2010/726 Improving crustacean aquaculture production efficiencies through development of monosex populations using endocrine and molecular manipulations

By Vijay Mareddy

The androgenic gland (AG) is an unique gland present in male crustaceans and is known to influence male sexual differentiation. In this study, the role of the AG in sexual differentiation was investigated with the aim of achieving all female population in Penaeus monodon.

The study found that, although the AG is known to influence sex reversal in some crustaceans, in P. monodon, AG manipulations led to only partial transformations. The reason for this could be that the onset of sex differentiation mechanisms could be occurring at an early age and the age targeted in this study was outside the sexually labile period. Another reason could be that alternate sexual differentiation mechanisms are involved in P. monodon. Future studies targeting earlier stages of development and investigations to find novel genes involved in sex differentiation mechanisms in addition to AG hormone are needed.