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The southern Great Xing’an Range (SGXR) is located in the eastern Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB), and represents the most important Cu-Mo-Pb-Zn polymetallic mineral province in NE China. The Panjiaduan deposit in the SGXR is characterized by superimposing mineralization: (1) porphyry Mo ore hosted by syenogranite, and (2) superimposing vein-type Cu-Pb-Zn ore, hosted by fracture zones in the Manitu Formation volcanics and granodiorite. Two zircon U-Pb ages of 233.9 ± 2.8 Ma and 236.1 ± 2.8 Ma for the syenogranite (porphyry) ore host indicate that the porphyry Mo mineralization occurred in the Late Triassic, coeval with the adjacent Laojiagou porphyry Mo deposit. Sphalerite from the Cu-Pb-Zn ore veins yielded a Rb-Sr isochron age of 138.5 ± 3.5 Ma, suggesting Early Cretaceous overprinting mineralization. The syenogranite is geochemically similar to the ore-causative monzogranite at Laojiagou. They are unfractionated I-type granites, LILE- and LREE-enriched, and HFSE- and HREE-depleted. In addition, their magma source was likely derived from partial melting of the juvenile lower crust. Major sulfides (pyrite, molybdenite, and galena) from the porphyry ores have slightly lower δ34S values (−2.8 to −0.3 ‰) than the vein-type ore sulfides (pyrite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, and galena) (1.5 to 5.3 ‰), although they are all close to the mantle δ34S values and thus suggests a magmatic sulfur source. Meanwhile, the Pb isotope compositions of the two ore types suggest that the Pb for the porphyry mineralization was likely derived from an orogenic Pb reservoir, while the latter may have crust-mantle mixed Pb source. We suggested that both mineralization events were formed in an extensional setting, induced by the post-collision tectonics after the Paleo-Asian Ocean closure and the Paleo-Pacific subduction rollback, respectively.

In fish species with temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD) or genotypic sex determination plus temperature effects (GSD + TE), temperature can either affect sex differentiation or determine the sex. However, it is unknown if epigenetic control of cyp19a1a expression is critical for high temperature induced masculinization in the freshwater fish Nile tilapia. We analyzed the cyp19a1a DNA methylation levels in three age groups and found that they were lower in females than in males. At 8 months of age, males had DNA methylation levels of the cyp19a1a promoter that were almost twice as high as those of females. Exposure to high temperatures increased the cyp19a1a promoter DNA methylation levels from 30.87 ± 4.56% to 48.34 ± 0.92% (P = 0.035) in females and from 50.33 ± 7.38% to 51.66 ± 4.75% in males (P = 0.867). The increases in the cyp19a1a promoter DNA methylation levels were associated with the mRNA expression levels and might play a role in promoting gonadal differentiation in high temperature induced group females toward the male pathway. Western blot analysis revealed that the cyp19a1a protein expression levels in females significantly declined after high temperature treatment; only a slight decline was recorded in male fish. These results reveal that epigenetic control of cyp19a1a mRNA and protein expression is related to the environmental temperature and sex ratios in fish with TSD or GSD + TE.

In some fish species, high or low temperature can switch the sex determination mechanisms and induce fish sex reversal when the gonads are undifferentiated. During this high or low temperature-induced sex reversal, the expressions of many genes are altered. However, genome-wide DNA methylation changes in fish gonads after high or low temperature treatment are unclear. Herein, we compared the global DNA methylation changes in the gonads from control females (CF), control males (CM), high temperature-treated females (TF), and high temperature-induced males (IM) from the F8 family of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) using methylated DNA immunoprecipitation sequencing. The DNA methylation level in CF was higher than that in CM for various chromosomes. Both females and males showed an increase in methylation levels on various chromosomes after high-temperature induction. We identified 64,438 (CF/CM), 63,437 (TF/IM), 98,675 (TF/CF), 235,270 (IM/CM) and 119,958 (IM/CF) differentially methylated regions (DMRs) in Nile tilapia gonads, representing approximately 0.70% (CF/CM), 0.69% (TF/IM), 1.07% (TF/CF), 2.56% (IM/CM), and 1.30% (IM/CF)of the length of the genome. A total of 89 and 65 genes that exhibited DMRs in their gene bodies and promoters were mapped to the Nile tilapia genome. Furthermore, more than half of the genes with DMRs in the gene body in CF/CM were also included in the IM/CM, TF/CF, TF/IM, and IM/CF groups. Additionally, many important pathways, including neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction, extracellular matrix-receptor interaction, and biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids were identified. This study provided an important foundation to investigate the molecular mechanism of high temperature-induced sex reversal in fish species.

Background: Nowadays, the molecular mechanisms governing TSD (temperature-dependent sex determination) or GSD + TE (genotypic sex determination + temperature effects) remain a mystery in fish. Methods: We developed three all-female families of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), and the family with the highest male ratio after high-temperature treatment was used for transcriptome analysis. Results: First, gonadal histology analysis indicated that the histological morphology of control females (CF) was not significantly different from that of high-temperature-treated females (TF) at various development stages. However, the high-temperature treatment caused a lag of spermatogenesis in high-temperature-induced neomales (IM). Next, we sequenced the transcriptome of CF, TF, and IM Nile tilapia. 79, 11,117, and 11,000 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were detected in the CF–TF, CF–IM, and TF–IM comparisons, respectively, and 44 DEGs showed identical expression changes in the CF–TF and CF–IM comparisons. Principal component analysis (PCA) indicated that three individuals in CF and three individuals in TF formed a cluster, and three individuals in IM formed a distinct cluster, which confirmed that the gonad transcriptome profile of TF was similar to that of CF and different from that of IM. Finally, six sex-related genes were validated by qRT-PCR. Conclusions: This study identifies a number of genes that may be involved in GSD + TE, which will be useful for investigating the molecular mechanisms of TSD or GSD + TE in fish.