Differential expression and dynamic changes of SOX3 during gametogenesis and sex reversal in protogynous hermaphroditic fish.
SOX3 has been suggested to play significant roles in gametogenesis and gonad differentiation of vertebrates, but the exact cellular localization evidence is insufficient and controversial. In this study, a protogynous hermaphrodite fish Epinephelus coioides is selected to analyze EcSox3 differential expression and the expression pattern in both processes of oogenesis and spermatogenesis by utilizing the advantages that gonad development undergoes transition from ovary to intersexual gonad and then to testis, and primordial germ cells and different stage cells during oogenesis and spermatogenesis are synchronously observed in the transitional gonads. The detailed and clear immunofluoresence localization indicates that significantly differential expression and dynamic changes of Sox3 occur in the progresses of gametogenesis and sex reversal, and EcSOX3 protein exists in the differentiating primordial germ cells, oogonia, and different stage oocytes of ovaries, and also in the differentiating primordial germ cells and the Sertoli cells of testis. One important finding is that the EcSox3 expression is a significant time point for enterable gametogenesis of primordial germ cells because EcSOX3 is obviously expressed and localized in primordial germ cells. As EcSox3 continues to express, the EcSOX3-positive primordial germ cells develop toward oogonia and then oocytes, whereas when EcSox3 expression is ceased, the EcSOX3-positive primordial germ cells develop toward spermatogonia. Therefore, the current finding of EcSOX3 in the differentiating primordial germ cells again confirms the potential regulatory role in oogenesis and germ cell differentiation. The data further suggest that SOX3, as a transcription factor, might have more important roles in oogenesis than in spermatogenesis.
Yao
Bo
B
State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Wuhan Center for Developmental Biology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China.
Zhou
Li
L
Wang
Yang
Y
Xia
Wei
W
Gui
Jian-Fang
JF
D000818:Animals; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D001492:Bass / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D005718:Gametogenesis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000502:physiology; D057850:Hermaphroditic Organisms; D006609:High Mobility Group Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D009865:Oocytes / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D010053:Ovary / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D055748:SOXB1 Transcription Factors; D012708:Sertoli Cells / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D019849:Sex Determination Processes / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D012733:Sex Differentiation / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D013737:Testis / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D006609:High Mobility Group Proteins; D055748:SOXB1 Transcription Factors; D014157:Transcription Factors