Dong Mengdan, Tang Mingyue, Li Wenjing, Li Shizhu, Yi Meisheng, Liu Wei
School of Marine Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai 519082, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Marine Resources and Coastal Engineering, Guangzhou 510275, China.
School of Marine Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai 519082, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Marine Resources and Coastal Engineering, Guangzhou 510275, China.
Comp Biochem Physiol Part D Genomics Proteomics. 2023 Dec;48:101148. doi: 10.1016/j.cbd.2023.101148. Epub 2023 Oct 17.
Four-eyed sleeper (Bostrychus sinensis) is a commercially important sea water fish, and the male individuals exhibit significant advantages in somatic growth and stress resistance, so developing sex control strategy to create all-male progeny will produce higher economic value. However, little is known about the genetic background associated with sex differentiation in this species. In this study, we investigated gonadal development and uncovered critical window stages of sexual differentiation (about 2 mph), transition from proliferation to differentiation in female germ stem cells (GSCs) (2-3 mph) and male GSCs (3-4 mph). De novo transcriptome analysis revealed candidate genes and signaling pathways associated with sexual differentiation and gonadal development in four-eyed sleeper. The results showed that sox9 and zglp1 were the earliest sex-biased transcription factors during sex differentiation. Down-regulation of chemokine, cytokines-cytokine receptors and up-regulation of cellular senescence pathway might be involved in GSC differentiation. Weighted gene correlation network analysis showed that metabolic pathway and occludin were the hub signaling and gene in ovarian development, meanwhile the MAPK signaling pathways, cellular senescence pathway and ash1l (histone H3-lysine4 N-trimethyltransferase) were the hub pathways and gene in testicular development. The present work elucidated the developmental processes of sexual differentiation and gonadal development and revealed their associated revealed genes and signaling pathways in four-eyed sleeper, providing theoretical basis for developing sex-control techniques.
四眼斑鲆是一种具有重要商业价值的海水鱼类，雄性个体在体生长和抗应激方面具有显著优势，因此开发性别控制策略以产生全雄后代将产生更高的经济价值。然而，对于该物种性别分化相关的遗传背景知之甚少。在本研究中，我们调查了性腺发育情况，揭示了性别分化的关键窗口期（约2月龄）、雌性生殖干细胞（GSCs）从增殖到分化的转变（2-3月龄）以及雄性GSCs（3-4月龄）。从头转录组分析揭示了与四眼斑鲆性别分化和性腺发育相关的候选基因和信号通路。结果表明，sox9和zglp1是性别分化过程中最早出现的性别偏向转录因子。趋化因子、细胞因子-细胞因子受体的下调以及细胞衰老途径的上调可能参与了GSC分化。加权基因共表达网络分析表明，代谢途径和闭合蛋白是卵巢发育中的核心信号和基因，同时丝裂原活化蛋白激酶（MAPK）信号通路、细胞衰老途径和ash1l（组蛋白H3赖氨酸4 N-三甲基转移酶）是睾丸发育中的核心途径和基因。本研究阐明了四眼斑鲆性别分化和性腺发育的过程，并揭示了其相关基因和信号通路，为开发性别控制技术提供了理论依据。
