PUBLICATION
Emergence of breeding tubercles and puberty onset in male zebrafish: Evidence for a dependence on body growth
- Authors
- Dai, X., Pu, D., Wang, L., Cheng, X., Liu, X., Yin, Z., Wang, Z.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-210527-6
- Date
- 2021
- Source
- Journal of Fish Biology 99(3): 1071-1078 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Yin, Zhan
- Keywords
- body growth, breeding tubercles, correlation, puberty onset, zebrafish
- MeSH Terms
-
- Animals
- Female
- Male
- Sexual Maturation*
- Zebrafish*
- PubMed
- 34037242 Full text @ J. Fish Biol.
Citation
Dai, X., Pu, D., Wang, L., Cheng, X., Liu, X., Yin, Z., Wang, Z. (2021) Emergence of breeding tubercles and puberty onset in male zebrafish: Evidence for a dependence on body growth. Journal of Fish Biology. 99(3):1071-1078.
Abstract
The presence of breeding tubercles (BTs) on the pectoral fins has been investigated as a typical male secondary sexual characteristic (SSC) that distinguish males from females in adult zebrafish. However, the earliest occurrence of these tubercles and its association with puberty onset and body growth remain unclear. In this study, using morphological, histological, and statistical analyses, we examined the first appearance of BTs and puberty onset in male zebrafish, with particular emphasis on the potential impact of body growth on them. Our results revealed that BTs distributed along the first five branched pectoral fin rays were the earliest manifestation of male secondary sexual characteristics (SSCs), which is significantly strongly correlated with body weight (R2 = 0.9609, P < 0.001), and could be used as a "gold standard" for the earliest sex distinction (below 0.1 g in weight). Using the first appearance of BTs (< 0.20 mm2 ) as a metric, we established that male puberty commenced at a body weight of approximately 0.056 ± 0.015 g or a standard length of 10.99 ± 1.051 mm (mean ± SD). In this study, we thus established a simple method that can be used to sex live zebrafish at the pubertal stage and provides the first evidence for the relationship of BTs and male puberty initiation with body growth. These findings will accordingly lay a foundation for exploring mechanisms of the SSCs and male puberty onset in zebrafish and other teleost fish. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping