Animals have evolved a large number of olfactory receptor genes in their genome to detect numerous odorants in their surrounding environments. However, we still know little about whether males and females possess the same abilities to sense odorants, especially in fish. In this study, we used deep RNA sequencing to examine the difference of transcriptome between male and female zebrafish olfactory epithelia. We found that the olfactory transcriptomes between males and females are highly similar. We also found evidence of some genes showing differential expression or alternative splicing, which may be associated with odorant-sensing between sexes. Most chemosensory receptor genes showed evidence of expression in the zebrafish olfactory epithelium, with a higher expression level in males than in females. Taken together, our results provide a comprehensive catalog of the genes mediating olfactory perception and pheromone-evoked behavior in fishes.

中文翻译：

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斑马鱼嗅觉上皮的转录组分析揭示气味检测中的性别差异

动物在它们的基因组中进化出大量的嗅觉受体基因来检测周围环境中的大量气味。然而，我们仍然对雄性和雌性是否具有相同的感知气味的能力知之甚少，尤其是在鱼类中。在这项研究中，我们使用深度 RNA 测序来检查雄性和雌性斑马鱼嗅觉上皮细胞之间转录组的差异。我们发现雄性和雌性之间的嗅觉转录组高度相似。我们还发现了一些基因表现出差异表达或选择性剪接的证据，这可能与两性之间的气味感知有关。大多数化学感应受体基因显示在斑马鱼嗅觉上皮中表达的证据，雄性的表达水平高于雌性。综合起来，