GSE111883
Transcriptomic analyses reveal genes with sexual dimorphic expression in the Arapaima gigas gonads and brain
Pirarucu (Arapaima gigas, or A. gigas) is a native fish species to Amazon basin and, economically important in the Brazilian Amazonian for its great potential to aquaculture. In the natural environment the A. gigas is captured only in the sustainable development reserves of the State of Amazonas by applying a system of rotation in fishing in order to avoid overfishing of this important fishing resource. The reproductive biology of A. gigas has long been intriguing; however, very little is known about the molecular pathways underlying their sexual differentiation and determination.  Using the SOLiD sequencing platform, a total of 432,058,560 short sequencing reads were produced. An average of ~30% of sequencing reads could be mapped to Asian arowana reference cDNAs. 305 genes showed higher expression in female brain against 8 gene with higher expressing in male brain. In gonad, there are 120 genes higher expressed in female against 10 gene higher expressed in male. Overall design: To identify genes representing the sex specific gene expression, a comprehensive transcript dataset for the gonads and brain of A. gigas was produced using SOLiD platform. The sequencing reads were mapped to the genome of a close species Scleropages formosus (Asian arowana). Differential gene expression between male and female were then identified using the quantified gene expression values.