Haploinsufficiency of SF-1 Causes Female to Male Sex Reversal in Nile Tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus

Steroidogenic factor-1 (Sf-1) (officially designated nuclear receptor subfamily 5 group A member 1 [NR5A1]) is a master regulator of steroidogenesis and reproduction in mammals. However, its function remains unclear in nonmammalian vertebrates. In the present study, we used immunohistochemistry to detect expression of Sf-1 in the steroidogenic cells, the interstitial, granulosa, and theca cells of the ovary, and the Leydig cells of the testis, in Nile tilapia. Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/CRISPR associated protein 9 (Cas9) cleavage of sf-1 resulted in a high mutation rate in the F0 generation and a phenotype of gonadal dysgenesis and reduced steroidogenic cells in XX and XY fish. Sf-1 deficiency also resulted in decreased cytochrome P450, family 19, subfamily A, polypeptide 1a, forkhead box L2 expression, and serum estradiol-17 beta in XX fish. In XY fish, Sf-1 deficiency increased cytochrome P450, family 19, subfamily A, polypeptide 1a and forkhead box L2 expression but decreased cytochrome P450, family 11, subfamily B, polypeptide 2 expression and serum 11-ketotestosterone levels. 17 alpha-methyltestosterone treatment successfully rescued the gonadal phenotype of Sf-1-deficient XY fish, as demonstrated by normal spermatogenesis and production of F1 mutants. In contrast, estradiol-17 beta treatment only partially rescued the gonadal phenotype of Sf-1-deficient XX fish, as demonstrated by the appearance of phase II oocytes. Furthermore, both sf-1(+/-) F1 XX and XY mutants developed as fertile males, although spermatogenesis was delayed and efferent duct formation was disordered. Our data suggest that Sf-1 is a major regulator of steroidogenesis and reproduction in fish, as it is in mammals. Sf-1 deficiency resulted in gonadal dysgenesis and feminization of XY gonads. However, unlike in mammals, Sf-1 deficiency also resulted in female to male sex reversal in 8.1% of F0 and 92.1% of sf-1(+/-) F1 in XX fish.