Abstract
Dmrt (doublesex and mab-3 related transcription factor) is a protein family of transcription factors implicated in sexual regulation. Dmrt proteins are widely conserved and known for their involvement in sex determination and differentiation across species, from invertebrates to humans. In this study, we identified a novel gene with a DM (doublesex/Mab-3)-domain gene in the river prawn, Macrobrachium nipponense, which we named MniDmrt1B due to its similarities and close phylogenetic relationship with Dmrt1B in Macrobrachium rosenbergii. Through amino acid alignments and structural predictions, we observed conservation and identified putative active sites within the DM domain. qRT-PCR analysis revealed that MniDmrt1B exhibited high expression levels in the testis, with consistently higher expression in males compared to females during development. Additionally, similar to other sex-regulated genes, the MniDmrt1B gene exhibited high expression levels during the sex differentiation–sensitive periods in M. nipponense. These results strongly indicated that MniDmrt1B probably plays an important role in testis development and sex differentiation in M. nipponense.
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This study was financially supported by the project of National Key Research and Development Program of China (2022YFE0203900).
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Gang Jiang performed the data analysis and drafted the manuscript. Yucai Xue constructed the figures. Arifuzzaman Arifuzzaman checked the English writing, and Xuxiong Huang designed the research, provided financial support, and refined the manuscript. All authors read, reviewed, edited, and approved the final manuscript.
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Jiang, G., Xue, Y., Arifuzzaman, A. et al. Identification and characterization of the Dmrt1B gene in the oriental river prawn, Macrobrachium nipponense. Dev Genes Evol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00427-024-00715-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00427-024-00715-3