Abstract
We have used various genetic and molecular approaches to investigate the mechanisms of sex determination and gonadal sex differentiation in fish. DMY was identified as the sex-determining gene of medaka. In tilapia, endogenous estrogens act as natural inducers of ovarian differentiation, while DMRT1 may be important for testicular differentiation. The roles of these regulators in sex determination and gonadal sex differentiation were ascertained using a gene or hormonal blockade strategy.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Baroiller JF, Guiguen Y, Fostier A (1999) Endocrine and environmental aspects of sex differentiation in fish. Cell Mol Life Sci 55:910–931
Devlin RH, Nagahama Y (2002) Sex determination and sex differentiation in fish. Aquaculture 208:191–366
Guan G, Kobayashi T, Nagahama Y (2000) Sexually dimorphic expression of DM (Doublesex/Mab-3)-domain genes during gonadal differentiation in tilapia. Biochem Biophys Res Comm 272:662–666
Guiguen Y (2000) Implication of steroids in fish gonadal sex differentiation and sex inversion. Curr Topic Steroid Res 3:127–143
Kobayashi T, Kajiura-Kobayashi H, Nagahama Y (2000) Differential expression of vasa homologue gene in the germ cells during oogenesis and spermatogenesis of a teleost fish, tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus. Mech Develop 99:139–142
Kobayashi T, Kajiura-Kobayashi H, Nagahama Y (2003) Induction of XY sex reversal by estrogen involves altered gene expression in a teleost, tilapia. Cytogenet Genome Res 101:289–294
Kobayashi T, Matsuda M, Kajiura-Kobayashi H, Suzuki A, Saito N, Nakamoto M, Shibata N, Nagahama Y (2004) Two DM domain genes, DMY and DMRT1, involved in testicular differentiation and development in the medaka, Oryzias latipes. Dev Dyn 231:518–526
Kondo M, Nanda I, Hornung U, Asakawa S, Shimizu N, Mitani H et al (2003) Absence of the candidate male sex-determining gene dmrt1b(Y) of medaka from other fish species. Curr Biol 13:416–420
Koopman P (2001) The genetics and biology of vertebrate sex determination. Cell 105:843–847
Koopman P, Gubbay J, Vivian N, Goodfellow P, Lovell-Badge R (1991) Male development of chromsomally female mice transgenic for Sry. Nature 351:117–121
Lutfalla G, Roest Crollius H, Brunet FG, Laudet V, Robinson-Rechavi M (2003) Inventing a sex-specific gene: a conserved role of DMRT1 in teleost fishes plus a recent duplication in the medaka Oryzias latipes resulted in DMY. J Mol Evol 57(Suppl. 1):S148–S153
Matsuda M (2005) Sex determination in the teleost medaka, Oryzias latipes. Ann Rev Genet 39:293–307
Matsuda M, Kawato N, Asakawa S, Shimizu N, Nagahama Y, Hamaguchi S, Sakaizumi M, Hori H (2001) Construction of a BAC library derived from the inbred Hd-rR strain of the teleost fish, Oryzias latipes. Gene Genet Syst 76:61–63
Matsuda M, Nagahama Y, Shinomiya A, Sato T, Matsuda C, Kobayashi T, Morrey CE, Shibata N, Asakawa S, Shimizu N, Hori H, Hamaguchi S, Sakaizumi M (2002) DMY is a Y-specific DM-domain gene required for male development in the medaka fish. Nature 417:559–563
Matsuda M, Sato T, Toyazaki Y, Nagahama Y, Hamaguchi S, Sakaizumi M (2003) Oryzias curvinotus has DMY, a gene that is required for male development in the medaka, O. latipes. Zool Sci 20:159–161
Nagahama Y (2000) Gonadal steroid hormones: major regulators of gonadal sex differentiation and gametogenesis in fish. In: Norberg B, Kjesbu OS, Taranger GL, Anderson E, Stefansson SO (eds) Proc. Sixth Int. Symp. Reprod. Physiol. Fish. Univ. Bergen. pp 211–222
Nakagawa S (2004) Is avian sex determination unique?: clues from a warbler from chickens. Trends Genet 20:479–480
Nakamura M, Kobayashi T, Chang XT, Nagahama Y (1998) Gonadal sex differentiation in teleost fish. J Exp Zool 281:362–372
Nanda I, Kondo M, Hornung U, Asakawa S, Winkler C, Shimizu A, Shan Z, Haaf T, Shimizu N, Shima A, Schmid M, Schartl M (2002) A duplicated copy of DMRT1 in the sex-determining region of the Y chromosome of the medaka, Oryzias latipes. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 99:11778–11783
Piferrer F (2001) Endocrine sex control strategies for the feminization of teleost fish. Aquaculture 197:229–281
Schartl M (2004) A comparative view on sex determination in medaka. Mech Dev 121:639–645
Sinclair AH, Berta P, Palmer MS, Hawkins JR, Griffiths BL, Smith MJ, Foster JW, Frischauf A-M, Lovell-Badge R, Goodfellow PN (1990) A gene from the human sex determining region encodes a protein with homology to a conserved DNA binding motif. Nature 346:240–244
Smith CA, Sinclair AH (2004) Sex determination: insights from the chicken. BioEssays 26:120–132
Strussmann CA, Nakamura M (2003) Morphology, endocrinology, and environmental modulation of gonadal sex differentiation in teleost fishes. Fish Physiol Biochem 26:13–29
Swan A (2002) Vertebrate sex determination: a new player in the field. Curr Biol 12:R602–R603
Volff JN, Kondo M, Schartl M (2003) Medaka dmY/dmrt1Y is not the universal primary sex-determining gene in fish. Trends Genet 19:196–199
Yamamoto T (1969) Sex differentiation. In: Hoar WS, Randall DJ (eds) Fish physiology, vol III. Academic Press, pp 117–175
Yao HHC (2005) The pathway to femaleness: current knowledge on embryonic development of the ovary. Mol Cell Endocrinol 230:87–93
Yoshiura Y, Senthilkumaran B, Watanabe M, Oba Y, Kobayashi T, Nagahama Y (2003) Synergistic expression of Ad4BP/SF-1 and cytochrome P-450 aromatase (ovarian type) in the ovary of Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus, during vitellogenesis suggests transcriptional interaction. Biol Reprod 68:1545–1553
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nagahama, Y. Molecular mechanisms of sex determination and gonadal sex differentiation in fish. Fish Physiol Biochem 31, 105–109 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10695-006-7590-2
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10695-006-7590-2