Sex determination mechanisms in fish: Genomic perspectives: Sex Determination Mechanisms in Fish

Md. Nuruzzaman KHAN; Wasim AKRAM; Zahangir HOSSEN; Lifat RAHI

doi:10.5281/zenodo.21762280

Authors

Md. Nuruzzaman KHAN Fisheries and Marine Resource Technology Discipline, Khulna University, Khulna – 9208, Bangladesh https://orcid.org/0009-0002-6402-6253
Wasim AKRAM Fisheries and Marine Resource Technology Discipline, Khulna University, Khulna – 9208, Bangladesh https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7019-0717
Zahangir HOSSEN Fisheries and Marine Resource Technology Discipline, Khulna University, Khulna – 9208, Bangladesh https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5306-4548
Lifat RAHI Fisheries and Marine Resource Technology Discipline, Khulna University, Khulna – 9208, Bangladesh https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8317-8351

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21762280

Keywords:

sex determining genes, sex determination pathways, vertebrate sex determination

Abstract

Fishes exhibit a wide diversity of sex determination mechanisms, ranging from genetic sex determination (GSD) to environmental sex determination (ESD), and also a complex GSD+ESD systems. Unlike higher vertebrates, which mostly rely on conserved master regulatory genes and cytogenetically distinct sex chromosomes; teleost fishes are characterized by young, homomorphic sex chromosomes and rapid evolutionary turnovers of master sex determining (MSD) genes. The advent of modern next-generation sequencing (NGS) strategies including restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (RAD-Seq), genome wide association studies (GWAS), and transcriptomics (RNA sequencing) have accelerated the discovery of novel sex-linked markers, over 30 distinct MSD genes and sex determining regions of the genes. A significant proportion of these MSD genes originate from the transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) signalling superfamily (e.g., amhy, amhr2, gdf6Y, gsdfY), highlighting a dominant evolutionary pathway in teleost masculinization. This review provides a comprehensive synthesis of the processes, identification techniques, chromosomal systems, key genetic regulators, and antagonistic molecular cascades (e.g., TGF-β, WNT, β-catenin, and DMRT1/Sox9 pathways) that govern the bipotential gonadal fate in fishes. Resolving these genomic architectures not only advances our fundamental understanding of vertebrate evolutionary plasticity but also provides critical biotechnological toolkits to control sex ratios for breeding and sustainable development in global aquaculture.

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Sex determination mechanisms in fish: Genomic perspectives