Abstract
Eyestalk ablation (ESA) is widely used in decapod aquaculture to induce maturation by altering endocrine function. While pronounced sexual dimorphism in growth and development is common in decapods, the endocrine regulatory mechanisms underlying sex-specific responses to ESA remain unclear. Here, we comprehensively investigated sexual dimorphic responses to unilateral ESA in the most important farming decapod— Litopenaeus vannamei —via multi-tissue transcriptomics. Integrated mRNA and sRNA profiling of eyestalk and hepatopancreas tissues revealed pronounced sex-biased differential expression. Only a limited set of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and transcripts (DETs) were common to both males and females (101 DEGs and 16 DETs in eyestalk; 478 DEGs and 231 DETs in hepatopancreas), with the majority being sex specific. We found unilateral ESA could trigger responses in hormonal pathways and metabolic processes related to carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins, while sex differences in metabolic (lipase and amylase activities), immune responses, and hormone signaling (ecdysteroids and sesquiterpenoids) were revealed. Co-expression network analysis identified sex-specific responsive modules and hub genes (e.g., Trypsin and Chit1 ). In addition, we found sexually dimorphic post-transcriptional regulation, including widespread alternative splicing, polyadenylation-induced 3′UTR length variation (longer in females and shortened in males), and microRNA–target interactions (e.g., miR-750, miR-2788, and miR-263a/b). Our study systematically reveals sexually dimorphic responses of L. vannamei to unilateral ESA from physiological, gene regulatory network, and post-transcriptional regulation aspects, advancing the understanding of the endocrine and molecular basis of sex dimorphism in decapods and offering insights for shrimp aquaculture improvement.