Dataset Information

CYP19A1 (aromatase) dominates female gonadal differentiation in chicken (Gallus gallus) embryos sexual differentiation.

ABSTRACT: Cytochrome P450 Family 19 SubFamily A member 1 (CYP19A1) gene encodes an aromatase which regulates the sexual differentiation in vertebrates by initiating and maintaining 17?-Estradiol (E2) synthesis. Here, we described the spatiotemporal expression pattern of CYP19A1 and its functional role in the embryonic gonad development in amphoteric chickens (Gallus gallus). Results showed that CYP19A1 exhibited a sexually dimorphic expression pattern in female gonads early at embryonic day 5.5 (HH 28) and robustly expressed within the cytoplasm in ovarian medullas. Most importantly, we induced the gonadal sex reversal by ectopically delivering the aromatase inhibitor (AI) or estradiol (E2) into chicken embryos. To further explore the role of CYP19A1 in chicken embryonic sexual differentiation, we successfully developed an effective method to deliver lentiviral particles with CYP19A1 manipulation into chicken embryos via embryonic intravascular injection. The analysis of interference and overexpression of CYP19A1 provided solid evidences that CYP19A1 is both necessary and sufficient to initiate sex differentiation toward female in chicken embryos. Collectively, this work demonstrates that CYP19A1 is a crucial sex differentiation gene in the embryonic development, which provides a foundation for understanding the mechanism of sex determination and differentiation in chickens.

SUBMITTER: Jin K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7560524 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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CYP19A1 (aromatase) dominates female gonadal differentiation in chicken (Gallus gallus) embryos sexual differentiation.

Jin Kai K Zuo Qisheng Q Song Jiuzhou J Zhang Yani Y Chen Guohong G Li Bichun B

Bioscience reports 20201001 10

Cytochrome P450 Family 19 SubFamily A member 1 (CYP19A1) gene encodes an aromatase which regulates the sexual differentiation in vertebrates by initiating and maintaining 17β-Estradiol (E2) synthesis. Here, we described the spatiotemporal expression pattern of CYP19A1 and its functional role in the embryonic gonad development in amphoteric chickens (Gallus gallus). Results showed that CYP19A1 exhibited a sexually dimorphic expression pattern in female gonads early at embryonic day 5.5 (HH 28) an ...[more]

PMID: 32990306

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Project description:The environment surrounding the embryos has a profound impact on the developmental process and phenotypic outcomes of the organism. In species with temperature-dependent sex determination, gonadal sex is determined by the incubation temperature of the eggs. A mechanistic link between temperature and transcriptional regulation of developmental genes, however, remains elusive. In this study, we examine the changes in DNA methylation and histone modification patterns of the aromatase (cyp19a1) gene in embryonic gonads of red-eared slider turtles (Trachemys scripta) subjected to a temperature shift during development. Shifting embryos from a male-producing temperature (MPT) to a female-producing temperature (FPT) at the beginning of the temperature-sensitive period (TSP) resulted in an increase in aromatase mRNA expression while a shift from FPT to MPT resulted in decreased expression. DNA methylation levels at CpG sites in the promoter of the aromatase gene were high (70-90%) at the beginning of TSP, but decreased in embryos that were incubated at constant FPT and those shifted from MPT to the FPT. This decrease in methylation in the promoter inversely correlated with the expected increase in aromatase expression at the FPT. The active demethylation under the FPT was especially prominent at the CpG site upstream of the gonad-specific TATA box at the beginning of TSP and spread downstream of the gene including exon1 as the gonad development progressed. In embryos incubated at FPT, the promoter region was also labeled by canonical transcriptional activation markers, H3K4me3 and RNA polymerase II. A transcriptional repression marker, H3K27me3, was observed in temperature-shifted gonads of both temperature groups, but was not maintained throughout the development in either group. Our findings suggest that DNA hypomethylation and H3K4me3 modification at the aromatase promoter may be a primary mechanism that releases a transcriptional block of aromatase to initiate a cascade of ovarian differentiation.

Dataset Information

CYP19A1 (aromatase) dominates female gonadal differentiation in chicken (Gallus gallus) embryos sexual differentiation.

Publications

CYP19A1 (aromatase) dominates female gonadal differentiation in chicken (Gallus gallus) embryos sexual differentiation.

Similar Datasets

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