Analysis of medaka sox9 orthologue reveals a conserved role in germ cell maintenance

The sex determining gene is divergent among different animal species. However, sox9 is up-regulated in the male gonads in a number of species in which it is the essential regulator of testis determination. It is therefore often discussed that the sex determining gene-sox9 axis functions in several vertebrates. In our current study, we show that sox9b in the medaka (Oryzias latipes) is one of the orthologues of mammalian Sox9 at syntenic and expression levels. Medaka sox9b affects the organization of extracellular matrices, which represents a conserved role of sox9, but does not directly regulate testis determination. We made this determination via gene expression and phenotype analyses of medaka with different copy numbers of sox9b. Sox9b is involved in promoting cellular associations and is indispensible for the proper proliferation and survival of germ cells in both female and male medaka gonads. Medaka mutants that lack sox9b function exhibit a seemingly paradoxical phenotype of sex reversal to male. This is explained by a reduction in the germ cell number associated with aberrant extracellular matrices. Together with its identified roles in other vertebrate gonads, a testis-determining role for Sox9 in mammals is likely to have been neofunctionalized and appended to its conserved role in germ cell maintenance.     

Homozygous inactivation of Sox9 causes complete XY sex reversal in mice

In the presence of the Y-chromosomal gene Sry, the bipotential mouse gonads develop as testes rather than as ovaries. The autosomal gene Sox9, a likely and possibly direct Sry target, can induce testis development in the absence of Sry. Sox9 is thus sufficient but not necessarily essential for testis induction. Mutational inactivation of one allele of SOX9/Sox9 causes sex reversal in humans but not in mice. Because Sox9(-/-) embryos die around Embryonic Day 11.5 (E11.5) at the onset of testicular morphogenesis, differentiation of the mutant XY gonad can be analyzed only ex vivo in organ culture. We have therefore conditionally inactivated both Sox9 alleles in the gonadal anlagen using the CRE/loxP recombination system, whereby CRE recombinase is under control of the cytokeratin 19 promoter. Analysis of resulting Sox9(-/-) XY gonads up to E15.5 reveals immediate, complete sex reversal, as shown by expression of the early ovary-specific markers Wnt4 and Foxl2 and by lack of testis cord and Leydig cell formation. Sry expression in mutant XY gonads indicates that downregulation of Wnt4 and Foxl2 is dependent on Sox9 rather than on Sry. Our results provide in vivo proof that, in contrast to the situation in humans, complete XY sex reversal in mice requires inactivation of both Sox9 alleles and that Sox9 is essential for testogenesis in mice.     

Functional analysis of Sox8 and Sox9 during sex determination in the mouse

Sex determination in mammals directs an initially bipotential gonad to differentiate into either a testis or an ovary. This decision is triggered by the expression of the sex-determining gene Sry, which leads to the activation of male-specific genes including the HMG-box containing gene Sox9. From transgenic studies in mice it is clear that Sox9 is sufficient to induce testis formation. However, there is no direct confirmation for an essential role for Sox9 in testis determination. The studies presented here are the first experimental proof for an essential role for Sox9 in mediating a switch from the ovarian pathway to the testicular pathway. Using conditional gene targeting, we show that homozygous deletion of Sox9 in XY gonads interferes with sex cord development and the activation of the male-specific markers Mis and P450scc, and leads to the expression of the female-specific markers Bmp2 and follistatin. Moreover, using a tissue specific knock-out approach, we show that Sox9 is involved in Sertoli cell differentiation, the activation of Mis and Sox8, and the inactivation of Sry. Finally, double knock-out analyses suggest that Sox8 reinforces Sox9 function in testis differentiation of mice.     

马氏珠母贝Sox11基因的克隆及时序表达模式分析

为探究Sox(SRY-related HMG-box genes)基因家族在马氏珠母贝个体发育及性别分化中的作用, 研究首先利用兼并引物从马氏珠母贝基因组中克隆到一个HMG框(high mobility group box), 利用RACE-PCR技术从SMART cDNA文库中克隆到一个Sox基因的cDNA全长, 通过Clustal X和MEGA 4软件对该序列进行比对分析并构建系统进化树; 通过荧光定量PCR技术对该基因在不同组织及发育不同时期性腺中的表达情况进行分析。结果显示, 马氏珠母贝该Sox基因的cDNA全长为1579 bp, 其中开放阅读框(ORF)为1008 bp, 编码336个氨基酸, 5'非编码区为126 bp, 3'非编码区为445 bp。同源性分析表明, 马氏珠母贝Sox基因与太平洋牡蛎Sox11基因的同源性(Identity)最高, 为80%, 故命名为pmSox11; 系统进化树分析也显示pmSox11与太平洋牡蛎Sox11基因的亲缘关系最近。荧光定量PCR分析组织表达特异性显示, pmSox11在马氏珠母贝神经节分布较多的组织如外套膜、鳃、足、消化盲囊等大量表达, 在神经节相对较少的闭壳肌和卵巢中表达量较少; 时序表达图谱显示, pmSox11在3月龄幼贝性腺和1年龄发育早期精巢中表达量最高, 在2年龄成熟精巢和2年龄性转换性腺中表达量降低, 而在2年龄卵巢中表达量最低。研究表明, pmSox11基因可能在马氏珠母贝早期神经系统发育和性别发育的调控方面起到重要作用。     

