Gonadal transcriptome analysis of Cirrhina molitorella reveals sex-associated genes

Cirrhina molitorella is an important economic fish species in southern China, and it holds a significant position among the highest-yielding fish species in this region. However, studies on the identification of sex-related genes and gonadal development in C. molitorella remain scarce, which has severely hindered the development of its aquaculture industry. In the present study, transcriptome sequencing data from the female and male gonads of C. molitorella were analyzed and compared for the first time, leading to the successful assembly of 64,954 unigenes. Through comparative transcriptomic analysis, a total of 20,310 differentially expressed genes were identified, among which 16,003 were significantly upregulated in testis and 4307 were highly expressed in ovaries. Furthermore, real-time quantitative PCR was also employed to validate the differential expression profiles of some genes, and the results were in agreement with the transcriptome data. These findings of this study can provide fundamental data for in-depth investigations into the functions of genes and signaling pathways associated with gender determination and gonadal formation in C. molitorella.