Rapid modulation of gene expression profiles in the telencephalon of male goldfish following exposure to waterborne sex pheromones

Abstract Sex pheromones rapidly affect endocrine physiology and behaviour, but little is known about their effects on gene expression in the neural tissues that mediate olfactory processing. In this study, we exposed male goldfish for 6 h to waterborne 17,20βP (4.3 nM) and PGF 2α (3 nM), the main pre-ovulatory and post-ovulatory pheromones, respectively. Both treatments elevated milt volume ( P  = 0.001). Microarray analysis of male telencephalon following PGF 2α treatment identified 71 unique transcripts that were differentially expressed ( q 2α pheromone exposure affects diverse biological processes including nervous system functions, energy metabolism, cholesterol/lipoprotein transport, translational regulation, transcription and chromatin remodelling, protein processing, cytoskeletal organization, and signalling. By using real-time RT-PCR, we further validated three candidate genes, ependymin-II, calmodulin-A and aldolase C, which exhibited 3–5-fold increase in expression following PGF 2α exposure. Expression levels of some other genes that are thought to be important for reproduction were also determined using real-time RT-PCR. Expression of sGnRH was increased by PGF 2α, but not 17,20βP, whereas cGnRH expression was increased by 17,20βP but not PGF 2α . In contrast, both pheromones increase the expression of glutamate (GluR2a, NR2A) and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA A γ2) receptor subunit mRNAs. Milt release and rapid modulation of neuronal transcription are part of the response of males to female sex pheromones.