Sex-related genes play a crucial role in gonadal differentiation into testes or ovaries. However, the genetic control of gonadal differentiation in Muscovy ducks remains unknown. Therefore, the objective of our study was to screen new candidate genes associated with ovarian and testicular development. In this study, 24 males before gonadal differentiation (MB), 24 females before gonadal differentiation (FB), 24 males after gonadal differentiation (MA) and 24 females after gonadal differentiation (FA) were selected from Putian Muscovy ducks, forming 4 groups. RNA-Seq revealed 101.76 Gb of clean reads and 2800 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), including 46 in MB vs FB, 609 in MA vs FA, 1027 in FA vs FB, and 1118 in MA vs MB. A total of 146 signalling pathways were enriched by KEGG analysis, among which 20, 108, 108 and 116 signalling pathways were obtained in MB vs FB, MA vs MB, MA vs FA and FA vs FB, respectively. In further GO and KEGG analyses, a total of 21 candidate genes related to gonad differentiation and development in Muscovy ducks were screened. Among these, 9 genes were involved in the differentiation and development of the testes, and 12 genes were involved in the differentiation and development of the ovaries. In addition, RNA-Seq data revealed 2744 novel genes. RNA-Seq data revealed 21 genes related to gonadal differentiation and development in Muscovy ducks. We further identified 12 genes, namely, WNT5B, HTRA3, RSPO3, BMP3, HNRNPK, NIPBL, CREB3L4, DKK3, UBE2R2, UBPL3KCMF1, ANXA2, and OSR1, involved in the differentiation and development of ovaries. Moreover, 9 genes, namely, TTN, ATP5A1, DMRT1, DMRT3, AMH, MAP3K1, PIK3R1, AGT and ADAMTSL1, were related to the differentiation and development of testes. Moreover, after gonadal differentiation, DMRT3, AMH, PIK3R1, ADAMTSL1, AGT and TTN were specifically highly expressed in males. WNT5B, ANXA2 and OSR1 were specifically highly expressed in females. These results provide valuable information for studies on the sex control of Muscovy ducks and reveal novel candidate genes for the differentiation and development of testes and ovaries.

中文翻译：

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与番鸭性腺分化和发育相关的基因的转录组分析。

与性有关的基因在性腺分化成睾丸或卵巢中起着至关重要的作用。然而，番鸭性腺分化的遗传控制仍然未知。因此，我们研究的目的是筛选与卵巢和睾丸发育有关的新候选基因。在这项研究中，从Put田番鸭中选出了24个雄性腺分化前的雄性（MB），性腺分化前雌性（FB）的24个，性腺分化后雌性（MA）的24个雄性和性腺分化后的24个雌性（FA），分为4组。RNA-Seq显示101.76 Gb的纯净读数和2800个差异表达基因（DEG），包括MB与FB中的46个，MA与FA中的609个，FA与FB中的1027个以及MA与MB中的1118个。KEGG分析丰富了146条信号通路，其中20条，108条，在MB vs FB，MA vs MB，MA vs FA和FA vs FB中分别获得了108和116条信号通路。在进一步的GO和KEGG分析中，共筛选了21个与番鸭中性腺分化和发育相关的候选基因。其中，有9个基因参与了睾丸的分化和发育，有12个基因参与了卵巢的分化和发育。此外，RNA-Seq数据还揭示了2744个新基因。RNA-Seq数据揭示了与番鸭性腺分化和发育有关的21个基因。我们进一步鉴定了12个基因，即WNT5B，HTRA3，RSPO3，BMP3，HNRNPK，NIPBL，CREB3L4，DKK3，UBE2R2，UBPL3KCMF1，ANXA2和OSR1，它们参与卵巢的分化和发育。此外，还有9种基因，分别是TTN，ATP5A1，DMRT1，DMRT3，AMH，MAP3K1，PIK3R1，AGT和ADAMTSL1与睾丸的分化和发育有关。此外，在性腺分化后，DMRT3，AMH，PIK3R1，ADAMTSL1，AGT和TTN在男性中特别高表达。WNT5B，ANXA2和OSR1在女性中特别高表达。这些结果为研究番鸭的性别控制提供了有价值的信息，并揭示了睾丸和卵巢分化和发育的新候选基因。