Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Department of Genetics, Spemannstrasse 35, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany.
J Fish Biol. 2010 May;76(8):1879-902. doi: 10.1111/j.1095-8649.2010.02594.x.
The diversity of inputs that guide sexual fate during development is both intriguing and daunting. In the field of fish biology, the study of sex determination is of great importance. For example, in aquaculture, sexually dimorphic growth rates and overall size leads to one sex being more marketable than the other. Moreover, for breeding purposes it is important to maintain balanced sex ratios. Furthermore, sex determination is sensitive to environmental factors, such as temperature and contaminants, which can lead to skewed sex ratios, intersexes and sterility in wild or farmed fish. The gonad is typically the first organ to exhibit morphological signs of sexual dimorphism and therefore is likely to be the primary organ system whose fate is controlled by the sex determination cues in many fish species. Additionally, the sexual fate of the gonad has been shown to fully or partially control organismal sex differentiation. Thus, understanding the genetic regulation of gonadal sex differentiation is critical in studies of fish sex determination. This review summarizes recent knowledge of genes expressed during gonadal sex differentiation in gonochoristic teleost fish. Three species are discussed, which serve as excellent model systems for probing teleost sex differentiation: the Oreochromis niloticus, Oryzias latipes and Danio rerio. The similarities and differences between gonadal gene expression in these three species and in comparison to mammals suggest conserved roles during vertebrate gonadal sex differentiation. In the future, it will be essential to develop tools to assay the function of genes expressed during gonadal sex differentiation in fish.
指导发育过程中性命运的输入多样性既有趣又令人畏惧。在鱼类生物学领域，性别决定的研究非常重要。例如，在水产养殖中，性二态生长率和整体大小导致一种性别比另一种更具市场价值。此外，为了繁殖目的，保持平衡的性别比例很重要。此外，性别决定对环境因素敏感，如温度和污染物，这可能导致野生或养殖鱼类的性别比例偏斜、雌雄同体和不育。性腺通常是第一个表现出性二态形态特征的器官，因此很可能是许多鱼类物种中控制性别决定线索的主要器官系统。此外，性腺的性命运已被证明可以完全或部分控制机体的性别分化。因此，了解性腺性别分化的遗传调控对于鱼类性别决定的研究至关重要。 本综述总结了性二态鱼类性腺性别分化过程中表达的基因的最新知识。讨论了三个物种，它们是探究鱼类性别分化的极好模型系统：尼罗罗非鱼、日本青鳉和斑马鱼。这三个物种的性腺基因表达的相似性和差异与哺乳动物进行比较，表明在脊椎动物性腺性别分化过程中具有保守作用。在未来，开发工具来检测鱼类性腺性别分化过程中表达的基因的功能将是至关重要的。
