{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,10]],"date-time":"2026-02-10T13:40:46Z","timestamp":1770730846405,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":17,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,28]],"date-time":"2026-01-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1769558400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003130","name":"Flemish Research Foundation","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["G0H3120N"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["G0H3120N"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003130","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"FWO Excellence of Science","award":["40007527"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["40007527"]}]},{"name":"KU Leuven Global Seed Fund","award":["GSF\/25\/074"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["GSF\/25\/074"]}]},{"name":"European Union MSCA4Ukraine fellowship","award":["101110724"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["101110724"]}]},{"name":"European Union Horizon Europe Programme","award":["101137459"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["101137459"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Genes"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Molecular sex determination in Syrian hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) has been limited by the incomplete annotation of Y-linked loci in currently available genome assemblies. Here, we evaluate the Y-linked gene PRSSLY, which encodes a testis-specific serine protease-like protein, as a molecular marker for genetic sexing of Syrian hamster embryonic and placental tissues. Primers flanking a conserved PRSSLY coding region produced a male-specific amplicon showing 100% concordance with results from the established KDM5C\/KDM5D PCR assay in E15.5 tail biopsies. SYBR Green\u2013based qPCR enables the accurate detection of PRSSLY, characterized by a unique melt-curve profile, exclusively in male samples, allowing for efficient and sensitive mid-throughput analysis. Application of the PRSSLY assay to 417 placental samples from 39 dams demonstrated its suitability for large-scale sex genotyping, enabling sex assignment in the majority of samples despite the intrinsic complexity of placental tissue containing both maternal and embryonic genetic material. This assay provides a robust and reproducible approach for accurate sex genotyping in developmental and reproductive studies using Syrian hamsters.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/genes17020143","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,28]],"date-time":"2026-01-28T08:48:04Z","timestamp":1769590084000},"page":"143","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["PRSSLY-Based Molecular Sex Determination of Syrian Hamster (Mesocricetus auratus) Pups Using Placental Tissues"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"17","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7019-5662","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yana","family":"Kumpanenko","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"KU Leuven Department of Microbiology, Immunology & Transplantation, Rega Institute, Virology, Antiviral Drug and Vaccine Research Group, Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology & Vaccine Discovery (MVVD), 3000 Leuven, Belgium"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Lindsey","family":"Piessens","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"KU Leuven Department of Microbiology, Immunology & Transplantation, Rega Institute, Virology, Antiviral Drug and Vaccine Research Group, Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology & Vaccine Discovery (MVVD), 3000 Leuven, Belgium"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0007-9160-7543","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Victor","family":"Neven","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"KU Leuven Department of Microbiology, Immunology & Transplantation, Rega Institute, Virology, Antiviral Drug and Vaccine Research Group, Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology & Vaccine Discovery (MVVD), 3000 Leuven, Belgium"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8117-9166","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kai","family":"Dallmeier","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"KU Leuven Department of Microbiology, Immunology & Transplantation, Rega Institute, Virology, Antiviral Drug and Vaccine Research Group, Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology & Vaccine Discovery (MVVD), 3000 Leuven, Belgium"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1959-5393","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yeranddy A.","family":"Alpizar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"KU Leuven Department of Microbiology, Immunology & Transplantation, Rega Institute, Virology, Antiviral Drug and Vaccine Research Group, Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology & Vaccine Discovery (MVVD), 3000 Leuven, Belgium"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,28]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"494","DOI":"10.1038\/nature13206","article-title":"Mammalian Y chromosomes retain widely expressed dosage-sensitive regulators","volume":"508","author":"Bellott","year":"2014","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Hughes, J.F., Skaletsky, H., Nicholls, P.K., Drake, A., Pyntikova, T., Cho, T.J., Bellott, D.W., and Page, D.C. 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