Molecular Advance on Reproduction and Fertility of Aquatic Animals 2.0

Dear Colleagues,

Reproduction and fertility are complex mechanisms in aquatic animals. Many aquatic animals have sexual dimorphism between male and female individuals, showing significant differences in growth. Thus, monosex culture may have dramatic economic benefits. Many economic aquatic animals are widely cultured in many countries and regions. However, both rapid and slow gonad development have negative effects on sustainable development. Slow gonad development will extend the breeding cycle, while rapid gonad development will result in inbreeding between new-born animals, leading to short life span, small size and low disease resistance. Therefore, analyses of their reproductive mechanisms are equally important, including but not limited to molecular functional studies of sex differentiation and gonadal development. In addition, several biological or chemical reagents have been shown to have significant effects on aquatic animal reproduction and fertility, such as steroid hormones, sex-determining genes, etc. Thus, the mechanisms of sex-determination and reproduction needed to be fully understood in order to establish techniques to produce monosex cultures and regulate gonad development in aquatic animals. Significant progress has been made over the past few decades in areas such as biological reproduction and developmental processes. However, relatively little has been conducted in fish, crustaceans and shellfish. The effects of steroid hormones on the process of sex-determination and reproduction in aquatic animals will continue to be unraveled, as well as identifying the complex signaling networks and genes regulated by the steroid hormone. Identification of the roles of nutritional and environmental factors on hormone secretion, hormone balance and corresponding sex-determination and reproduction outcomes altered by changed hormone levels are areas of focus.

Reviews or research articles in this fascinating area, which discuss the reproduction and fertility of aquatic animals and their applications or which aim to discern the bottlenecks in the field, are welcome.

Prof. Dr. Hongtuo Fu
Dr. Hui Qiao
Guest Editors

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• reproduction
• aquatic animals
• sex determination
• gonadal development
• steroid hormones
• sex-related genes
• monosex culture

• Molecular Advance on Reproduction and Fertility of Aquatic Animals in International Journal of Molecular Sciences (8 articles)