Estradiol-17beta treatment induces intersexual gonadal development in the pufferfish, Takifugu rubripes.

Estrogens are responsible for most characteristics of the female sex of a species, such as metabolic, behavioral, and morphological changes during reproduction. Artificial estradiol-17beta (E2) treatment Induces sex reversal in some fish. The Japanese pufferfish (Takifugu rubripes) has the most compact genome among vertebrates and great pottial for comparative genome analysis.

Expression of the DMRT gene and its roles in early gonadal development of the Japanese pufferfish Takifugu rubripes.

DMRT1, a gene containing the Doublesex/Mab-3 DNA-binding motif (DM domain), encodes a transcription factor that regulates early differentiation of Sertoli cells in the testes of vertebrates. Here, we describe the pattern of expression of six DMRT genes (DMRT1, 2a, 2b, 3, 4, and 5) during gonadal development in the Japanese pufferfish, Takifugu rubripes, for the first time. Conventional histological analysis showed that a primordial gonad is present 2 weeks after hatching and that sexual differentiation had occurred by 6 weeks after hatching, as determined by the formation of cavities in the ovaries.