NISHIMURA Kanako (Senior student of College of Science and Engineering, Department of Chemistry and Biological Science, member of Professor HIRATA Hiromi’s Brain Science Laboratory) was awarded the Best Presentation Award at The 26th Japanese Medaka and Zebrafish Meeting (JMZM). The event was held online via Zoom on Friday, November 20 ~ Saturday, November 21, 2020, and Nishimura gave a presentation on gender determination in zebrafish.

The JMZM is an academic meeting that shares the latest information from basic research of aquatic animals which includes medaka, zebrafish, and other small fish. The research also extends into wide areas of medical and industrial applications as well as environmental preservation. The JMZM is held every year in English, which is its official language.

The gender of mammals including humans is determined by a genetic factor, in other words by the Y chromosome. On the other hand, the gender of reptiles is determined by the water temperature during embryogenesis (before hatching), and that of fish is affected by the nutritional status in larval period. Although it seems that environmental factors modify genetic program of the gender determination in lower vertebrate animals, the molecular basis underlying this gender determination has not been fully explored.

In this research, Nishimura applied RNA-Sequencing (RNA-Seq), a method for gathering a vast amount of gene expression data, into gender determination study of zebrafish and developed a pre-determined speculation of male and female individuals based on the gene expression profile. Through this, she succeeded in searching for genes that are potentially involved in the gender determination affected by environmental factors.

Nishimura’s presentation was highly admired by the judges for its conspicuous slide designs and intelligible explanation, not to mention the outstanding results achieved by the research and its future prospects. She was selected for the Best Presentation award.

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