*Article* **Transcriptome Analysis of Zebrafish Olfactory Epithelium Reveal Sexual Di** ff**erences in Odorant Detection**

#### **Ying Wang 1, Haifeng Jiang 2,3 and Liandong Yang 2,\***


Received: 3 March 2020; Accepted: 25 May 2020; Published: 27 May 2020

**Abstract:** Animals have evolved a large number of olfactory receptor genes in their genome to detect numerous odorants in their surrounding environments. However, we still know little about whether males and females possess the same abilities to sense odorants, especially in fish. In this study, we used deep RNA sequencing to examine the di fference of transcriptome between male and female zebrafish olfactory epithelia. We found that the olfactory transcriptomes between males and females are highly similar. We also found evidence of some genes showing di fferential expression or alternative splicing, which may be associated with odorant-sensing between sexes. Most chemosensory receptor genes showed evidence of expression in the zebrafish olfactory epithelium, with a higher expression level in males than in females. Taken together, our results provide a comprehensive catalog of the genes mediating olfactory perception and pheromone-evoked behavior in fishes.

**Keywords:** zebrafish; sexual dimorphism; olfactory epithelium; alternative splicing; chemosensory receptor
