Gender research shows excellent significance in the breeding and production of poultry, achieving the actual needs of poultry through targeted gender regulation could increase economic benefits. However, the mechanism of sex determination in poultry remains unclear. We respectively constructed HMGCS1 overexpression and interference vectors for lentivirus packaging. Vascular microinjection was performed when fertilized eggs developed to 2.5 days. qRT-PCR and ELISA results indicated that HMGCS1 could promote the expression of male germ-cell development-related genes (SOX9) and inhibit the expression of female germ-cell development-related genes (CYP19A1 and DMRT1). Furthermore, the synthesis of cholesterol and testosterone in the gonads were increased. In addition, the injection of lovastatin into chicken embryos, an inhibitor of cholesterol synthesis, showed a significant decrease in gonadal testosterone. This experiment revealed that HMGCS1 could regulate the synthesis of testosterone by affecting the content of cholesterol in gonads, and promote the differentiation of chicken gonads into males.

性别研究在家禽育种和生产中具有重要意义，通过针对性的性别调控来满足家禽的实际需求，可以提高经济效益。然而，家禽性别决定的机制尚不清楚。我们分别构建了慢病毒包装的 HMGCS1 过表达和干扰载体。当受精卵发育至 2.5 天时进行血管显微注射。qRT-PCR和ELISA结果表明，HMGCS1可以促进雄性生殖细胞发育相关基因（SOX9）的表达，抑制雌性生殖细胞发育相关基因（CYP19A1和DMRT1）的表达。此外，性腺中胆固醇和睾酮的合成增加。此外，将洛伐他汀注射到鸡胚中，胆固醇合成抑制剂，显示性腺睾酮显着降低。本实验揭示HMGCS1可通过影响性腺中胆固醇含量来调节睾酮的合成，促进鸡性腺向雄性分化。