Characterization of a novel and testis-specific zinc finger protein during sexual development of Pacific white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei

Chi-Sheng Wang; Hao-Sheng Cheng; Wan-Ting Chang; Cheng-Chieh Hsiao; Peng-Wei Tseng; Hau-Wen Li; Amir Sagi; Ching-Fong Chang; Guan-Chung Wu

doi:10.1093/biolre/ioae151

Characterization of a novel and testis-specific zinc finger protein during sexual development of Pacific white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei

Biol Reprod. 2024 Oct 17:ioae151. doi: 10.1093/biolre/ioae151. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Chi-Sheng Wang¹, Hao-Sheng Cheng¹, Wan-Ting Chang¹, Cheng-Chieh Hsiao¹, Peng-Wei Tseng^{2

3}, Hau-Wen Li¹, Amir Sagi^{4

5}, Ching-Fong Chang^{1

6}, Guan-Chung Wu^{1

6}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Aquaculture, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung 202, Taiwan.
² Doctoral Degree Program in Marine Biotechnology, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung 202, Taiwan.
³ Doctoral Degree Program in Marine Biotechnology, Academia Sinica, Taipei 115, Taiwan.
⁴ Department of Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva 8410501, Israel.
⁵ National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva 8410501, Israel.
⁶ Center of Excellence for the Oceans, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung 202, Taiwan.

PMID: 39418334
DOI: 10.1093/biolre/ioae151

Abstract

Since females grow faster in penaeid shrimp, all-female aquaculture was proposed. Environmental conditions in the Pacific white shrimp did not found to affect genetic sex determination (ZZ/ZW system). The androgenic gland (AG)-secreting insulin-like androgenic gland hormone (IAG) is a key controlling factor in crustacean male differentiation. However, functional sex reversal (neo-male) in penaeid shrimp has not yet been achieved by manipulating the IAG-sexual switch. Therefore, understanding the molecular mechanisms of gonadal differentiation may help build appropriate tools to generate neo-male (ZW) for all-female breeding. This study describes the potential role of the novel penaeid-specific testicular zinc finger protein (pTZFP) in the gonads of Pacific white shrimp. First, pTZFP transcripts show a male-bias expression pattern in undifferentiated gonads, which is then exclusively expressed in the testis and absent or slightly expressed in the ovary and other tissues. Besides, the knockdown of pTZFP in undifferentiated males results in smaller testes but no sex reversal. Immunohistochemical (IHC) staining of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) further confirmed that the smaller testes in pTZFP-deficient males are due to the lower proliferating activity of spermatogonia. These data reveal that pTZFP may be involved in testicular development but have fewer effects on gonadal differentiation. Moreover, testicular pTZFP transcription levels were not reduced with estradiol-17β (E2) administration or AG excision. Therefore, our data suggest that pTZFP may regulate testicular development through downstream genes regulating spermatogonia proliferation. Moreover, our data provide an appropriate molecular marker for identifying the sex of undifferentiated gonads.

Keywords: 17β-estradiol (e2); Androgenic gland; Crustacean sex determination; Gonadal differentiation; Insulin-like androgenic gland hormone (iag).