Elucidation of sex determining mechanisms in fishes: contributions from physical chromosome mapping and nucleotide sequence characterization of genes involved in sex determination and differentiation in cichlid fishes

• Grant number: 09/05234-4
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics - Animal Genetics
• Principal Investigator: César Martins
• Grantee: César Martins
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IBB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The sexual determination represents a fundamental step towards the gonadal development in males and females, which provides an extremely efficient biological system of reproduction. Although this process has a central importance for the species, the molecular mechanisms involved are still poorly known. Particularly concerning cichlid fishes, significant advances in relation to the mechanisms of sexual determination have already been achieved for the tilapias and also for other African cichlids, with the identification of several linkage groups related to sex determination. Moreover, diverse candidate genes to sexual determination are being investigated on tilapiines through extensive genomics analyses and genic expression. In this way, the present proposal will be focused on two main goals: 1) identification and analysis of nucleotide sequence of candidate genes to sexual determination in South American cichlid fishes; 2) comparative chromosomal mapping between species of cichlid fishes using identified linkage group markers from African cichlids. The combination of these experimental analyses associated to the data obtained from other research groups will allow structuralizing and connecting in detail the mechanisms involved in sexual determination in cichlids. In the same way, such information will also allow the clarification of questions that still underlie the understanding of sexual determination mechanisms in vertebrates. Moreover, such knowledge can serve as a base for the creation of molecular tools with great applicability in the world-wide aquaculture of this family of high economic importance. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

VALENTE, GUILHERME T.; ACENCIO, MARCIO L.; MARTINS, CESAR; LEMKE, NEY. The Development of a Universal In Silico Predictor of Protein-Protein Interactions. PLoS One, v. 8, n. 5, MAY 31 2013. (13/02018-4, 09/05234-4)

GERALDO, MARCOS TADEU; VALENTE, GUILHERME TARGINO; NAKAJIMA, RAFAEL TAKAHIRO; MARTINS, CESAR. Dimerization and Transactivation Domains as Candidates for Functional Modulation and Diversity of Sox9. PLoS One, v. 11, n. 5, MAY 19 2016. (09/05234-4, 10/13143-6)

SCHNEIDER, CARLOS HENRIQUE; GROSS, MARIA CLAUDIA; TERENCIO, MARIA LEANDRA; DO CARMO, EDSON JUNIOR; MARTINS, CESAR; FELDBERG, ELIANA. Evolutionary dynamics of retrotransposable elements Rex1, Rex3 and Rex6 in neotropical cichlid genomes. BMC Evolutionary Biology, v. 13, JUL 16 2013. (09/05234-4)