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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Livestock Genomics
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2024.1441021
This article is part of the Research Topic Vetinformatics: An Insight for Decoding Livestock Systems Through In Silico Biology Volume II View all 4 articles

RNA Sequencing Analysis of Sexual Dimorphism in Japanese Quail

Provisionally accepted
Sinwoo Park Sinwoo Park 1Jaeryeong Kim Jaeryeong Kim 1JinBaek Lee JinBaek Lee 1Sungyoon Jung Sungyoon Jung 1Seung P. Pack Seung P. Pack 1Jin H. Lee Jin H. Lee 1Kyungheon Yoon Kyungheon Yoon 2Seung J. Woo Seung J. Woo 3Jae Yong Han Jae Yong Han 3Minseok Seo Minseok Seo 1*
  • 1 Korea University, Sejong, Republic of Korea
  • 2 Korea National Institute of Health, Cheongju-si, Republic of Korea
  • 3 Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction: Japanese quail are of significant economic value, providing protein nutrition to humans through their reproductive activity; however, sexual dimorphism in this species remains relatively unexplored compared with other model species. Method: A total of 114 RNA sequencing datasets (18 and 96 samples for quail and chicken, respectively) were collected from existing studies to gain a comprehensive understanding of sexual dimorphism in quail. Cross-species integrated analyses were performed with transcriptome data from evolutionarily close chickens to identify sex-biased genes in the embryonic, adult brain, and gonadal tissues. Results: Our findings indicate that the expression patterns of genes involved in sex-determination mechanisms during embryonic development, as well as those of most sex-biased genes in the adult brain and gonads, are identical between quails and chickens. Similar to most birds with a ZW sex determination system, quails lacked global dosage compensation for the Z chromosome, resulting in directional outcomes that supported the hypothesis that sex is determined by the individual dosage of Z-chromosomal genes, including long non-coding RNAs located in the male hypermethylated region. Furthermore, genes, such as WNT4 and VIP, reversed their sex-biased patterns at different points in embryonic development and/or in different adult tissues, suggesting a potential hurdle in breeding and transgenic experiments involving avian sexrelated traits. Discussion: The findings of this study are expected to enhance our understanding of sexual dimorphism in birds and subsequently facilitate insights into the field of breeding and transgenesis of sex-related traits that economically benefit humans.

    Keywords: RNA-sequencing, Japanese quail, sexual dimorphism, Z chromosome, avian

    Received: 30 May 2024; Accepted: 28 Jun 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Park, Kim, Lee, Jung, Pack, Lee, Yoon, Woo, Han and Seo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Minseok Seo, Korea University, Sejong, Republic of Korea

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