The Japanese eel Anguilla japonica is a prominent and highly valued species in the aquaculture industry in Japan. Sex determination and sex differentiation in eels are significantly affected by environmental factors; however, the molecular mechanisms involved in sex differentiation in eels are largely unknown. In this study, to investigate the gonadal expression profiles of sex-specific genes during and after sexual differentiation in Japanese eel, we induced elvers into predominantly phenotypic males or females by rearing on a control diet or estradiol-17β-treated diet, respectively, during the sex differentiation period. Quantitative real-time PCR showed that forkhead box L2A (foxl2a) and cytochrome P450 aromatase (cyp19a1) were more highly expressed in ovaries than in testes, whereas the expression levels of anti-Müllerian hormone (amh) and gonadal soma-derived factor (gsdf) were significantly higher in testes than in ovaries. Furthermore, foxl2a and cyp19a1 displayed female-specific expression early in the sex differentiation process, while after slightly more growth amh and gsdf displayed male-specific expression during sex differentiation. Together, these results suggest that these genes have important roles in sexual differentiation and development in this species.

日本鳗An是日本水产养殖业中一个著名且极有价值的物种。鳗鱼的性别决定和性别分化受环境因素的影响很大；然而，鳗鱼性别分化的分子机制尚不清楚。在这项研究中，为了研究日本鳗鱼性别分化期间和之后性别特异性基因的性腺表达谱，我们分别通过在对照饮食或雌二醇-17β处理的饮食中诱导幼猫成主要为表型的雄性或雌性。性别分化时期。实时定量PCR显示叉头盒L2A（foxl2a）和细胞色素P450芳香化酶（cyp19a1）在卵巢中的表达高于睾丸，而抗苗勒氏激素（amh）和性腺体细胞源性因子（gsdf）的表达水平在睾丸中明显高于卵巢。此外，foxl2a和CYP19A1在性别分化过程的早期显示雌性-特异性表达，而之后稍微多种生长AMH和GSDF性别分化期间显示雄性特异表达。总之，这些结果表明这些基因在该物种的性分化和发育中具有重要作用。