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Background  Many animals switch between asexual and sexual reproduction in nature. We previously established a system for the sexual induction of planarian  Dugesia ryukyuensis  by feeding asexual planarians with minced sexual planarians. We identified  dl -tryptophan (Trp) as one of the sex-inducing substances.  dl -Trp can induce ovarian development, the first and essential step of sexual induction.  d -Trp must act as a principal bioactive compound in terms of ovarian development, because the ovary-inducing activity of  d -Trp was 500 times more potent than that of  l -Trp. However, how Trp controls sexual induction is still unknown.    Results  In this study, qRT-PCR analyses suggested that the putative amino acid transporter gene  Dr-SLC38A9  is highly expressed in sexual worms, especially in the yolk glands. In situ hybridization analyses showed that  Dr-SLC38A9  is expressed in the ovarian primordia of asexual worms and in the mature ovaries, testes, and yolk glands of sexual worms. In addition,  Dr-SLC38A9  RNA interference during sexual induction resulted in the suppression of the development of reproductive organs. These results suggest that  Dr-SLC38A9  is involved in the development of these organs. Moreover, we demonstrated that the reproductive organ-specific expression of  Dr-SLC38A9  is enhanced by the addition of  d -Trp.    Conclusion  We propose that  d -Trp activates the expression of  Dr-SLC38A9  to promote sexual induction in the planarian  D. ryukyuensis .    Supplementary Information  The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40851-021-00173-z.

zoological letters

d-Tryptophan enhances the reproductive organ-specific expression of the amino acid transporter homolog Dr-SLC38A9 involved in the sexual induction of planarian Dugesia ryukyuensis