AUTHOR=Wang Tao , He Ke , Blaney Lee , Chung J. Sook 

TITLE=17β-Estradiol (E2) may be involved in the mode of crustacean female sex hormone (CFSH) action in the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Endocrinology

VOLUME=13

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/endocrinology/articles/10.3389/fendo.2022.962576

DOI=10.3389/fendo.2022.962576

ISSN=1664-2392

ABSTRACT=<p>17β-estradiol (E2) has been proved to control reproduction, sexual differentiation, and the development of the secondary sexual characteristics of vertebrate females. In decapod crustacean species, crustacean female sex hormone (CFSH), a protein hormone, is required for developing adult-specific ovigerous setae for embryo brooding and gonophores for mating at the blue crab <italic>Callinectes sapidus</italic> puberty molting. However, it is unclear that whether the mode of CFSH action involves a vertebrate-type sex steroid hormone in crustaceans. To this end, E2 levels were first measured using a competitive ELISA in the hemolymph and the potential CFSH target tissues from both prepuberty and adult females; the presence of E2 was further confirmed with a liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method. Then, the cDNAs of the following genes known to be associated with vertebrate steroidogenic pathways were isolated: StAR-related lipid transfer protein 3 (<italic>StAR3</italic>); 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (<italic>3βHSD</italic>); two isoforms of 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 8 (<italic>17βHSD8</italic>); and, estradiol-related receptor (<italic>ERR</italic>). RT-PCR analysis revealed that these genes were widely distributed in the eyestalk ganglia, hepatopancreas, brain, ovary, spermathecae, ovigerous and plumose setae tissues of adult females. The <italic>17βHSD8</italic> transcripts were localized in the follicle cells, the periphery of the nuclear membrane of primary oocytes, and yolk granules of the vitellogenic oocytes using <italic>in situ</italic> hybridization, and the corresponding protein was detected in the follicle cells and ooplasm of primary oocytes using immunohistochemistry. Furthermore, the adult females injected with CFSH-dsRNA (<italic>n</italic> = 30 times) had E2 and <italic>StAR3</italic> transcripts levels lower in the ovigerous and plumose setae, spermathecae than controls. These results suggested that the mode of CFSH action in <italic>C. sapidus</italic> might involve E2 in these adult-female-specific tissues.</p>