Sexual Development of the Hermaphroditic Scallop Argopecten irradians Revealed by Morphological, Endocrine and Molecular Analysis

• DOI: 10.3389/fcell.2021.646754
• Publication Date: 2021-03-16T05:13:45Z
• Authors: Huilan Wei; Wanru Li; Tian Liu; Yajuan Li; Liangjie Liu; Ya Shu; Lijing Zhang; Shi Wang; Qiang Xing; Lingling Zhang; Zhenmin Bao
• Keywords: Sexual Differentiation; Sexual dimorphism; WNT4

Simultaneous or functional hermaphrodites possessing both ovary and testis at the same time are good materials for studying sexual development. However, previous research on sex determination differentiation was mainly conducted in gonochoristic species studies simultaneous still limited. In this study, we a combined morphological, endocrine molecular study gonadal development of hermaphroditic scallop Argopecten irradians aged 2–10 month old. Morphological analysis showed that occurred 6 months age. By examining dynamic changes progesterone, testosterone estradiol, found estradiol were significantly different between ovaries testes almost throughout whole process, suggesting two hormones may be involved differentiation. addition, identified critical sex-related genes FoxL2 Dmrt1L, investigated their spatiotemporal expression patterns. Results Dmrt1L female- male-biased, respectively, localized germ cells follicular cells, indicating feasibility as markers early identification sex. Further juveniles significant dimorphic 2 age, earlier than . Moreover, correlated with estradiol/testosterone ratio (E /T). All these results indicated occurs morphological differentiation, key driver functions through regulating steroid scallop. This will deepen our understanding mechanism underlying spiralians.