Transcriptomic Analysis of MAP3K1 and MAP3K4 in the Developing Marsupial Gonad

Abstract

MAPKs affect gonadal differentiation in mice and humans, but whether this applies to all mammals is as yet unknown. Thus, we investigated MAPK expression during gonadal differentiation and after treatment with oestrogen in a distantly related mammal, the marsupial tammar wallaby, using our model of oestrogen-induced gonadal sex reversal. High-throughput RNA-sequencing was carried out on gonads collected from developing tammar 2 days before birth to 8 days after birth to characterise MAPK and key sexual differentiation markers. Day 25 foetal testes were cultured for 120 h in control medium or medium supplemented with exogenous oestrogen and processed for RNA-seq to identify changes in gene ex..