Fibroblast growth factor 9/16/20 subfamily: establishment of its role during gonadogenesis in medaka

MORENO ACOSTA O.D.; FERNANDINO, J.I.

Buenos Aires

Simposio; 7th International Symposium on Fish Endocrinology; 2012

The morphological development of a functional gonad from an undifferentiatedprimordium is a critical period where the gonad will develop into a testis or an ovary.In mammals have been identified FGF9 (Fibroblast Growth Factor 9) as a key playerduring this period, directing the gonadal primordium towards the development of atesticle. In turn it has been observed that FGF9 is not found in the genome of fish.Nevertheless, other members of the FGF9 like subfamily could be identified (fgf20a,fgf20b and fgf16). To test if any of the members of the fgf subfamily 9 and theirreceptors could be involved on the gonadogenesis we analyzed their expressionduring testicular differentiation and adulthood by RT-qPCR using medaka (Oryziaslatipes, himedaka stain). We observed that fgfg20a was expressed in testis,but present a weak expression in ovary. However, the expression of fgf20b wasrestricted to the ovary. On the contrary, it could not be observed expression of fgf16on male of female gonad during ontogeny or adulthood. The expression of thesetwo fgf20 paralogs supports the idea that they could be involved in the process ofgonadogenesis in this species. Grants: CONICET PIP D731 and ANPCYT PICT #1980.