Open AccessIsolation and characterization of sexual dimorphism genes expressed in chicken embryonic gonads
Author(s) -
Yanping Feng,
Xiuli Peng,
Shijun Li,
Yanzhang Gong
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
acta biochimica et biophysica sinica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.771
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1745-7270
pISSN - 1672-9145
DOI - 10.1093/abbs/gmp012
Subject(s) - biology , gene , gonad , cdna library , complementary dna , sexual differentiation , suppression subtractive hybridization , genetics , expressed sequence tag , development of the gonads , northern blot , microbiology and biotechnology , anatomy
In chicken, the bipotential embryonic gonad differentiates into either a pair of testes or an ovary, but few genes that underlying the gonadal sex differentiation have been identified and the sex-determination gene is still unknown. To identify more genes involved in chicken sex differentiation, we employed suppression subtractive hybridization to isolate differentially expressed genes between sexes from chicken gonads during a period of E3.5-E6. A total of 152 cDNA clones corresponding to 88 genes (41 from F-M library and 47 from M-F library) were screened using dot-blot analysis. These genes are located mainly on the macrochromosomes (1-5) with five in the sex chromosomes (one in W and four in Z), encoding four dominating molecular categories belonging to enzyme, DNA association, RNA association, and structural protein. Comparing the obtained cDNA sequences with those in chicken EST database, it showed that cDNAs of 32 genes from F-M library and 16 from M-F library have homologs in two reported embryonic gonad cDNA libraries. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis of eight genes involved in epigenetic and transcription regulation showed significantly different expression between sexes of CDK2AP1, SMARCE1, SAP18, SUDS3, and PQBP1 appeared at the early stage in gonad development (E4). Based on the functional comparison of sexual differentially expressed genes, the roles of some putatively important genes including ATP5A1W, CDK2AP1, mitochondrial transcripts, etc. have been analyzed. In conclusion, characterization of isolated genes would provide valuable clues to identify potential candidates involved in genetic mechanisms of chicken sex differentiation and gonad development.