Journal article
RNA sequencing reveals sexually dimorphic gene expression before gonadal differentiation in chicken and allows comprehensive annotation of the W-chromosome
KL Ayers, NM Davidson, D Demiyah, KN Roeszler, F Grützner, AH Sinclair, A Oshlack, CA Smith
Genome Biology | BMC | Published : 2013
Abstract
Background: Birds have a ZZ male: ZW female sex chromosome system and while the Z-linked DMRT1 gene is necessary for testis development, the exact mechanism of sex determination in birds remains unsolved. This is partly due to the poor annotation of the W chromosome, which is speculated to carry a female determinant. Few genes have been mapped to the W and little is known of their expression. Results: We used RNA-seq to produce a comprehensive profile of gene expression in chicken blastoderms and embryonic gonads prior to sexual differentiation. We found robust sexually dimorphic gene expression in both tissues pre-dating gonadogenesis, including sex-linked and autosomal genes. This supports..
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Awarded by National Science Foundation
Funding Acknowledgements
We thank the Australian Genomic Research Institute (AGRF) in Melbourne. AO is supported by NHMRC Career Development Fellowship (1051481). KA is supported by the Poultry CRC for Sex Determination. CS is funded through an Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellowship, while KR is funded through an ARC Discovery Project Grant. AS is supported by an NHMRC Program grant (546517). FG is an ARC Research Fellow. DD is supported by a PhD scholarship from the Malaysian Government. This research was conducted within the Poultry CRC, established and supported under the Australian Government's Cooperative Research Centres Program. MCRI is supported by the Victorian Government's Operational Infrastructure Support Program.