| Abstract | The observed phenotypic differences that arise from alternative expression of genes between the sexes, sometimes referred to as sex-bias in gene expression, can have dramatic implications on the wellbeing of organisms (Grath and Parsch, 2016). Salmonids, salmon, trout, and char have a system of male heterogamety determined by the expression of sdY (sexually dimorphic on the Y chromosome). Recently, it was found that sdY is expressed in the brain tissue of two-year-old male brook trout (Showalter, 2017). This discovery suggests that sdY may be involved in alternate pathways within brook trout and calls for further study of its expression within other salmonids to help uncover its full functionality. The objective of this project was to determine if sdY expression in the male brain at the two-year-old time point is unique to brook trout, or if it may also be found in rainbow trout, a closely related species. Elucidating the comprehensive expression pattern of sdY within salmonids may provide key insights into downstream sex-bias in gene expression. Low levels of sdY expression were found in the brain of male rainbow trout at the 24-month time point, but differential expression was not found between the male and female groups: potential explanations and implications are discussed. |
