This work constitutes a novel approach and methodology, e.g., the in vitro
secretion method to isolate the androgenic polypeptide hormone (AH) from
the androgenic gland of shrimp or prawns. Alternatively, the AH can be
obtained recombinantly by cloning and expressing the AH gene. The AH
polypeptide is used to produce phenotypic males, neomales, from genotypic
female shrimp or prawns. The neomales find use in the production of
sex-skewed and monosex offspring when mated with wild-type female shrimp
or prawns. From the sequence of the purified AH polypeptide,
oligonucleotide probes are synthesized to clone the AH encoding nucleic
acid which is used for recombinant AH polypeptide expression.
