Abstract
Environmental sex determination (ESD) occurs in divergent, phylogenetically unrelated taxa, and in some species, co-occurs with genetic sex determination (GSD) mechanisms. Although epigenetic regulation in response to environmental effects has long been proposed to be associated with ESD, a systemic analysis on epigenetic regulation of ESD is still lacking. Using the Chinese tongue sole (Cynoglossus semilaevis) as a model —a marine fish that has both ZW chromosomal GSD and temperature-dependent ESD— we investigated the role of epigenetic mechanisms in the transition from GSD to ESD. Our results suggest a complex epigenetic regulation involving DNA methylation, ncRNAs and histone modifications in the sex determination and differentiation in fish species.
Biography
Dr. Changwei Shao obtained his Bachelor's degree from Dalian Ocean University in 2005, his Master's degree from Ocean University of China in 2008 and then the PhD degree, first in 2013 from the Ocean University of China, and then in 2015 from Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, Japan. From 2008 to 2009, he conducted postdoctoral research as a Visiting Scholar at Texas A&M University. Then, he joined the Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute in 2009. His primary research focus is on aquatic germplasm resources and genetic breeding. He has led over 10 projects, including the National Key Research and Development Programs of China and the National Natural Science Foundation of China's Excellent Young Scientists Fund. He has published over 130 SCI papers in journals such as Cell, Nature, Nature Genetics, Nature Communications and Genome Research, which have been cited over 4,800 times. Currently, he is Research Professor and Deputy Director of the Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute, of the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences (CAFS).