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Sexually Dimorphic Expression of Foxl2 and Ftz‐F1 in Chinese Giant Salamander Andrias Davidianus
Author(s) -
HU QIAOMU,
MENG YAN,
TIAN HAIFENG,
ZHANG YU,
XIAO HANBING
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of experimental zoology part b: molecular and developmental evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.823
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1552-5015
pISSN - 1552-5007
DOI - 10.1002/jez.b.22693
Subject(s) - biology , ovary , gonad , development of the gonads , gene , sex reversal , medicine , microbiology and biotechnology , endocrinology , genetics
Foxl2 and FTZ‐F1 play a crucial role in the regulation of gonad development in fish and mammals, but studies of their function in amphibians are scarce. We isolated the full length of Foxl2 ( adFoxl2 ) and Ftz‐F1 ( adFtz‐f1 ) cDNA from the Chinese giant salamander Andrias davidianus and quantified its expression in various tissues and developing gonads. The adFoxl2 gene encodes 301aa including a conserved forkhead box, and the adFtz‐f1 gene encodes 467aa containing an Ftz‐F1 box. The amino acid sequences showed high homology with other amphibians. adFoxl2 expression was high in ovary, whereas adFtz‐f1 was higher in testis, moderate in pituitary, ovary, and kidney; and low in the remaining tested tissues. Expression of adFoxl2 gradually increased from 1Y to 5Y in ovary, whereas adFtz‐f1 expression gradually decreased in testis. In addition, adFoxl2 and adFtz‐f1 were detected in granulosa cell in ovary and in spermatocytes in testis. The adFoxl2 transcription was inhibited in brain and ovary after treatment with methyltestosterone and with letrozole, whereas adFtz‐f1 expression was upregulated. High‐temperature suppressed the expression of adFxl2 in ovary and enhanced the transcription of adFtz‐f1. These results suggest that adFoxl2 functioned in ovary differentiation, whereas adFtz‐f1 played a role in testis development, which lays a foundation for study of the sex differentiation mechanism in A. davidianus .