Functional analysis of avian sex determination gene and cell fate analysis

Research Project

Project/Area Number	23570254
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Section	一般
Research Field	Developmental biology
Research Institution	Hyogo University of Teacher Education
Principal Investigator	HIDEFUMI Yoshioka 兵庫教育大学, 学校教育研究科(研究院), 教授 (40191548)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	KASAHARA Megumi 兵庫教育大学, 学校教育研究科, 准教授 (20243347)
Project Period (FY)	2011-04-28 – 2015-03-31
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2014)
Budget Amount *help	¥5,200,000 (Direct Cost: ¥4,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,200,000) Fiscal Year 2013: ¥650,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥150,000) Fiscal Year 2012: ¥2,080,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥480,000) Fiscal Year 2011: ¥2,470,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥570,000)
Keywords	生殖腺 / 鳥類の性分化機構 / 性決定遺伝子 / 性染色体 / DMRT1 / HINTW/HINTZ / aromatase / Sox9 / 性分化 / HINTW / HINTZ / ニワトリ胚 / 生殖腺予定領域 / 性分化機構 / HNTW / HINZ / ニワトリ / 日本
Outline of Final Research Achievements	Sex in birds is chromosomally based (ZZ male, ZW female), but the mechanism underlying sex determination remains unknown. An unresolved question is what gene plays a role in avian sex determination. HINTZ is an avian Z chromosome-linked gene and shows higher expression in male gonads. Meanwhile, HINTW/ASW is a tamdemly repeated gene conserved on avian W chromosome and its transcript is detected in female gonads. To investigate the roles of these genes in avian sex determination, we performed functional analysis by overexpressing these genes. The expression of gonadal marker gene and morphological change are analyzed. Overexpression of HINTZ and knock-down of HINTW on the left female gonads before sex determination induced up-regulation of male specific SOX9 expression and down-regulation of female specific Aromatase expression in the medulla. We conclude that HINT-Z is included in male sex determination and induced male-to-female sex reversal.