Germ cells in the teleost fish medaka have an inherent feminizing effect

Toshiya Nishimura; Kazuki Yamada; Chika Fujimori; Mariko Kikuchi; Toshihiro Kawasaki; Kellee R Siegfried; Noriyoshi Sakai; Minoru Tanaka

doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1007259

Germ cells in the teleost fish medaka have an inherent feminizing effect

PLoS Genet. 2018 Mar 29;14(3):e1007259. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1007259. eCollection 2018 Mar.

Authors

Toshiya Nishimura¹, Kazuki Yamada¹, Chika Fujimori¹, Mariko Kikuchi¹, Toshihiro Kawasaki^{2

3}, Kellee R Siegfried⁴, Noriyoshi Sakai^{2

3}, Minoru Tanaka¹

Affiliations

¹ Division of Biological Science, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan.
² Genetic Strains Research Center, National Institute of Genetics, Mishima, Shizuoka, Japan.
³ Department of Genetics, SOKENDAI (The Graduate University for Advanced Studies), Mishima, Shizuoka, Japan.
⁴ Biology Department, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.

Abstract

Germ cells are the only cells that can transfer genetic materials to the next generation via the sperm or egg. However, recent analyses in teleosts revealed another essential role of germ cells: feminizing the gonads. In our study, medaka mutants in which gametogenesis was blocked at specific stages provides the novel view that the feminizing effect of germ cells occurs in parallel with other reproductive elements, such as meiosis, the sexual fate decision of germ cells, and gametogenesis. Germ cells in medaka may have a potential to feminize gonads at the moment they have developed.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Cell Lineage
Female
Feminization*
Gametogenesis
Germ Cells / cytology*
Male
Meiosis
Oryzias / genetics*
Sex Differentiation

Grants and funding

This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up (15H06838:TN), a Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B) (16K18557:TN), a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas (17H06430: MT), a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A) (16H02514: MT). The URL of all above Grants is https://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-grants/grants01.html. the NOVARTIS foundation (Japan) for promotion of science (MT:http://japanfoundation.novartis.org/en/programs/index.html), and The Sumitomo Foundation Grant for Basic Science Research Projects (161335: TN:http://www.sumitomo.or.jp/e/). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.