Sexual plasticity of gonads in fish and its technical development into fisheries

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 23248034
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: General fisheries
• Research Institution: Meio University (2013-2014); University of the Ryukyus (2011-2012)
• Principal Investigator: NAKAMURA Masaru 名桜大学, 公私立大学の部局等, 研究員 (10101734)
• Project Period (FY): 2011-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: sex change / ovary / testis / sex hormone

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We succeeded in inducing sex reversal, ovaries to testes, in gonochoristic tilapia, medaka, zebrafish, carp and rabbitfish through treatment of the fish with an aromatase inhibitor. The results of these studies have been reported in international scientific journals and in public news media via newspapers and Internet news services. The application of this technique will allow control over the sex of fishes in commercial aquaculture. Furthermore, through transcriptome analysis of sex change from ovaries to testes, we identified 21 new genes that are likely to play a role in sexual plasticity. This work has broad importance for understanding the ontogeny and genetics of sexual identity in vertebrate animals.

Free Research Field

魚類生殖生理学