Sox9b/sox9a2-EGFP transgenic medaka reveals the morphological reorganization of the gonads and a common precursor of both the female and male supporting cells

We have established an enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) transgenic medaka line that mimics the expression of sox9b/sox9a2 to analyze the morphological reorganization of the gonads and characterize the sox9b-expressing cells during gonadal formation in this fish. After the germ cells have migrated into the gonadal areas, a cluster of EGFP-expressing cells in the single gonadal primordium was found to be separated by the somatic cells along the rostrocaudal axis and form the bilateral lobes. We observed in these transgenic fish that EGFP expression persists only in the somatic cells directly surrounding the germ cells. As sex differentiation proceeds, dmrt1 and foxl2 begin to be expressed in the EGFP-expressing cells in the XY and the XX gonads, respectively. This indicates that the sox9b-expressing cells reorganize into two lobes of the gonad and then differentiate into Sertoli or granulosa cells, as common precursors of the supporting cells. Hence, our sox9b-EGFP medaka system will be useful in future studies of gonadal development.     

赤链蛇不同组织Sox基因表达的RT-PCR分析

采用RT-PCR技术,研究了赤链蛇不同组织Sox基因的表达。通过PCR产物直接克隆法和SSCP技术筛选阳性克隆,分析了雄性睾丸和雌性卵巢组织中的Sox基因序列。结果显示,在赤链蛇雌雄成体组织中,Sox基因在睾丸、卵巢、脑和脾组织中均有不同程度的表达,而在雌雄成体肌肉组织中均无表达,显示该基因表达有一定的组织特异性。序列分析显示睾丸组织中表达的是DRSox3,卵巢组织中表达的是DRSox22。在Sox家族中,Sox3表达于中枢神经系统和尿生殖嵴的发育过程中;Sox22则表达于多种组织和神经系统中,可横跨CNS和PNS的整个过程。此结果表明Sox基因不仅在性别决定中起作用,还可能在胚胎发育过程中担负重要功能。     

Sex reversal of genetic females (XX) induced by the transplantation of XY somatic cells in the medaka,Oryzias latipes

In order to investigate the function of gonadal somatic cells in the sex differentiation of germ cells, we produced chimera fish containing both male (XY) and female (XX) cells by means of cell transplantation between blastula embryos in the medaka, Oryzias latipes. Sexually mature chimera fish were obtained from all combinations of recipient and donor genotypes. Most chimeras developed according to the genetic sex of the recipients, whose cells are thought to be dominant in the gonads of chimeras. However, among XX/XY (recipient/donor) chimeras, we obtained three males that differentiated into the donor's sex. Genotyping of their progeny and of strain-specific DNA fragments in their testes showed that, although two of them produced progeny from only XX spermatogenic cells, their testes all contained XY cells. That is, in the two XX/XY chimeras, germ cells consisted of XX cells but testicular somatic cells contained both XX and XY cells, suggesting that the XY somatic cells induced sex reversal of the XX germ cells and the XX somatic cells. The histological examination of developing gonads of XX/XY chimera fry showed that XY donor cells affect the early sex differentiation of germ cells. These results suggest that XY somatic cells start to differentiate into male cells depending on their sex chromosome composition, and that, in the environment produced by XY somatic cells in the medaka, germ cells differentiate into male cells regardless of their sex chromosome composition.     

Loss of Fgfr2 leads to partial XY sex reversal

In mammals, sex is determined in the bipotential embryonic gonad by a balanced network of gene actions which when altered causes disorders of sexual development (DSD, formerly known as intersex). In the XY gonad, presumptive Sertoli cells begin to differentiate when SRY up-regulates SOX9, which in turn activates FGF9 and PGDS to maintain its own expression. This study identifies a new and essential component of FGF signaling in sex determination. Fgfr2 mutant XY mice on a mixed 129/C57BL6 genetic background had either normal testes, or developed ovotestes, with predominantly testicular tissue. However, backcrossing to C57BL6 mice resulted in a wide range of gonadal phenotypes, from hypoplastic testes to ovotestes with predominantly ovarian tissue, similar to Fgf9 knockout mice. Since typical male-specific FGF9-binding to the coelomic epithelium was abolished in Fgfr2 mutant XY gonads, these results suggest that FGFR2 acts as the receptor for FGF9. Pgds and SOX9 remained expressed within the testicular portions of Fgfr2 mutant ovotestes, suggesting that the Prostaglandin pathway acts independently of FGFR2 to maintain SOX9 expression. We could further demonstrate that double-heterozygous Fgfr2/Sox9 knockout mice developed ovotestes, demonstrating that both Fgfr2 and Sox9 can act as modifier intersex genes in the heterozygous state. In summary, we provide evidence that FGFR2 is important for male sex determination in mice, thereby rendering human FGFR2 a candidate gene for unsolved DSD cases such as 10q26 deletions.