Proteomic analysis of three gonad types of swamp eel reveals genes differentially expressed during sex reversal.

Yue Sheng,Majing Luo,Quan Lei,Hanhua Cheng,Rongjia Zhou,Wei Zhao,Ying Song,Zhigang Li

doi:10.1038/srep10176

Abstract

A variety of mechanisms are engaged in sex determination in vertebrates. The teleost fish swamp eel undergoes sex reversal naturally and is an ideal model for vertebrate sexual development. However, the importance of proteome-wide scanning for gonad reversal was not previously determined. We report a 2-D electrophoresis analysis of three gonad types of proteomes during sex reversal. MS/MS analysis revealed a group of differentially expressed proteins during ovary to ovotestis to testis transformation. Cbx3 is up-regulated during gonad reversal and is likely to have a role in spermatogenesis. Rab37 is down-regulated during the reversal and is mainly associated with oogenesis. Both Cbx3 and Rab37 are linked up in a protein network. These datasets in gonadal proteomes provide a new resource for further studies in gonadal development.

Highlights

Medaka, a duplicated copy of Dmrt[1] on an autosome[14,15]
Taking advantage of the sex reversal characteristic of the swamp eel, we have previously identified six Dmrt genes (Dmrt[1], Dmrt[2], Dmrt2b, Dmrt[3], Dmrt[4] and Dmrt5); observed that these Dmrt genes were up-regulated during gonad reversal[21,22]
Using a comparative proteomics approach, we report a proteome-wide scan for key genes for gonad reversal in swamp eel. 2-D electrophoresis analysis of gonadal proteomes revealed a group of differentially expressed proteins during ovary to ovotestis to testis transformation

Summary

Introduction

Medaka, a duplicated copy of Dmrt[1] on an autosome[14,15]. Recently, four novel sex-determining candidate genes have been identified from different fish species, amhy, Gsdf, Amhr[2] and sdY16–19. 2-D electrophoresis analysis of gonadal proteomes revealed a group of differentially expressed proteins during ovary to ovotestis to testis transformation. To screen the differentially expressed genes during gonad reversal, 2D-electrophoresis was used to isolate the differentially expressed protein spots among ovary, ovotestis and testis. Comparative analysis among the 2D gel images of gonad tissues showed many differentially expressed protein spots (Fig. 1b, Fig. S1).

Results

Conclusion