Fig. 3

sox9 and amh are highly expressed in female gonads in P. vitticeps. Schematic of expression in mammalian/chicken embryonic gonads for comparison (left panel) and in P. vitticeps as observed in this study (right panel). A sox9, B amh. SOX9 expression in mammals or chicken is upregulated at the onset of gonad differentiation only in males (orange), while sox9 expression was high already in both sexes in P. vitticpes. We assume sox9 is not expressed in the precursor cell line and is upregulated early in the gonadal trajectory (dotted line). Once sox9 expression reached its height in P. vitticeps, it was downregulated in females. AMH is usually not expressed in female mammals, while amh is highly expressed in both sexes in P. vitticpes, though with a strong male bias