Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Samantha L. Bock, Christopher R. Smaga, Jessica A. McCoy, Benjamin B. Parrott
Summary: This study demonstrates the use of genome-wide DNA methylation (DNAm) patterns to investigate temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD) species, specifically American alligators, in the face of climate change. Through analyzing DNAm in blood cells of hatchling alligators, sex-associated differentially methylated cytosines (DMCs) and temperature-associated DMCs were identified. DNAm-based models were developed to accurately predict hatchling sex and past incubation temperature.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Fabien Pierron, Sophie Lorioux, Debora Heroin, Guillemine Daffe, Bruno Etcheverria, Jerome Cachot, Benedicte Morin, Sylvie Dufour, Patrice Gonzalez
Summary: Sex determination is a complex process influenced by environmental factors, with emerging evidence supporting a role of epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation in environmental sex determination. Studies using zebrafish as a model have shown that environmental cues can lead to changes in gene promoter methylation levels, impacting population sex ratios.
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
(2021)
Review
Environmental Sciences
Yue Yu, Min Chen, Zhi-Gang Shen
Summary: This review explores the influence of environmental stress on sex differentiation in aquatic animals. It examines the molecular biology, physiology, cytology, and epigenetic mechanisms involved in male development and masculinization, and discusses the potential applications and challenges in aquaculture. The review also identifies knowledge gaps for future research.
ECOTOXICOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY
(2023)
Article
Biology
Sarah L. Whiteley, Arthur Georges, Vera Weisbecker, Lisa E. Schwanz, Clare E. Holleley
Summary: Sex determination in the jacky dragon involves both temperature-dependent and genetic cues, leading to different sex ratios at different incubation temperatures. Developmental data suggests a mode of sex determination that is intermediate between genetic sex determination and temperature-dependent sex determination.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Yujia Yang, Tao Zhou, Yang Liu, Changxu Tian, Lisui Bao, Wenwen Wang, Yu Zhang, Shikai Liu, Huitong Shi, Suxu Tan, Dongya Gao, Rex A. Dunham, Zhanjiang Liu
Summary: This study investigates the mechanisms of sex determination in channel catfish and identifies differentially methylated CpG sites and differentially expressed genes within the sex determination region (SDR). Methylation differences were primarily located at nucleotide position 14.0-20.3 Mb of the sex chromosome, suggesting a potential role of methylation modification in sex determination in channel catfish. These findings provide insights into the genetic and epigenetic factors involved in sex determination.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Martijn A. Schenkel, Jean-Christophe Billeter, Leo W. Beukeboom, Ido Pen
Summary: Sex determination is a crucial process in development and its molecular basis is diverse. It can be categorized as genetic or environmental, but mixed systems are more common than previously thought. Environmental effects on gene expression within sex determination regulatory mechanisms can trigger evolutionary divergence of these mechanisms within species.
Article
Ecology
Samantha L. Bock, Yeraldi Loera, Josiah M. Johnson, Christopher R. Smaga, David L. Haskins, Tracey D. Tuberville, Randeep Singh, Thomas R. Rainwater, Philip M. Wilkinson, Benjamin B. Parrott
Summary: The study provides the first empirical support for the adaptive value of temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD) in crocodilians, showing that incubation temperature influences the annual survival of alligator hatchlings. This finding suggests that TSD has adaptive advantages in alligator populations.
FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Fisheries
Grace M. M. Hancock, Gorka Sancho, Stephan B. B. Munch, Santiago Salinas
Summary: Temperature-dependent sex determination occurs when the temperature affects gonad determination during development. Previous studies on TSD in fishes were mostly conducted under constant temperatures, but daily fluctuating temperatures can significantly impact fish physiology and life history. Therefore, we exposed Atlantic silverside, a TSD species, to different temperatures (28°C, 28°C±2°C, and 28°C±4°C) and quantified the sex ratios and length. The results showed that the percentage of females increased by 60%-70% under daily fluctuating temperatures (from 10% to 16% and 17%).
JOURNAL OF FISH BIOLOGY
(2023)
Review
Developmental Biology
Suzy C. P. Renn, Peter L. Hurd
Summary: Research on cichlids has found that many species exhibit environmental sex determination (ESD) in response to water chemistry factors such as temperature, pH, and oxygen concentration. The interactions between these factors and the genetic variation in sensitivity suggest an evolutionary tendency of the underlying mechanisms. Additionally, the presence of genetic sex-determining loci acting parallel to ESD factors has been strongly indicated by the distribution of less common sex towards environmental extremes in several species.
SEXUAL DEVELOPMENT
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
L. Heredero Saura, L. Janez-Escalada, J. Lopez Navas, K. Cordero, P. Santidrian Tomillo
Summary: This study found that green turtles exhibit nest-site repeatability, with nests placed by the same individual being closer together. Turtles adjust their nesting behavior throughout the nesting season, with late nests being placed closer to each other. Green turtles prefer nesting in shaded areas, particularly under trees, which helps mitigate the impacts of climate change on sex ratios.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Ryoji Shinya, Simo Sun, Mehmet Dayi, Isheng Jason Tsai, Atsushi Miyama, Anthony Fu Chen, Koichi Hasegawa, Igor Antoshechkin, Taisei Kikuchi, Paul W. Sternberg
Summary: The authors demonstrate that sex determination in Bursaphelenchus nematodes is likely regulated by a random, epigenetic mechanism, rather than the more well-known mechanisms of chromosomal or environmental sex determination.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Fisheries
Yang Xiong, Qingqing Han, Ying Liu, Shuai Wang, Jinhu Yang, Wei Jiang, Jingqi Hu, Jian Chen, Pei Li, Jie Mei
Summary: Sex control is crucial in aquaculture, and transitioning from genetic sex determination to temperature-dependent sex determination can result in high-quality neomales.
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Liwei Xu, Xinxin Xu, Xiaoling Wu, Hua Kuang, Chuanlai Xu
Summary: This study explores the association between exposure to the pesticide FPF and sex-dependent thyroid dysfunction through rat models. The results show that FPF metabolism is sex-dependent, with males preferring N-dealkylation and hydrolytic metabolism and females preferring hydroxylation. The study also reveals that FPF exposure disrupts the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis, leading to subclinical hyperthyroidism in females and abnormal hypothyroidism in males. Furthermore, FPF exposure affects cellular lipid metabolism differently in males and females. These findings highlight the potential risk of FPF-induced thyroid metabolic diseases and provide a basis for further research on the impact of FPF on human health and as an environmental pollutant.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Developmental Biology
Xiaohui Ma, Fang Liu, Qiran Chen, Wei Sun, Jiadong Shen, Kaiyue Wu, Ziyan Zheng, Jiaqi Huang, Jiawen Chen, Guoying Qian, Chutian Ge
Summary: In this study, we characterized the upstream regulator FOXL2 of the female pathway in Trachemys scripta, a turtle species with a temperature-dependent sex-determination (TSD) system. We found that FOXL2 is necessary and sufficient for ovarian determination, and its expression is temperature-dependent and responsive to estrogen.
Article
Biology
Alexander Hansson, Erik Wapstra, Geoffrey While, Willow Lindsay, Mats Olsson
Summary: Developmental conditions can have a significant impact on an individual's life history traits. Sex determination mechanisms in reptiles vary, including genetic and temperature-dependent methods. Our study found that high temperatures could override genetic sex determination and produce an excess of female offspring. However, this effect was inconsistent across three years, with a significant bias towards females only occurring in one year. Additionally, daughters incubated at warmer temperatures were more efficient at utilizing resources and exhibited faster growth.
