Sox9b/sox9a2-EGFP transgenic medaka reveals the morphological reorganization of the gonads and a common precursor of both the female and male supporting cells.
We have established an enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) transgenic medaka line that mimics the expression of sox9b/sox9a2 to analyze the morphological reorganization of the gonads and characterize the sox9b-expressing cells during gonadal formation in this fish. After the germ cells have migrated into the gonadal areas, a cluster of EGFP-expressing cells in the single gonadal primordium was found to be separated by the somatic cells along the rostrocaudal axis and form the bilateral lobes. We observed in these transgenic fish that EGFP expression persists only in the somatic cells directly surrounding the germ cells. As sex differentiation proceeds, dmrt1 and foxl2 begin to be expressed in the EGFP-expressing cells in the XY and the XX gonads, respectively. This indicates that the sox9b-expressing cells reorganize into two lobes of the gonad and then differentiate into Sertoli or granulosa cells, as common precursors of the supporting cells. Hence, our sox9b-EGFP medaka system will be useful in future studies of gonadal development.
Nakamura
Shuhei
S
Laboratory of Molecular Genetics for Reproduction, National Institute for Basic Biology, Okazaki, Japan.
Aoki
Yumiko
Y
Saito
Daisuke
D
Kuroki
Yoko
Y
Fujiyama
Asao
A
Naruse
Kiyoshi
K
Tanaka
Minoru
M
D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian; D005260:Female; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D006066:Gonads / Q000196:embryology* / Q000378:metabolism; D006107:Granulosa Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D006609:High Mobility Group Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D009990:Oryzias / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics*; D020033:Protein Isoforms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D055758:SOX9 Transcription Factor; D012708:Sertoli Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
D006609:High Mobility Group Proteins; D020033:Protein Isoforms; D055758:SOX9 Transcription Factor; D014157:Transcription Factors; C485184:enhanced green fluorescent protein; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins