School of Animal Technology and Innovation, Institute of Agricultural Technology, Suranaree University of Technology, 111 University Avenue, Muang, Nakhon Ratchasima, 30000, Thailand.
Department of Aquaculture, Faculty of Fisheries, Kasetsart University, 50 Ngamvongwan Road, Chatujak, Bangkok, 10900, Thailand.
Sci Rep. 2020 Mar 23;10(1):5240. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-61738-0.
The snakeskin gourami (Trichopodus pectoralis) exhibits sexual dimorphism, particularly in body size. Since the snakeskin gourami is usually marketed during sexual maturation, the sexual size dimorphism has become an economically important trait. Sex-biased gene expression plays a key role in phenotypic sexual dimorphism. Therefore, using high-throughput RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) technology, we aimed to explore the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in ovary and testis during sex differentiation in juvenile snakeskin gourami. Our results revealed a number of DEGs were demonstrated to be overexpressed in ovary (11,625 unigenes) and testis (16,120 unigenes), and the top 10 female-biased (rdh7, dnajc25, ap1s3, zp4, polb, parp12, trim39, gucy2g, rtbs, and fdxr) and male-biased (vamp3, nbl1, dnah2, ccdc11, nr2e3, spats1, pih1d2, tekt3, fbxo36, and mybl2) DEGs were suggested to be mainly associated with ovary and testis differentiation, respectively. Additionally, using real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), validation of the differential expression of 21 genes that were previously shown to be related to gonad development was performed (ar, bHLH, cyp19a1, daz, dead-end, esrb, esrrg, gnrhr, gpa, gsg1l, hsd17B, mospd1, nanos-1, nanos-2, p53, piwi-1, piwi-2, rerg, rps6ka, tgf-beta, and VgR). The results showed a significantly positive correlation (0.84; P < 0.001) between the results of RNA-seq and qRT-PCR. Therefore, RNA-seq analysis in our study identified global genes that were associated with ovary and testis differentiation in the juvenile phase of the snakeskin gourami. Our findings provide valuable transcriptomic bioinformation for further investigation of reproductive biology and applications of sex manipulation.
蛇纹石鲷（Trichopodus pectoralis）表现出性二型性，特别是在体型上。由于蛇纹石鲷通常在性成熟时上市，因此性大小二型性已成为一个具有经济重要性的特征。性偏向基因表达在表型性二型性中起着关键作用。因此，使用高通量 RNA 测序（RNA-seq）技术，我们旨在探索在幼蛇纹石鲷性分化过程中卵巢和睾丸中差异表达的基因（DEGs）。我们的结果表明，许多 DEGs 在卵巢（11,625 条基因）和睾丸（16,120 条基因）中过度表达，并且前 10 个雌性偏向（rdh7、dnajc25、ap1s3、zp4、polb、parp12、trim39、gucy2g、rtbs 和 fdxr）和雄性偏向（vamp3、nbl1、dnah2、ccdc11、nr2e3、spats1、pih1d2、tekt3、fbxo36 和 mybl2）DEGs 被认为主要与卵巢和睾丸分化有关。此外，使用实时逆转录聚合酶链反应（qRT-PCR）验证了先前与性腺发育相关的 21 个基因的差异表达，结果显示 ar、bHLH、cyp19a1、daz、dead-end、esrb、esrrg、gnrhr、gpA、gsg1l、hsd17B、mospd1、nanos-1、nanos-2、p53、piwi-1、piwi-2、rerg、rps6ka、tgf-beta 和 VgR。结果显示，RNA-seq 结果与 qRT-PCR 结果呈显著正相关（0.84；P < 0.001）。因此，我们的研究中的 RNA-seq 分析确定了与蛇纹石鲷幼体阶段卵巢和睾丸分化相关的全局基因。我们的研究结果为进一步研究生殖生物学和性别操纵的应用提供了有价值的转录组生物信息。
