Genetics and Sex Differentiation
From gene manipulations to establishment of monosex prawn biotechnologies
The main species for our study of sex differentiation and crustacean reproduction is the giant freshwater prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii.
M. rosenbergii is a gonochoristic species important for the global aquaculture industry. In this species we were successful in manipulating the insulin-like androgenic gland hormonal switch (IAG-switch) causing full sex reversal of males to females and vice versa towards the establishment of monosex populations. Applying these manipulations we achieved all possible combinations of genotype:phenotype prawns (WZ, ZZ and WW males and females), as well as pure homogametic ZZ and WW prawn lines. With a full phased genome that was sequenced in collaboration with Enzootic and NRGene companies, and transcriptomic databases of males and females from embryonic, larval and post-larval stages, we perform a widespread study of sex differentiation in prawns using in vivo, in vitro and in silico approaches.
In collaboration with the group of Dr. Isam Khalaila we are developing drug delivery methods to embryos.
In 2020 our group joined the CRISPR-IL genome editing consortium.
Sponsors and collaborators
Related articles
- Levy, T. and Sagi, A. 2020. The “IAG-switch” – a key controlling element in decapod crustacean sex differentiation. Frontiers in Endocrinology 11: 651.
- Levy, T., Rosen, O., Manor, R., Dotan, S., Azulay, D., Abramov, A., Sklarz, M. Y., Chalifa-Caspi, V., Baruch, K., Shechter, A. and Sagi, A. 2019. Production of WW males lacking the masculine Z chromosome and mining the Macrobrachium rosenbergiigenome for sex-chromosomes. Scientific Reports 9:12408.
- Levy, T., Rosen, O., Eilam, B., Azulay, D., Aflalo, E. D., Manor, R., Shechter, A. and Sagi, A., 2016. A single injection of hypertrophied androgenic gland cells produces all-female aquaculture. Marine Biotechnol., 18(5): 554-563.
- Ventura, T., Manor, R., Aflalo, E.D., Weil, S., Rosen, O., and Sagi, A. 2012. Timing sexual differentiation: full functional sex reversal achieved in Macrobrachium rosenbergii through silencing of a single insulin-like gene. Reprod., 86(3): 90, 1-6.