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Exploration of steroidogenesis‐related genes in testes, ovaries, adrenals, liver and adipose tissue in pigs
Author(s) -
Robic Annie,
Feve Katia,
Louveau Isabelle,
Riquet Juliette,
Prunier Armelle
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
animal science journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.606
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1740-0929
pISSN - 1344-3941
DOI - 10.1111/asj.12532
Subject(s) - endocrinology , adipose tissue , medicine , biology , cholesterol side chain cleavage enzyme , adrenal cortex , gene , ovary , metabolism , cytochrome p450 , genetics
To explore the metabolism of steroids in the pig species, a qualitative PCR analysis was performed for the main transcript of 27 genes involved in steroid metabolism. We compared samples of testes, adipose tissue and liver from immature and peripubertal males, adrenal cortex from peripubertal males, ovaries from cyclic females and adipose tissue from peripubertal females. Some genes were shown to have a tissue‐specific expression. Two of them were expressed only in testes, ovaries and adrenals: CYP11A1 and CYP11B . The CYP21 and HSD17B3 genes, were expressed respectively only in adrenals and only in testes. Very few differences were observed between transcriptional patterns of peripubertal testes and adrenal glands as well as between male and female fat tissues. However, the expression of genes involved in the sulfonation of steroids was higher in testes than in adrenals from males. Main differences between ovaries and testes were observed for HSD17B1/2/3 , AKR1C‐pig6 and sulfotransferase genes ( SULT2A1 / SULT2B1 ). The present study shows that the SRD5A2 and CYP21 genes were not involved in the testicular biosynthesis of androstenone. It also shows that porcine adrenal glands produce essentially corticosteroids and that fat tissue is unable to produce de novo steroids.