PUBLICATION
Oocyte apoptosis during the transition from ovary-like tissue to testes during sex differentiation of juvenile zebrafish
- Authors
- Uchida, D., Yamashita, M., Kitano, T., and Iguchi, T.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-020403-18
- Date
- 2002
- Source
- The Journal of experimental biology 205(6): 711-718 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Yamashita, Michiaki
- Keywords
- sex; differentiation; oocyte; apoptosis; testis; ovary; juvenile hermaphroditism; zebrafish; Danio rerio
- MeSH Terms
-
- Animals
- Apoptosis*
- Cell Differentiation
- Female
- In Situ Nick-End Labeling
- Male
- Oocytes/cytology*
- Ovary/embryology*
- Sex Differentiation*/genetics
- Testis/embryology*
- Zebrafish/embryology*
- Zebrafish/genetics
- PubMed
- 11914381 Full text @ J. Exp. Biol.
Citation
Uchida, D., Yamashita, M., Kitano, T., and Iguchi, T. (2002) Oocyte apoptosis during the transition from ovary-like tissue to testes during sex differentiation of juvenile zebrafish. The Journal of experimental biology. 205(6):711-718.
Abstract
Large numbers of apoptotic early diplotene oocytes were observed during the transition from ovary-like undifferentiated gonadal tissue to testes during sex differentiation in presumptive males of the zebrafish (Danio rerio). The percentage of terminal-deoxynucleotidyl-transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labelling (TUNEL)-positive apoptotic oocytes in the gonads of presumptive males was approximately eight- to 12-fold higher than in genetic all-females. By 29 days post-hatching, all oocytes had disappeared from the gonads of presumptive males. In these males, we also observed apoptotic somatic cells in the ovarian cavity between 23 and 35 days post-hatching. Therefore, the disappearance of oocytes and the decomposition of the ovarian cavity caused by apoptosis during sex differentiation were male-specific events. In genetic all-females, apoptosis in a proportion of early diplotene oocytes was found in the undifferentiated gonads at 15-19 days post-hatching, probably as a result of programmed oocyte loss during ovarian development. These findings suggest that oocyte apoptosis is the mechanism of testicular and ovarian differentiation in zebrafish.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping