reapxdev/zenodo-scraper huggingface dataset:
Sex determination mechanisms in fish: Genomic perspectives
Authors: Khan, Md Nuruzzaman, Akram, Wasim, Hossen, Zahangir, Rahi, Md. Lifat
Type: Journal article
Published: 2026-08-02
Keywords: sex determining genes, sex determination pathways, vertebrate sex determination

<p class="MsoNormal"><span>Fishes exhibit a wide diversity of sex determination mechanisms, ranging from genetic sex determination (GSD) to environmental sex determination (ESD), and also a complex GSD+ESD systems. Unlike higher vertebrates, which mostly rely on conserved master regulatory genes and cytogenetically distinct sex chromosomes; teleost fishes are characterized by young, homomorphic sex chromosomes and rapid evolutionary turnovers of master sex determining (MSD) genes. The advent of modern next-generation sequencing (NGS) strategies including restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (RAD-Seq), genome wide association studies (GWAS), and transcriptomics (RNA sequencing) have accelerated the discovery of novel sex-linked markers, over 30 distinct MSD genes and sex determining regions of the genes. A significant proportion of these MSD genes originate from the transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) signalling superfamily (e.g., <em>amhy</em>, <em>amhr2</em>, <em>gdf6Y</em>, <em>gsdfY</em>), highlighting a dominant evolutionary pathway in teleost masculinization. This review provides a comprehensive synthesis of the processes, identification techniques, chromosomal systems, key genetic regulators, and antagonistic molecular cascades (e.g., TGF-β, WNT, β-catenin, and DMRT1/Sox9 pathways) that govern the bipotential gonadal fate in fishes. Resolving these genomic architectures not only advances our fundamental understanding of vertebrate evolutionary plasticity but also provides critical biotechnological toolkits to control sex ratios for breeding and sustainable development in global aquaculture.</span></p>