Gonadal Transcriptome Analysis and Sequence Characterization of Sex-Related Genes in .

In China, the is classified as a national class II-protected animal. The development of populations has been affected by a variety of factors over the past few decades, with severe declines occurring. Considering the likelihood of continued population declines of the in the future, it is critical to investigate the currently unknown characteristics of gonadal differentiation and sex-related genes for conservation. In this study, the Illumina sequencing platform was used to sequence the gonadal transcriptome of the to identify the pathways and genes related to gonadal development and analyze the expression differences in the gonads. A total of 12,002 DEGs were identified, with 7220 being significantly expressed in the ovary and 4782 being significantly expressed in the testis. According to the functional enrichment results, the cell cycle, RNA transport, apoptosis, Wnt signaling pathway, p53 signaling pathway, and prolactin signaling pathway play important roles in sex development in the . Furthermore, the sequence characterization and evolutionary analysis revealed that AMH, DAX1, NANOS1, and AR of the are highly conserved. Specifically, the qRT-PCR results from various tissues showed significant differences in AMH, DAX1, NANOS1, and AR expression levels in the gonads of both sexes of . These analyses indicated that AMH, DAX1, NANOS1, and AR may play important roles in the differentiation and development of gonads. To our best knowledge, this study is the first to analyze the gonadal transcriptome and identify the structures of sex-related genes, laying the foundation for future research.