AUTHOR=Sun Yuxuan , Zhang Mengqian , Cheng Peng , Gong Zhihong , Li Xihong , Wang Na , Wei Min , Xu Xiaodong , Xu Wenteng 

TITLE=pitpβ_w Encoding Phosphatidylinositol Transfer Protein Is Involved in Female Differentiation of Chinese Tongue Sole, Cynoglossus semilaevis

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Genetics

VOLUME=Volume 13 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/genetics/articles/10.3389/fgene.2022.861763

DOI=10.3389/fgene.2022.861763

ISSN=1664-8021

ABSTRACT=Phosphatidylinositol transfer protein (pitp) plays important role in phospholipid transfer in animals. However, a pitp variant (pitpβ_w) in Chinese tongue sole was identified by transcriptomic analysis for its female-biased expression. The coding sequence of pitpβ_w was 816 bp, encoding 371 amino-acid protein. pitpβ_w showed female-biased expression, and was relatively high in brain, muscle, and ovary. In different developmental stages of ovary, pitpβ_w could be detected from 40 day until 3 years post hatching, and the highest expression was observed at 90 days. In situ hybridization revealed that pitpβ_w was predominantly localized in early-stage oocyte (I-III stages). After siRNA-mediated knockdown of pitpβ_w in ovarian cell line, the expression of sox9a was reduced, while figla_tv1 and sox9b were significantly increased. Our findings suggest that pitpβ_w might play an important role in female differentiation and early oogenesis by acting as a negative regulator.