Abstract
Ferritin plays an essential role in organismic and cellular iron homeostasis in Macrobrachium nipponense. In this study, we aimed to investigate the role of ferritin in the sexual development of male M. nipponense. According to the qPCR analysis of different tissues and developmental stages, ferritin exhibited high expression levels in the testis and androgenic gland, from post-larval developmental stage 5 (PL5) to PL15, indicating that it may be involved in gonad differentiation and development, especially in male sexual development. In situ hybridization and qPCR analysis in various reproductive cycles of the testis indicated that ferritin may play an essential role in spermatogonia development in M. nipponense. RNAi analysis revealed that ferritin positively affected mRNA expression of the insulin-like androgenic gland (Mn-IAG) and the secretion of testosterone, and thus positively affected testis development in M. nipponense. This study highlighted the functions of ferritin in the sexual development of male M. nipponense and provided important information for the establishment of a technique to regulate the process of testis development in M. nipponense.
Highlights
The oriental river prawn, Macrobrachium nipponense (Crustacea; Decapoda; and Palaemonidae), is an important commercial species in China (Cai and Shokita, 2006; Salman et al, 2006; Ma et al, 2011), with an annual production of 225,321 tons in 2019 (Zhang et al, 2020)
Mn-ferritin expression remained stable during the larval developmental stages, with no significant difference in expression levels (P > 0.05)
Mn-ferritin expression peaked during the postlarval developmental stage (PL) at post-larval developmental stage 5 (PL5) (P < 0.05) and remained at a high level until PL15 (Figure 1B)
Summary
The oriental river prawn, Macrobrachium nipponense (Crustacea; Decapoda; and Palaemonidae), is an important commercial species in China (Cai and Shokita, 2006; Salman et al, 2006; Ma et al, 2011), with an annual production of 225,321 tons in 2019 (Zhang et al, 2020). There are significant differences in growth performance of male and female M. nipponense in aquaculture systems. Compared to their female counterparts, male M. nipponense exhibit better growth performance (Ma et al, 2011). Rapid gonad development has negative effects on the sustainable development of the M. nipponense aquaculture industry. A previous study reported that the both testis and ovaries of prawns are mature at 40 days after hatching (Jin et al, 2016). This results in inbreeding between the newborn prawns. Inbreeding leads to multiple generations in the same pond and the degradation
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