Anti-Müllerian Hormone Levels in the Gonads of Sex-Changing Fish
Additional Funding Sources
This project is supported by a 2018-2019 STEM Undergraduate Research Grant from the Higher Education Research Council.
Abstract
Anti-Müllerian Hormone Levels in the Gonads of Sex-Changing Fish Anti-Müllerian Hormone (AMH) promotes the development of the testes through the suppression of the female ovaries in the developing embryo. This glycoprotein has also been found to be a key contributor to follicular development in adult females of different species including humans. The purpose of this study was to determine the presence of AMH in a hermaphroditic fish, the blue-banded goby, (Lythrypnus dalli). While most species only have AMH present in embryos and adult females, L. dalli and other sex-changing fish have AMH in adult males as well. For this study two levels of analyses were used 1) Ovarian RNA was extracted and converted into cDNA which will be used to investigate AMH and AMH receptor mRNA levels in future studies; 2) Ovarian tissue of adult females, testes of adult males, and bipotential gonads of juveniles were homogenized, purified through solid-phase extraction and analyzed using a specific AMH ELISA. We found that there was almost three times as much AMH in males than in females, and AMH in females was roughly half of the AMH found in juveniles. Ongoing studies will explore the role of AMH during sexual differentiation of juveniles and adult sex change.
Anti-Müllerian Hormone Levels in the Gonads of Sex-Changing Fish
Anti-Müllerian Hormone Levels in the Gonads of Sex-Changing Fish Anti-Müllerian Hormone (AMH) promotes the development of the testes through the suppression of the female ovaries in the developing embryo. This glycoprotein has also been found to be a key contributor to follicular development in adult females of different species including humans. The purpose of this study was to determine the presence of AMH in a hermaphroditic fish, the blue-banded goby, (Lythrypnus dalli). While most species only have AMH present in embryos and adult females, L. dalli and other sex-changing fish have AMH in adult males as well. For this study two levels of analyses were used 1) Ovarian RNA was extracted and converted into cDNA which will be used to investigate AMH and AMH receptor mRNA levels in future studies; 2) Ovarian tissue of adult females, testes of adult males, and bipotential gonads of juveniles were homogenized, purified through solid-phase extraction and analyzed using a specific AMH ELISA. We found that there was almost three times as much AMH in males than in females, and AMH in females was roughly half of the AMH found in juveniles. Ongoing studies will explore the role of AMH during sexual differentiation of juveniles and adult sex change.
Comments
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