Activation of stress response axis as a key process in environment-induced sex plasticity in fish

Castañeda-Cortés, Diana C; Padilla, Luisa F. Arias; Strobl-Mazzulla, Pablo H.; Fernandino, Juan Ignacio

doi:10.1007/s00018-020-03532-9

Cited by 47 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 120 publications

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“…5b, supplementary file S3), is best known for its role as a neuropeptide synthesised in the brain in response to stresses that trigger the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis (71,72). The role of CRH production in the gonads, particularly in ovaries is currently poorly understood (73–76). High CRH expression in ZWf gonads is the first observation of this in reptiles.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Two transcriptionally distinct pathways drive female development in a reptile with both genetic and temperature dependent sex determination

Whiteley

Holleley

Wagner

et al. 2021

Preprint

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How temperature determines sex remains unknown. A recent hypothesis proposes that conserved cellular mechanisms (calcium and redox; CaRe status) sense temperature and identify genes and regulatory pathways likely to be involved in driving sexual development. We take advantage of the unique sex determining system of the model organism, Pogona vitticeps, to assess predictions of this hypothesis. P. vitticeps has ZZ male: ZW female sex chromosomes whose influence can be overridden in genetic males by high temperatures, causing male-to-female sex reversal. We compare a developmental transcriptome series of ZWf females and temperature sex reversed ZZf females. We demonstrate that early developmental cascades differ dramatically between genetically driven and thermally driven females, later converging to produce a common outcome (ovaries). We show that genes proposed as regulators of thermosensitive sex determination play a role in temperature sex reversal. Our study greatly advances the search for the mechanisms by which temperature determines sex.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Two transcriptionally distinct pathways drive female development in a reptile with both genetic and temperature dependent sex determination

Whiteley

Holleley

Wagner

et al. 2021

Preprint

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show abstract

“…Whether the biological translation mechanism of ESD is common to all species, or whether different mechanisms have been recruited during each emergence of ESD is not yet known. In fish, the vertebrate stress axis (hypothalamic‐pituitary‐interrenal/HPI axis) plays a fundamental role in ESD in both gonochoristic (Adolfi et al, 2019; Castañeda Cortés et al, 2019; Hattori et al, 2009; Hattori et al, 2020; Mankiewicz et al, 2013) and sequentially hermaphroditic fish (Chen et al, 2020; Goikoetxea et al, 2017; Solomon‐Lane et al, 2013). Typically, environmental influence leads to masculinization in fish (Ospina‐Álvarez & Piferrer, 2008), and the molecular pathway by which cortisol initiates androgen production is well understood (Goikoetxea et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Corticosterone does not have a role in temperature sex reversal in the central bearded dragon (Pogona vitticeps)

2021

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Environmental sex determination (ESD) is common among ectothermic vertebrates. The stress axis and production of stress hormones (corticosteroids) regulates ESD in fish, but evidence of a similar influence in reptiles is sparse and conflicting. The central bearded dragon (Pogona vitticeps) has a system of sex determination involving the interplay between sex chromosomes (ZZ/ZW female heterogamety) and the thermal environment. High egg incubation temperatures induce sex reversal of the ZZ genotype, feminizing chromosomally male individuals. Here we show that corticosterone elevation is not associated with sex reversal in the central bearded dragon, either during embryonic development or adulthood. We also demonstrate experimentally that sex determination is not affected by corticosterone injection into the yolk. This strongly suggests that stress axis upregulation by high temperature during incubation does not cause sex reversal in P. vitticeps. Our work is in general agreement with other research in reptiles, which suggests that the stress axis does not mediate sex in reptiles with ESD. Alternative biological systems may be responsible for capturing environmental conditions during reptile development, such as cellular calcium and redox regulation or the action of temperature‐sensitive splicing factors.

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“…As stated above, CERS is based on data collected mostly from gonochoristic fish species but also from a few hermaphrodites and is also compatible with findings so far in reptiles. Recently, further evidence for distinct epigenetic reprogramming and the involvement of the stress axis has been gathered concerning environmentally induced sex plasticity in vertebrates in general [ 53 ] and sex change in fishes in particular [ 54 , 55 ]. The emerging picture is that epigenetic modifications constitute a critical link between environmental stimuli, the onset of sex change in hermaphrodites, and subsequent maintenance of the new sexual phenotype [ 56 ].…”

Section: Epigenetics and Sex Determination And Differentiationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Epigenetic mechanisms in sex determination and in the evolutionary transitions between sexual systems

Piferrer

2021

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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The hypothesis that epigenetic mechanisms of gene expression regulation have two main roles in vertebrate sex is presented. First, and within a given generation, by contributing to the acquisition and maintenance of (i) the male or female function once during the lifetime in individuals of gonochoristic species; and (ii) the male and female function in the same individual, either at the same time in simultaneous hermaphrodites, or first as one sex and then as the other in sequential hermaphrodites. Second, if environmental conditions change, epigenetic mechanisms may have also a role across generations, by providing the necessary phenotypic plasticity to facilitate the transition: (i) from one sexual system to another, or (ii) from one sex-determining mechanism to another. Furthermore, if the environmental change lasts enough time, epimutations could facilitate assimilation into genetic changes that stabilize the new sexual system or sex-determining mechanism. Examples supporting these assertions are presented, caveats or difficulties and knowledge gaps identified, and possible ways to test this hypothesis suggested. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Challenging the paradigm in sex chromosome evolution: empirical and theoretical insights with a focus on vertebrates (Part I)’.

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Activation of stress response axis as a key process in environment-induced sex plasticity in fish

Cited by 47 publications

References 120 publications

Two transcriptionally distinct pathways drive female development in a reptile with both genetic and temperature dependent sex determination

Two transcriptionally distinct pathways drive female development in a reptile with both genetic and temperature dependent sex determination

Corticosterone does not have a role in temperature sex reversal in the central bearded dragon (Pogona vitticeps)

Epigenetic mechanisms in sex determination and in the evolutionary transitions between sexual systems

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