Publication

Sex-specific changes in gene expression in response to estrogen pollution around the onset of sex differentiation in grayling (Salmonidae)

Résumé

The synthetic 17 alpha-ethinylestradiol (EE2) is a common estrogenic pollutant that has been suspected to affect the demography of river-dwelling salmonids. One possibility is that exposure to EE2 tips the balance during initial steps of sex differentiation, so that male genotypes show female-specific gene expression and gonad formation. Here we study EE2 effects on gene expression around the onset of sex differentiation in a population of European grayling (Thymallus thymallus) that suffers from sex ratio distortions. We exposed singly-raised embryos to one dose of 1ng/L EE2, studied gene expression 10days before hatching, at the day of hatching, and around the end of the yolk-sac stage, and related it to genetic sex (sdY genotype). We found that exposure to EE2 affects expression of a large number of genes, especially around hatching. These effects were strongly sex-dependent. We then raised fish for several months after hatching and found no evidence of sex reversal in the EE2-exposed fish. We conclude that ecologically relevant (i.e. low) levels of EE2 pollution do not cause sex reversal by simply tipping the balance at early stages of sex differentiation, but that they interfere with sex-specific gene expression.

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Concepts associés (37)
Éthinylestradiol
L'éthinylestradiol, ou éthinyl estradiol (EE), est un dérivé de synthèse de l'estradiol. C'est l'œstrogène actif par voie orale le plus utilisé au monde. On le trouve dans presque toutes les formulations modernes des pilules contraceptives combinées. L'EE est excrété dans les urines et les fèces. C'est un estrogène de synthèse qui est donc libéré dans la nature sans que l'on en connaisse les conséquences.
Sex-determining region Y protein
'Sex-determining region Y protein' (SRY), or testis-determining factor (TDF), is a DNA-binding protein (also known as gene-regulatory protein/transcription factor) encoded by the SRY gene that is responsible for the initiation of male sex determination in therian mammals (placental mammals and marsupials). SRY is an intronless sex-determining gene on the Y chromosome. Mutations in this gene lead to a range of disorders of sex development with varying effects on an individual's phenotype and genotype.
Estradiol (medication)
Estradiol (E2) is a medication and naturally occurring steroid hormone. It is an estrogen and is used mainly in menopausal hormone therapy and to treat low sex hormone levels in women. It is also used in hormonal birth control for women, in hormone therapy for transgender women, and in the treatment of hormone-sensitive cancers like prostate cancer in men and breast cancer in women, among other uses.
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