Temperature-Induced Sex Differentiation in River Prawn (<i>Macrobrachium nipponense</i>): Mechanisms and Effects
<i>Macrobrachium nipponense</i> is gonochoristic and sexually dimorphic. The male prawn grows faster and usually has a larger size than the female. Therefore, a higher male proportion in stock usually results in higher yield. To investigate the impact of temperature on sexual differentia...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2024-01-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Molecular Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/25/2/1207 |
| Summary: | <i>Macrobrachium nipponense</i> is gonochoristic and sexually dimorphic. The male prawn grows faster and usually has a larger size than the female. Therefore, a higher male proportion in stock usually results in higher yield. To investigate the impact of temperature on sexual differentiation in <i>M. nipponense</i>, two temperature treatments (26 °C and 31 °C) were conducted. The results showed that compared to the 31 °C treatment (3.20 ± 0.12), the 26 °C treatment displayed a lower female/male ratio (2.20 ± 0.11), which implied that a lower temperature could induce masculinization in <i>M. nipponense.</i> The temperature-sensitive sex differentiation phase was 25–35 days post hatching (DPH) at 26 °C while 15–20 DPH at 31 °C. Transcriptome and qPCR analysis revealed that a lower temperature up-regulated the expression of genes related to androgen secretion, and down-regulated the expressions of genes related to oogonia differentiation. Thirty-one temperature-regulated sex-differentiation genes were identified and the molecular mechanism of temperature-regulated sex differentiation was suggested. The finding of this study indicates that temperature regulation can be proposed as an innovative strategy for improving the culture yield of <i>M. nipponense</i>. |
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| ISSN: | 1661-6596 1422-0067 |