Pinctada maxima Assembly

The present study is designed to examine the reproductive biology of the pearl oyster, Pinctada maxima and develop approaches to improve manipulation of sex ratio and conditioning to enable better control in commercial hatcheries. The study included (i) the characterisation of hormones and genes encoding reproductive peptides in P. maxima at different developmental stages, using transcriptomics, combined with physiological studies; (ii) Investigation of the ability of the identified hormones/reproductive proteins to improve control over reproductive conditioning and sex differentiation using in vivo bioassays on the model oyster, Saccostrea glomerata and the target species, P. maxima.Transcripts from neural and gonadal tissues of P. maxima of both sexes and different gonadal developmental stages were analyzed for differentially expressed genes associated with reproduction and sex determination. Transcripts related to sex determination, gonad development, germline differentiation, oocyte maturation and spawning, fertilization, reproductive related neuropeptides and enzymes involved in steroidogenesis were identified with some of them showing high relative expressions.