Current status of genetic and endocrine factors in the sex change of protandrous black porgy, Acanthopagrus schlegeli (Teleostean).

Black porgy, Acanthopagrus schlegeli Bleeker, a marine protandrous hermaphrodite fish, is functionally male for the first 2 years of life, but begins to sexually change to female after the third year. Testicular tissue and ovarian tissue are separated by connective tissue in the bisexual gonad. This sex pattern provides a unique model to study the mechanism of sex change in fish. The annual profiles of plasma estradiol, vitellogenin, and 11-ketotestosterone concentrations in males were significantly different from those in the 3-year-old females. Oral administration of estradiol stimulated high levels of gonadal aromatase activity, plasma luteinizing hormone (LH) levels, and sex change in the 2-year-old fish. Oral administration with aromatase inhibitors for 1 year further blocked the natural sex change in 3-year-old black porgy and all fish became functional males. Transcripts of estrogen receptor (ER), androgen receptor, and gonadotropin receptors in the ovarian tissue of bisexual gonad were significantly less expressed than those in the bisexual testicular tissue. ER and aromatase transcripts were much higher in the vitellogenic ovary than those in the bisexual ovarian tissue. Plasma LH levels were higher in male fish than sex-changing fish during postspawning and nonspawning season in 2(+)-year-old black porgy. We are also conducting investigations on the role of the genetic factors (Dmrt 1, Sox 9, Sf-1, and Dax-1) in sex development and sex change. An endocrine mechanism of sex change in black porgy is proposed.