Consequences of Cancer on Zebrafish <i>Danio rerio</i>: Insights Into Sex Determination, Sex Ratio, and Offspring Survival
Offspring sex ratio has been proposed as an indicator of the risk of developing certain cancers in humans, but offspring sex ratio may also be a consequence of the disease. In this study, we investigate this subject using the zebrafish, <i>Danio rerio,</i> as a model system. First, we explore whether inducing skin cancer at an early stage of the host's life (embryonic stage) has the potential to influence sex determination and/or sex-specific mortality. Second, we investigate whether the sex ratio in offspring produced by tumor-bearing adult females differs from that of healthy females. Third, we compare the survival (until sexual maturity) of offspring produced by cancerous and non-cancerous females. We found that skin cancer did not influence sex determination and the sex ratio of the offspring. However, consistent with previous studies on other model systems, the survival of offspring was higher when mothers were cancerous, suggesting that diseased females allocate more resources to current reproductive effort compared to their healthy counterparts. This study makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the ecological and evolutionary consequences of host-tumor interactions in animals.
Authors
- Justine Boutry (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0707-1202)
- Mathieu Douhard (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9422-7270)
- Karima Kissa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7683-3661)
- Olivier De Backer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1490-4508)
- Laura Fontenille
- Antoine Marie Dujon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1579-9156)
- Aaron G. Schultz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7333-7646)
- Christa Beckmann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7904-7228)
- Beáta Újvári (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2391-2988)
- Peter A. Biro (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3565-240X)
- Jordan Meliani (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-8517-8727)
- Delphine Nicolas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9101-2271)
- Klara Asselin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-0430-646X)
- Frédéric Thomas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2238-1978)
Institutions
- Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (FR)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Deakin University (AU)
- University of Namur (BE)
- Inserm (FR)
- Université de Montpellier (FR)
- Maladies Infectieuses et Vecteurs: Écologie, Génétique, Évolution et Contrôle (FR)
- Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive (FR)
- Tour du Valat (FR)
- Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (FR)
- RMIT University (AU)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Ecology and Evolution
- Published
- 2025-08-31
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.72003
- Primary Topic
- Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Agence Nationale de la Recherche
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
- Université de Montpellier