Low pH Means More Female Offspring: A Multigenerational Plasticity in the Sex Ratio of Marine Bivalves
Global changes can profoundly affect the sex determination and reproductive output of marine organisms, disrupting the population structure and ecosystems. High CO<sub>2</sub>driven low pH in the context of ocean acidification (OA) has been shown to severely affect various calcifiers, but less is known about the extent to which low pH influences sex determination and reproduction of marine organisms, particularly mollusks. This study is the first to report a biased sex ratio over multiple generations toward females, driven by exposure to high CO<sub>2</sub>-induced low pH environments, using the ecologically and economically important Portuguese oyster (<i>Crassostrea angulata</i>) as a model. This phenomenon, which we term pH-mediated sex determination (PSD), has no consequences for fecundity, gonadal development, or reproductive function in the offspring. Moreover, PSD persisted into a second year of reproduction and was inherited across multiple generations. Transcriptomic analysis indicates PSD is associated with the activation of the Wnt signaling pathway in females and inhibition of spermiogenesis-related functions in males. This work expands our understanding of environmental sex determination and highlights the possible impact of global changes on reproduction and population dynamics of mollusks and other marine organisms.
Authors
- Xin Dang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1035-1600)
- Robert P. Ellis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3117-0075)
- Ximing Guo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6758-2709)
- Juan Diego Gaitán‐Espitía (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8781-5736)
- Sam Dupont (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2567-8742)
- Yuan-Qiu He (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5512-0320)
- Vengatesen Thiyagarajan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2062-4799)
- Laura M. Parker (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3139-1844)
- Shiu C. Chung
- Yang Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0789-4938)
- Huihui Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4098-5313)
- Rui Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6371-9050)
- Ziniu Yu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1049-4345)
Institutions
- Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (US)
- International University of Monaco (MC)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- University of Exeter (GB)
- New South Wales Department of Primary Industries (AU)
- Sinovac Biotech (CN)
- UNSW Sydney (AU)
- Futures Group (United States) (US)
- Institute of Oceanology (CN)
- New A Innovation (China) (CN)
- South China Sea Institute Of Oceanology (CN)
- Istituto di Scienze Marine del Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (IT)
- Centre for Sustainable Energy (GB)
- Ministry of Agriculture (CA)
- Lee's Pharmaceutical (China) (CN)
- Kumiai Chemical Industry (Japan) (JP)
- Health & Life (Taiwan) (TW)
- University of Gothenburg (SE)
- University of Hong Kong (HK)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Environmental Science & Technology
- Published
- 2024-12-26
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.4c07808
- Citations
- 5
- Primary Topic
- Marine Bivalve and Aquaculture Studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.41
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Research Grants Council, University Grants Committee
- National Key Research and Development Program of China