Analysis of environmental sex determination

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15H04396
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Morphology/Structure
• Research Institution: Yokohama City University
• Principal Investigator: Iguchi Taisen 横浜市立大学, 生命ナノシステム科学研究科(八景キャンパス), 特任教授 (90128588)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 荻野 由紀子 九州大学, 農学研究院, 准教授 (00404343) ; 宮川 信一 和歌山県立医科大学, 先端医学研究所, 講師 (30404354)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 性決定 / 環境 / 爬虫類 / 甲殻類

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Sex determination is a critical element in animal development and evolution. In contrast to sex determination based on intrinsic genotypic factors, as commonly seen in many animals, some species show environmental sex determination (ESD), where offspring become male or female in response to an environmental factor(s) during development. We investigated ESD mechanism using American alligator and water flea (daphnia) as a models. In alligator, we identified thermosensitive transient receptor potential (TRP) channels as main initiation candidate. In addition, we revealed that epigenomic factors might be involved in temperature-dependent sex determination. In Daphnids, we identified several juvenile hormone and ecdysone biosynthesis-related genes and investigated their expression levels throughout embryogenesis and molting cycle between male and female. These results provide novel insights towards understanding photoperiod-dependent sex determination process in Daphnids.

Free Research Field

内分泌学