Interaction of 17α-ethinylestradiol and methyltestosterone in western mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis) across two generations

The interactions between estrogen and androgen in aquatic animals remain largely unknown. In this study, two generations (F0 and F1) of western mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis) were continuously exposed to 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2, 10 ng/L), methyltestosterone (MT, 10 ng/L (MTL); 50 ng/L (MTH)), and mixtures (EE2+MTL and EE2+MTH). Various endpoints, including sex ratio (phenotypic and genetic), secondary sex characteristics, gonadal histology, and transcriptional profile of genes, were examined. The results showed that G. affinis exposed to MTH and EE2+MTH had a > 89.7 % of phenotypic males in F1 generation, with 34.5 and 50.0 % of these males originated from genetic females, respectively. Moreover, females from F0 and F1 generations exposed to MTH and EE2+MTH exhibited masculinized anal fins and skeletons. The combined effect of MT and EE2 on most endpoints was dependent on MT. Furthermore, significant transcriptional alterations in certain target genes were observed in both the F0 and F1 generations by EE2 and MT alone and by mixtures, showing some degree of interactions. These findings that the effects of EE2+MTH were primarily on the phenotypic sex of G. affinis in offspring generation suggest that G. affinis under chronic exposure to the binary mixture contaminated water could have sex-biased populations.

Identifying sex in non-fertile individuals of the moss Drepanocladus turgescens (Bryophyta: Amblystegiaceae) using a novel molecular approach

Sex identification before sexual maturity is notoriously difficult in plants with separate sexes, but is crucial to address many life history related issues. To study the performance of the two sexes in the rarely sexually reproducing dioecious moss Drepanocladus turgescens a molecular sex marker is needed. The female-targeting marker previously developed for D. trifarius and D. lycopodioides amplifies for a few D. turgescens males, which can thus not be distinguished from females. In a significant addition to the earlier developed method we sequenced the portion successfully amplified by the primers PT-3f and PT-3r for six females and three males. Differences between males and females were revealed at five sequence positions. Examination of a total of fourteen females and seven marker amplifying males confirm that females and such males differ consistently at these positions. The usefulness of a previous protocol for moss sex identification is thus extended to another dioecious moss by the addition of a step where a portion of the sex-correlated region is sequenced.