EXCITES – Induction of marine sex shift processes towards applied environmental and mariculture biotechnologies

The EXCITES project is aimed at studying key genes related to the control of sex shifts, gonad degeneration and downstream processes related to sexual differentiation pathways using multi-genic approaches. The project takes advantage of the peculiar physiological features of Hippolyte inermis, a marine shrimp that undergoes a sex shift from male to female with the complete disappearance of the male gonad without an apparent intersex stage. In this species, a sexual shift from male to female is a naturally occurring process, which may be induced both in nature and in the laboratory, by the ingestion of specific algae. The project aims at collecting shrimps in critical phases of their life cycle, during the sex reversal process, to identify differentially expressed genes during these changes and identify their functions and relationships in decapod reproductive physiology. This project is performed in collaboration with a research group from Stazione Zoologica in Nalpes, Italy, leaded by Prof. Valerio Zupo.

• Levy, T., Zupo, V., Mutalipassi, M., Somma, E., Ruocco, N., Costantini, M., Abehsera, S., Manor, R., Chalifa-Caspi, V., Sagi, A. and Aflalo, E. D. (2021) Protandric transcriptomes to uncover parts of the crustacean sex-differentiation puzzle. Frontiers in Marine Science 8: 745540.