Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 5, 2026

In Situ Hybridization Techniques for Paraffin-Embedded Adult Coral Samples
Published on: August 31, 2018
Divergent Expression Patterns and Function Implications of Four nanos Genes in a Hermaphroditic Fish, Epinephelus
Zhi-Hui Sun1, Yang Wang2, Wei-Jia Lu3
1State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Graduate University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China. huihappy1012@126.com.
Abstract:
Multiple nanos genes have been characterized in several fishes, but the functional implications of their various expression patterns remain unclear. In this study, we identified and characterized four nanos genes from a hermaphroditic fish orange-spotted grouper, Epinephelus coioides. Ecnanos1a and Ecnanos1b show divergent expression patterns, and the dynamic expression change of Ecnanos1a in pituitaries during sex change is associated with testis differentiation and spermatogenesis. Ecnanos2 and Ecnanos3 might be germline stem cells (GSCs) and primordial germ cells (PGCs)-specific markers, respectively. Significantly, Ecnanos3 3'-untranslated region (UTR) is necessary for PGC specific expression, where a non-canonical "GCACGTTT" sequence is required for miR-430-mediated repression of Ecnanos3 RNA. Furthermore, grouper Dead end (Dnd) can relieve miR-430 repression in PGCs by associating with a 23 bp U-rich region (URR) in Ecnanos3 3'-UTR. The current study revealed the functional association of multiple nanos genes with PGC formation and germ cell development in orange-spotted grouper, and opened up new possibilities for developing biotechnologies through utilizing the associations between Ecnanos3 and PGCs or between Ecnanos2 and GSCs in the hermaphroditic fish.
Related Concept Videos
Exon Recombination
Exon shuffling follows “splice frame rules.” Each exon...
Pleiotropy
Convergent Evolution
Cis-regulatory Sequences
Position-effect Variegation

