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Vol. 62, 2023
(update: 2023.1.1)
Identification of Sexually
Dimorphic Genes in Pectoral Fin as Molecular Markers for Assessing the
Sex of Japanese Silver Eels (Anguilla
japonica)
Hsiang-Yi
Hsu1 , Chia-Hsien Chuang2,
I-Hsuan Lu2,
Chung-Yen Lin2, and Yu-San Han1,*
doi:10.6620/ZS.2023.62-02
1Institute
of Fisheries Science, College of Life Science, National Taiwan
University, 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Rd., Taipei 10617, Taiwan.
*Correspondence: E-mail: yshan@ntu.edu.tw (Han).
E-mail: d03b45003@ntu.edu.tw (Hsu)
2Institute of Information Science, Academia Sinica,
Taipei, Taiwan. E-mail: t050508@gmail.com (Chuang);
lindalu@iis.sinica.edu.tw (Lu); cylin@iis.sinica.edu.tw (Lin)
(Received 2 June 2022 /
Accepted 25
October 2022 / Published 10 March 2023)
Communicated by John Wang
The Japanese eel (Anguilla japonica) is an important
species in East Asian aquaculture. However, the production of seedlings
for this purpose still depends on natural resources, as the commercial
production of glass eels is not yet possible. Confusion about the sex
of silver eels is one of the factors affecting the success rate of
artificial maturation. This study sought to devise a harmless method to
precisely assess the sex of silver eels. Partial pectoral fins were
collected from females and males and the total RNA was extracted for
transcriptomic analysis to identify sexually dimorphic genes as
molecular markers for sex typing. An online database was constructed to
integrate the annotations of transcripts and perform comparative
transcriptome analysis. This analysis identified a total of 29
candidate sexually dimorphic genes. Ten were selected for a real-time
quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) to validate the
transcriptomic data and evaluate their feasibility as markers. The
transcriptomic analysis and RT-qPCR data implicated three potential
markers (LOC111853410, kera, and dcn) in sex typing. The expression
of LOC111853410 was higher in
females than in males. In contrast, the expression of kera and dcn was higher in males than in
females. The ΔCT values of three markers were analyzed to
determine their inferred thresholds, which can be used to determine the
sex of Japanese eels. The results suggested that if a silver eel had a
pectoral fin with the pectoral fin having the ΔCT of LOC111853410 < 11.3, the ΔCT
of kera > 11.4, or
the ΔCT of dcn
> 6.5 can be assessed it could be assessed as female. Males could be
assessed by the ΔCT of LOC111853410
> 11.3, the ΔCT of kera
< 11.4, or the ΔCT of dcn
< 6.5 in their pectoral fins. The molecular functions of these
markers and the biological significance of their differential
expression require further exploration.
Key words: Comparative transcriptome analysis,
Japanese eel, Pectoral fin, Sex typing, Sexually dimorphic genes.
Citation: Hsu HY, Chuang CH, Lu IH, Lin
CY, Han YS. 2023. Identification of sexually dimorphic genes in
pectoral fin as molecular markers for assessing the sex of Japanese
silver eels (Anguilla japonica).
Zool Stud 62:02.
doi:10.6620/ZS.2023.62-02.
Supplementary
materials: Table S1丨
Table S2丨Table S3丨Table S4丨Fig. S1丨Fig. S2丨Fig. S3
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