Whole-Genome Identification and Characterization of the DKK Gene Family and Its Transcription Profiles: An Analysis of the Chinese Soft-Shell Turtle ( Pelodiscus sinensis )

• Published in: Animals (Basel) Vol. 14; no. 6; p. 931
• Main Authors: Wang, Yongchang, Zhu, Junxian, Chen, Chen, Ji, Liqin, Hong, Xiaoyou, Liu, Xiaoli, Chen, Haigang, Wei, Chengqing, Zhang, Junjie, Zhu, Xinping, Li, Wei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 18-03-2024; MDPI
• Subjects: DKK gene family; DNA binding proteins; Embryonic development; expression analyses; Females; Genes; Genetic aspects; Genetic transcription; Genomes; Genomics; Glycoproteins; Males; Maximum likelihood method; Pelodiscus sinensis; Peptides; Phylogeny; Proteins; sex differentiation; Software; Spermatogenesis; Transcription factors; China; Pelodiscus sinensis; sex differentiation; expression analyses; DKK gene family
• ISSN: 2076-2615; 2076-2615
• DOI: 10.3390/ani14060931

The DKK family is a canonical small family of WNT antagonists. Though recent studies have suggested that the DKK gene family may be involved in sex differentiation in
, there are still a lot of things about the DKK gene family that we do not know. In this study, we used bioinformatics methods to identify members of the DKK gene family in
and analyzed their phylogeny, covariance, gene structure, structural domains, promoter conserved sites, signal peptides, gonadal transcription factors, transcriptional profiles, and tissue expression profiles. Additionally, qRT-PCR results were utilized for the validation and preliminary investigation of the function of the DKK gene family in
. The results showed that the DKK gene family is divided into six subfamilies, distributed on six different chromosomal scaffolds containing different gene structures and conserved motifs with the same structural domains, and all of the members were secreted proteins. Our transcriptional profiling and embryonic expression analysis showed that
and
were significantly expressed in the testes, whereas
and
were significantly upregulated in the ovaries. This suggests a potential function in sex differentiation in
. Our results may provide a basic theoretical basis for the sex differentiation process in
.