A Teleost Model to Study Sex Steroid Regulation of Early Oogenesis and Ovarian Follicle Development

脊椎动物卵子的产生是一个复杂的过程，受系统激素和卵巢激素的控制。在包括人类在内的早期发育阶段的调控知识方面存在重大差距，当时支持早期胚胎发育的各种母体物质以协调的方式在发育中的卵子（卵母细胞）中奠定。 因此，“卵子质量”的许多方面都是在这段时间内确定的，该术语用于描述可以连续受精并产生可存活后代的卵子。 使用一种新的组织培养系统和分子和细胞生物学方法，该项目将描述性类固醇激素对银鲑卵母细胞早期发育的影响，确定其作用模式，并确定系统性和局部作用卵巢激素在调节发育中的复杂相互作用。 预计雄激素和雌激素以类固醇特异性和阶段依赖性方式起作用，并且将鉴定出许多新的类固醇调节基因。 由于脊椎动物卵发育的保守性，该研究将提高对脊椎动物（包括人类和农业重要动物）卵发育调节系统的基础知识，允许开发一个实验平台，该平台将允许对环境内分泌干扰污染物的潜在影响进行关键评估，这些污染物干扰内源性类固醇的信号传导，并可能导致开发改进的方法，以克服养护和商业水产养殖中圈养鱼类的生殖功能障碍。该项目还将对博士后培训生，MS学生和本科研究人员的教育产生重大影响。

The production of a vertebrate egg is a complex process controlled by systemic and ovarian hormones. Critical gaps exist in knowledge of the regulation of the early stages of development, including humans, when a variety of maternal materials that support early embryonic development are laid down in a coordinated fashion in the developing egg (oocyte). Thus, many aspects of "egg quality", the term used to describe an egg that can be successively fertilized and lead to a viable offspring, are determined during this time. Using a novel tissue culture system and molecular and cell biology approaches, this project will characterize the effects of sex steroid hormones on early development of oocytes of coho salmon, determine their modes of action, and determine the complex interplay between systemic and locally acting ovarian hormones in regulating development. It is anticipated that androgens and estrogens act in a steroid-specific and stage-dependent fashion, and that a number of novel, steroid-regulated genes will be identified. Because of the conserved nature of egg development in vertebrates, the research will improve fundamental knowledge on the systems regulating egg development in vertebrates, including humans and agriculturally important animals, permit the development of an experimental platform that will allow critical assessment of the potential impact of environmental endocrine disrupting contaminants that interfere with signaling by endogenous steroids, and may lead to the development of improved methods to overcome reproductive dysfunction of captive-reared fish in conservation and commercial aquaculture. This project will also have a significant impact on the education of a postdoctoral trainee, a MS student and undergraduate researchers.