1a) promoting genes were associated with testicular and ovarian development, respectively. During gonadal sex differentiation, steroidogenic pathway and estrogen signaling were also highly expressed in the brain. The increased expression of sf-1 and wnt4, cyp19a1a in ovarian tissue and decreased expression of dax-1 in the ovarian tissue may play important roles in sex change from a male-to-female. Endocrine factors such as estradiol and luteinizing hormone may also involve in the natural sex change. Estradiol induced the expression of female-promoting genes and resulted in the precocious sex change in black porgy. Our series of studies shed light on the sex differentiation and sex change in protandrous black porgy and other animals.
雌雄同体的黑鲷鱼具有显著的生命周期，在幼鱼期出现雄性性别分化，3 岁时发生雄性到雌性的性别转变。我们通过组织学、内分泌和分子遗传学的综合方法对该物种的性别分化和性别转变进行了研究。鱼类在 4 个月左右的年龄开始在性腺中分化，性腺进一步发育，在近 3 年的时间里保持两性性腺，3 岁时发生性别转变。在性腺组织发育过程中，发现睾丸和卵巢组织之间存在拮抗关系。雄性（如 sf-1、dmrt1、dax-1 和 amh）和雌性（如 wnt4、foxl2 和 cyp19a1a）促进基因分别与睾丸和卵巢发育有关。在性腺性别分化过程中，大脑中类固醇生成途径和雌激素信号也高度表达。卵巢组织中 sf-1 和 wnt4、cyp19a1a 的表达增加，以及卵巢组织中 dax-1 的表达减少，可能在从雄性到雌性的性转变中发挥重要作用。雌激素和促黄体生成素等内分泌因素也可能参与自然性别转变。雌二醇诱导雌性促进基因的表达，导致黑鲷的性早熟转变。我们的一系列研究揭示了雌雄同体黑鲷和其他动物的性别分化和性别转变机制。
