Differential gene expression in normal and intersex Crustacea: New horizons for investigating impacts of pollution, parasitism and climate change.

中间性是指生物体同时表现出男性和女性特征的异常状态。野生动物间性的研究为研究生殖决定和/或分化的异常条件的比较生物学提供了极好的手段。甲壳类动物的雌雄间性可通过遗传畸变、寄生、环境性别决定中断（ESD）和化学物质暴露发生。目前对甲壳类动物种群的遗传知识非常有限，因此对环境性别决定（ESD）背后的机制进行了评估；feminsing寄生虫;污染在这个重要的生态群体中非常有限：因此，如果没有对生态相关物种的生物学的清楚了解，很难评估环境科学中的热点话题，如内分泌干扰和气候变化。在生理、个体和种群水平上存在着温度、光周期和寄生对片脚类动物性别决定的影响。此外，几项研究表明，在接触环境污染物后，这一群体也可能发生性中断。继NERC 454对正常和双性性腺组织中基因表达的初步研究之后，该项目将利用高通量测序技术来完成一套存档的生物组织，用于雄性和雌性片脚类动物和两种双性表型（雌雄双性）的特定基因表达；大大增加了这类和一般甲壳类动物的遗传知识。通过数字转录比较雄性、雌性、雌雄间性雄性和雌雄间性雌性器官的种内和种间差异。一些证据表明，雄性甲壳类动物可能受到污染的影响，影响了它们的雄性激素，导致雄性化（更像雌性的外表）。进一步的研究将使用三种方法实验性地诱导潮间带片足类动物去雄性化；首先，解剖男性（雄激素）腺体；第二，通过感染雌性寄生虫；第三，接触一些已知的干扰内分泌的化学物质。这些实验将用于检查在每次实验操作后基因被上调/下调的比较。关键基因将被选择并用于开发测定方法，以评估从干净和受污染的地点收集的野外标本是否发生去雄化。在这些研究期间获得的所有遗传数据将通过一个特别设计的名为AmphiBASE的数据库公开提供。

Intersexuality is the abnormal condition when an organism displays characteristics of being both male and female. The study of intersexuality in wildlife provides excellent means for studying comparative biology of abnormal conditions in reproductive determination and/or differentiation. Intersex in crustaceans can occur through genetic abberations, parasitism, disrupted environmental sex determination (ESD) and through chemical exposure. The genetic knowledge of crustacean groups is currently very limited making the assessment of mechanisms behind environmental sex determination (ESD); feminsing parasites; and pollution very limited in this ecologically important group: thus hot-topics in environmental sciences such as endocrine disruption and climate change are difficult to assess without a clear understanding of the biology of ecologically relevant species. Considerable information exists at the physiological, individual and population level impacts of temperature, photoperiod, and parasitism on the sex determination in amphipods. In addition, several studies have suggested sexual disruption might also be occuring in this group following exposure to environmental contaminents. Following on from a NERC 454 pilot study into gene expression in normal and intersex gonadal tissues, this project would utilise high-throughput sequencing technologies to complete a suite of archived biological tissues for specific gene expression in male and female amphipods and two intersex phenotypes (intersex males and females); increasing substantially the genetic knowledge for this and crustacean groups in general. Intra and inter specific differences between organs of males, females, intersex males and intersex females would be compared by digital transcriptmics. Following some evidence that suggests that male crustaceans maybe impacted by pollution in a way that effects their male hormones and cause demasculinisation (a more female-like appearance). Further studies would experimently induce de-masculinisation in an intertidal amphipod using three methods; firstly, physically dissecting the male (androgenic) glands; secondly, through infection with feminising parasites; and thirdly, through chemical exposure to some known endocrine disrupting chemicals. These experiments would be used to examine comparisons in the genes being up/down regulated following each experimental manipulation. Key genes would be selected and utilised to develop assays to assess whether demasculinisation is occuring in field collected specimens from clean and polluted sites. All genetic data acquired during these studies would be made publically available through a specially designed database entitled AmphiBASE.