Molecular cloning and gene expression of Cg-Foxl2 during the development and the adult gametogenetic cycle in the oyster Crassostrea gigas.

A Foxl2 ortholog has been identified in a lophotrochozoa, the pacific oyster, which is a successive irregular hermaphrodite mollusc. Its cDNA has been called Cg-Foxl2 (Crassostrea gigas Foxl2) and the deduced protein sequence is 367aa long. This sequence contains the conserved domain Forkhead box and its gene is devoid of intron at least in the first 926 bp of the cDNA, as found for Foxl2 factors. Real time PCR and in situ hybridization have shown a gonadic male and female Cg-Foxl2 expression which increases during the adult gametogenetic cycle for both sexes, but with a significant increase occurring earlier in females than in males. In females this increase corresponds to the vitellogenetic stage. During development, a peak of Cg-DMl (a potential factor of the male gonadic differentiation) and Oyvlg (a germ cell marker) expression and a significant decrease of Cg-Foxl2 expression were observed after metamorphosis in 1-1.5-month-old spats, a period of development when primordial germ cells may differentiate into germinal stem cells during the first gonadic establishment.