Article
Clinical Neurology
Sabrina Paganoni, Richard Bedlack, Emma Fixsen, Colin Quinn, Chafic Karam, Alex Sherman, Lyle Ostrow, Orla Hardiman, Terry Heiman-Patterson, Laurie Gutmann, Mark Bromberg, Gregory Carter, Edor Kabashi, Tulio Bertorini, Tahseen Mozaffar, Peter Andersen, Josep Gamez, Mazen Dimachkie, Yunxia Wang, Paul Wicks, James Heywood, Steven Novella, L. P. Rowland, Erik Pioro, Lisa Kinsley, Kathy Mitchell, Jonathan Glass, Sith Sathornsumetee, Jon Baker, Nazem Atassi, Dallas Forshew, John Ravits, Robin Conwit, Carlayne Jackson, Kate Dalton, Katherine Tindall, Ginna Gonzalez, Janice Robertson, Larry Phillips, Michael Benatar, Eric Sorenson, Christen Shoesmith, Steven Nash, Nicholas Maragakis, Dan Moore, James Caress, Kevin Boylan, Carmel Armon, Megan Grosso, Bonnie Gerecke, Jim Wymer, Bjorn Oskarsson, Robert Bowser, Vivian Drory, Jeremy Shefner, Noah Lechtzin, Melanie Leitner, Robert Miller, Todd Levine, James Russell, Khema Sharma, David Saperstein, Leo McClusky, Daniel MacGowan, Jonathan Licht, Ashok Verma, Michael Strong, Catherine Lomen-Hoerth, Rup Tandan, Michael Rivner, Steve Kolb, Meraida Polak, Stacy Rudnicki, Pamela Kittrell, Muddasir Quereshi, George Sachs, Gary Pattee, Michael Weiss, John Kissel, Jonathan Goldstein, Jeffrey Rothstein, Dan Pastula, Gleb Levitsky, Mieko Ogino, Jeffrey Rosenfeld, Efrat Carmi, Christina Fournier, Paul Barkhaus, Brett Morrison, Lorne Zinman, Eric Valor, Neta Zach, Ahmad Ghavanini, Yvonne Baker, Kristiana Salmon, Steve Perrin, Rob Goldstein, Fernando Vieira, Merit Cudkowicz, Hiroshi Mitsumoto, Keelie Denson, Ceri Weber
AMYOTROPHIC LATERAL SCLEROSIS AND FRONTOTEMPORAL DEGENERATION
(2017)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Richard Bedlack, Robert Bowser, Paul Wicks, Dallas Forshew, Stephen Kolb, Jeffrey Rothstein, Eric Valor, Greg Carter, Terry Heiman-Patterson, Carmel Armon, Mark Bromberg, Pamela Kittrell, Jim Caress, Tulio Bertorini, Nicholas Maragakis, Kristiana Salmon, Christopher McDermott, Jon Glass, Rup Tandan, Gary Pattee, Erik Pioro, Sabrina Paganoni, Fernando Viera, Veronica Peschansky, Ceri Weber, Neta Zach
AMYOTROPHIC LATERAL SCLEROSIS AND FRONTOTEMPORAL DEGENERATION
(2018)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Chutian Ge, Jian Ye, Ceri Weber, Wei Sun, Haiyan Zhang, Yingjie Zhou, Cheng Cai, Guoying Qian, Blanche Capel
Article
Clinical Neurology
Amanda Gunn, Erin N. Bobeck, Ceri Weber, Michael M. Morgan
Editorial Material
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Ceri Weber, Blanche Capel
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Ceri Weber, Yingjie Zhou, Jong Gwan Lee, Loren L. Looger, Guoying Qian, Chutian Ge, Blanche Capel
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Alexander M. Weitzel, Hannah M. Grunwald, Ceri Weber, Rimma L. Levina, Valentino Gantz, Stephen Hedrick, Ethan Bier, Kimberly Cooper
Summary: Efficient gene conversion systems using CRISPR/Cas9 have the potential to study genetic traits in mice and limit loss of biodiversity caused by wild rodents. The timing of Cas9 expression during meiosis I is critical for successful gene conversion, though current low expression levels may hinder efficient DSB formation. Increasing Cas9 expression levels during early meiosis I could improve the efficiency of gene conversion in both male and female mice.