In general, there is a relationship between growth and reproduction, and gonads are known to be important organs for growth, but direct evidence for their role is lacking. Here, using a fish model, we report direct evidence that gonads are endocrine organs equal to the pituitary in controlling body growth. Gonadal loss of function, gain of function, and rescue of growth were investigated in til...

Four pairs of XX and XY gonads from Nile tilapia were sequenced at four developmental stages, 5, 30, 90, and 180 days after hatching (dah) using Illumina Hiseq(TM) technology. This produced 28 Gb sequences, which were mapped to 21,334 genes. Of these, 259 genes were found to be specifically expressed in XY gonads, and 69 were found to be specific to XX gonads. Totally, 187 XX- and 1,358 XY-enha...

Stereology is the tridimensional interpretation of bidimensional sections a structure, widely used in fields such as mineralogy, medicine, and biology. This paper proposes general software to do stereological analysis, called STERapp, with friendly graphical interface enable expert supervision. It includes module estimate fish fecundity (number mature oocytes ovary), which has been by experts b...

Sex differentiation of gonads in amphibians is believed to be controlled genetically, but altered epigenetically or environmentally. When larvae of the salamander Hynobius retardatus were reared at defined temperatures from hatching to metamorphic stages, a high temperature (28 degrees C) induced exclusively female gonads (ovaries), whereas intermediate (20 and 23 degrees C) or lower (16 degree...

The scleractinian coral is common along the Red Sea coast, and its reproductive mode period of reproduction were assessed using histological preparations. sexuality, mod timing pocillopora damicornis from adjacent to fringing reefs Ubhur Creek in Sea, a serial section. Sexual shallow water hermatypic was studied December 2011 November 2012. simultaneous hermaphrodite with ovary testis project i...

The reproductive aspects of Hemiramphus brasiliensis were analyzed with a view to verify the temporal dynamics of reproduction. This paper presents data on sex ratio, length at first sexual maturity, macroscopic and histological aspects of gonad development, gonadosomatic index (GSI), reproductive period, and fecundity of H. brasiliensis. The fishes were captured from the coastal waters of Rio ...

The zebrafish (Danio rerio) is used extensively as a model species for studies on vertebrate development and for assessing chemical effects on reproduction. Despite this, the molecular mechanisms controlling zebrafish reproduction are poorly understood. We analyzed the transcriptomic profiles of the gonads of individual zebrafish, using a 17k oligonucleotide microarray, to define the molecular ...

The role of sex steroid regulation in gonadal maturation is a very complex process that is far from being fully understood. Hence, we have investigated seasonal changes in gonadal expression of estrogen receptors (ERs) in Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua L.), a batch spawner, throughout the annual reproductive cycle. Three nuclear ER partial cDNA sequences (esr1, esr2a, and esr2b) were cloned and all...

We studied the regulation of the yolk protein (YP) genes in the somatic cells of the gonads, using temperature sensitive mutations (tra-2ts) of transformer-2, a gene required for female sexual differentiation. XX;tra-2ts mutant animals were raised at the permissive temperature so that they developed as females and were then shifted to the restrictive male-determining temperature either 1-2 days...

We have identified a novel, multidomain, polymorphic lectin in the marine cnidarian Hydractinia echinata. The gene is expressed in oocytes and was therefore named CEL for cnidarian egg lectin. The predicted protein has an unusual domain architecture, consisting of variable numbers of thrombospondin type 1 domains, flanked by one N-terminal and two C-terminal galactose binding lectin domains. Th...