Fig. 1

Zebrafish brca2 structure and zebrafish brca2^Q658X mutation. (A) Schematic of zebrafish brca2 (Upper) compared with human BRCA2 (Lower). The zebrafish brca2 gene [National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) sequence NC_007126.4] has 16,583 base pairs with 27 exons and encodes a 2874-aa protein (NCBI sequence NP_001103864). Conserved domains include the Rad51-binding BRC repeats (red bars) and the DNA-binding domain (dark-blue box). The zebrafish brca2^Q658X mutation (C1971T;Q658X) described herein is shown relative to its position within exon 11. (B) WT and brca2^Q658X heterozygotes exhibit distinctly male or female phenotypes, whereas brca2^Q658X homozygotes are phenotypically male. (C) Gonads from zebrafish of each genotype reflect observed male or female phenotypes in B. Spermatogenesis is complete in testes from WT and brca2^Q658X heterozygotes. Testes from brca2^Q658X homozygotes contain only spermatogonia and primary spermatocytes. Ovaries from WT and brca2^Q658X heterozygotes are similar and contain developing and mature oocytes. sg, spermatagonia; sc, spermatocytes; sz, spermatozoa; I, stage I oocyte; II, stage II oocyte; III, stage III oocyte. (Scale bars: 50 μm for sections of testis; 250 μm for sections of ovaries.)