ACTA VETERINARIA ET ZOOTECHNICA SINICA ›› 2017, Vol. 48 ›› Issue (10): 1892-1901.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2017.10.012

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Sex-Related Genes Expression during Development of the Early Bovine Fetuses

XU Chao1,2, LI Feng1, HAO Hai-sheng1, LIU Yan1, ZHAO Xue-ming1, PANG Yun-wei1, ZHU Hua-bin1, DU Wei-hua1*   

  1. 1. Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China;
    2. Institute of Special Animal and Plant Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changchun 130112, China
  • Received:2017-05-03 Online:2017-10-23 Published:2017-10-23

Abstract:

Expression patterns of sex-related genes in early dairy cattle fetuses were detected in this study. Holstein dairy cattle fetuses at gestational ages ranging from 34 days postcoitum (dpc) to 80 dpc were obtained by artificial infertilization. Their urogenital crests and mesonephroi were incised to determine the expression levels of 4 genes and locations of 4 proteins by quantitative PCR and immunohistochemistry. The other tissues were used for sex identification of fetuses. Sex identification results showed that there were 10 male and 9 female fetuses in 19 fetuses totally with accurate gestation age. SRY mRNA was expressed only in male fetuses. FOXL2 mRNA was expressed obviously in female fetuses and expressed tracely in the male. SOX9 and DAX1 mRNA had similar expression patterns in male fetuses, while the level of SOX9 was lower than that of DAX1 from 44 to 56 dpc. In female crests from 38 to 80 dpc, SOX9 mRNA level was always lower than DAX1. In female crests after 53 dpc, the expression level of SOX9 was persistently low, while the DAX1 rose violently after that point. The time for sex determination in bovine was from 35 to 39 dpc for the males and from 39 to 41 dpc for the female. SRY and FOXL2 may be the sex determination genes for the male or female in bovine fetus, respectively. This study revealed preliminarily the expression patterns of sex related genes in early bovine fetuses and provided an important theoretical foundation for sex control in mammals.

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