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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 69/2/455    most recent biolreprod.102.015040v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by He, C.-L. Articles by Chang, C.-F. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by He, C.-L. Articles by Chang, C.-F. Agricola Articles by He, C.-L. Articles by Chang, C.-F.

Differential Messenger RNA Transcription of Androgen Receptor and Estrogen Receptor in Gonad in Relation to the Sex Change in Protandrous Black Porgy, Acanthopagrus schlegeli¹

Department of Aquaculture,³ National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung 202, Taiwan, Republic of China National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium,⁴ Pintung 944, Taiwan, Republic of China Laboratory of Reproductive Biology,⁵ National Institute for Basic Biology, Okazaki 444, Japan

Black porgy, Acanthopagrus schlegeli Bleeker, is a marine protandrous hermaphrodite fish. All are functional males at 1–2 yr of age and then become either males or females at 3 yr of age. To study the process of sex change in this species, mRNA transcripts of two estrogen receptors (ER and ERß) and an androgen receptor (AR) were monitored. An AR cDNA was cloned and characterized. ER, ERß, and AR were differentially transcribed in bisexual testicular and ovarian tissue according to reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Southern analysis. A real-time quantification PCR analysis was further developed for the measurement of AR, ER, and ERß transcripts. ER and AR transcripts were significantly more plentiful in bisexual testis than in bisexual ovary in 1⁺- and 2⁺-yr-old fish. ER, ERß, and AR transcripts decreased in the functional testis of 3-yr-old fish. Similar levels of ERß and AR were detected in the ovary of sex-changed females and in functional testis of 3-yr-old males. Significantly decreased AR transcripts were found in testicular tissue of bisexual and functional male and female gonads in 3-yr-old fish as compared with 1- and 2-yr-old fish. In contrast, increased ER transcripts were detected in the bisexual ovary and sex-changed ovary of 3-yr-old fish as compared with the bisexual ovary of 1- and 2-yr-old fish. The data suggest a differential sensitivity in the bisexual testicular and ovarian tissue of black porgy.

¹ Financial support was provided by the National Science Council (NSC 91-2313-B019-013), Taiwan, Republic of China.

² Correspondence: Ching-Fong Chang, Department of Aquaculture, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung 202, Taiwan. FAX: 886 2 2462 1579; b0044{at}mail.ntou.edu.tw