College of Animal Science and Technology, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832003, China.
Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan 611130, China.
Biomed Res Int. 2020 May 18;2020:9549765. doi: 10.1155/2020/9549765. eCollection 2020.
Zinc finger protein X-linked () was regarded to be a sex determination factor and plays a critical role in spermatogenesis. RNAi is an effective method of silencing mRNA expression. However, there has been little research on the use of RNAi technology to control the sex of the offspring of red deer (). The objective of this study was first to explore an efficient method to alter the red deer offspring sex-ratio by silencing the gene during spermatogenesis. Three recombinant expression vectors pLL3.7/A, pLL3.7/B, and pLL3.7/C were constructed to interrupt the gene. The results showed that the expression of mRNA was significantly silenced by pLL3.7/A ( < 0.01), compared with the control group. The group injected with pLL3.7/A produced 94 red deer, including 68 males and 26 females. The male rates (72.34%) were significantly higher than the control groups ( < 0.01). Our result suggests that siRNA is a useful approach to control offspring sex in red deer. This study further confirms that the gene plays a significant role in the process of X spermatogenesis.
锌指蛋白 X 连锁（ZFX）被认为是性别决定因子，在精子发生中发挥关键作用。RNAi 是沉默 mRNA 表达的有效方法。然而，利用 RNAi 技术来控制赤鹿后代性别的研究甚少（赤鹿是一种鹿科哺乳动物，分布于欧亚大陆和北美洲的部分地区）。本研究的目的首先是探索一种通过在精子发生过程中沉默基因来改变赤鹿后代性别比例的有效方法。构建了三个重组表达载体 pLL3.7/A、pLL3.7/B 和 pLL3.7/C 来中断基因。结果表明，与对照组相比，pLL3.7/A 显著沉默了 mRNA 的表达（<0.01）。注射了 pLL3.7/A 的组产生了 94 只赤鹿，包括 68 只雄性和 26 只雌性。雄性率（72.34%）明显高于对照组（<0.01）。我们的结果表明，siRNA 是控制赤鹿后代性别的有效方法。本研究进一步证实，基因在 X 精子发生过程中起重要作用。
