Table1_Tissue-Specific Expression Pattern in Ancherythroculter nigrocauda, a Sexually Size Dimorphic Fish.XLSX

Certain members of the Actinopterygii class are known to exhibit sexual dimorphism (SD) that results in major phenotypic differences between male and female fishes of a species. One of the most common differences between the two sexes is in body weight, a factor with a high economic value in aquaculture. In this study, we used RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) to study the liver and brain transcriptomes of Ancherythroculter nigrocauda, a fish exhibiting SD. Females attain about fourfold body weight of males at sexual maturity. Sample clustering showed that both sexes were grouped well with their sex phenotypes. In addition, 2,395 and 457 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in the liver and brain tissues, respectively. The gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analyses predicted the association of PPAR signaling, cytochrome P450, and steroid hormone biosynthesis to the differences in sexual size. In addition, weighted gene co-expression network analyses (WGCNA) were conducted, and the green module was identified to be significantly correlated with sexual size dimorphism (SSD). Altogether, these results improve our understanding of the molecular mechanism underlying SSD in A. nigrocauda.

辐鳍鱼纲（Actinopterygii）的部分物种已被证实存在性别二态性（sexual dimorphism, SD），该特性会导致同一物种的雌雄鱼类间产生显著的表型差异。雌雄个体间最常见的差异之一为体重差异，而体重在水产养殖领域具备极高的经济价值。本研究采用RNA测序（RNA sequencing, RNA-seq）技术，对存在性别二态性的黑尾近红鲌（Ancherythroculter nigrocauda）的肝脏与脑组织转录组展开分析。该物种性成熟时，雌性个体的体重约为雄性的4倍。样本聚类分析结果显示，雌雄样本均可依据其性别表型被清晰聚类。此外，研究人员分别在肝脏与脑组织中鉴定出2395个和457个差异表达基因（differentially expressed genes, DEGs）。通过基因本体论（gene ontology, GO）与京都基因与基因组百科全书（Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes, KEGG）通路富集分析，本研究预测过氧化物酶体增殖物激活受体（PPAR）信号通路、细胞色素P450以及类固醇激素生物合成通路与体型性别二态性存在关联。此外，本研究还开展了加权基因共表达网络分析（weighted gene co-expression network analyses, WGCNA），鉴定得到绿色模块与体型性别二态性（sexual size dimorphism, SSD）显著相关。综上，本研究结果加深了学界对黑尾近红鲌体型性别二态性背后分子机制的理解。