About females and males: continuity and discontinuity in flies

Bopp, Daniel

doi:10.1007/s12041-010-0043-9

Cited by 23 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 27 publications

(22 reference statements)

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“…However, the role of Sxl in Drosophila is not confined to the control of sex determination mediated by tra , but it is also involved in the control of an essential cellular mechanism that adjusts the difference in X-linked gene dose in XX and XY individuals [Cline, 1993]. It has been proposed that this vital function of Sxl preceded its recruitment to the sex-determining pathway [Bopp, 2010]. In the honeybee A. mellifera, it is the heteroallelic combination of CSD variants that act as the female-determining signal.…”

Section: Insects Employ a Conserved Module In Transducing Sex-determimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sxl took on the position of a new upstream component in the pathway, which directly controls splicing of tra [Sosnowski et al, 1989;Inoue et al, 1990;Samuels et al, 1994]. Cooption of Sxl to the pathway was possibly achieved by the emergence of new regulatory sites in the tra pre-mRNA that allowed SXL protein to effectively interact and impose the productive female splicing mode on tra [Bopp, 2010;Cline et al, 2010]. In this system, Sxl, once activated by the female signal (XX), maintains its own expression by an autoregulatory feedback loop throughout the female life cycle and hence substitutes for the need of tra autoregulation.…”

Section: Evolution Of Sex Determination Mechanismsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, in natural populations, such M factors can be found on any of the 5 autosomes and even on the X chromosome [Tsukamoto et al, 1980;Franco et al, 1982;Denholm et al, 1983;Inoue et al, 1983;Inoue and Hiroyoshi, 1984]. It is debated whether these male determiners are transposed derivatives of the same gene or whether different genes have acquired the function of a dominant male determiner, of which the primary and sole role is to antagonize the establishment of the tra loop [Bopp, 2010]. In some populations, a dominant female determiner was identified which is a gain-of-function allele of the house fly tra gene.…”

Section: Evolution Of Sex Determination Mechanismsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In insects, we find a bewildering diversity at the level of the instructive signal [Schütt and Nöthiger, 2000;Saccone et al, 2002;Sánchez, 2008;Bopp, 2010;Nagaraju and Saccone, 2010;Verhulst et al, 2010b;Gempe and Beye, 2011]. For instance, while many species involve dominant Mendelian cues, they can be either male-determining (usually referred to as M, e.g many dipteran insects such as the housefly, Musca domestica ) or female-determining (referred to as F, e.g.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sex Determination in Insects: Variations on a Common Theme

Bopp

Saccone

Beye

2013

Sex Dev

132

144

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Recent studies in a representative selection of holometabolous insects suggest that, despite diversity at the instructive level, the signal-relaying part of the sex-determining pathway is remarkably well conserved. In principle, it is composed of the transformer gene (tra), which acts as a common binary switch that transduces the selected sexual fate, female when ON, male when OFF, to the downstream effector doublesex(dsx) that controls overt sexual differentiation. An interesting recurrent feature is that tra is switched ON in the early zygote by maternally provisioned tra activity. Different male-determining signals evolved, which prevent maternal activation of zygotic tra to allow for male development. In some species, where lack of maternal activation leaves tra in the OFF state, novel female-determining signals were deployed to activate zygotic tra. It appears that both the instructive end of the pathway upstream of tra as well as the executive end downstream of dsx are primary targets of evolutionary divergence, while the transduction part seems less prone to changes. We propose that this is a feature shared with many other signaling cascades that regulate developmental fates.

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Section: Insects Employ a Conserved Module In Transducing Sex-determimentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Evolution Of Sex Determination Mechanismsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Evolution Of Sex Determination Mechanismsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Sex Determination in Insects: Variations on a Common Theme

Bopp

Saccone

Beye

2013

Sex Dev

132

144

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“…When expressed in Drosophila , SXL of C. capitata or Musca domestica , although highly conserved at the sequence level, fail to feminise XY individuals [Meise et al, 1998;Saccone et al, 1998]. Comparative studies and proposed models suggest that during Drosophilid evolution the Sxl gene evolved into a specific splicing inhibitor for controlling sex determination and dosage compensation, gradually substituting for transformer (tra) auto-regulation [Marín and Baker, 1998;Sánchez, 2008;Bopp, 2010].…”

Section: Sexual Development In Insectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Practical Applications of Insects' Sexual Development for Pest Control

Koukidou

Alphey

2014

Sex Dev

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Elucidation of the sex differentiation pathway in insects offers an opportunity to understand key aspects of evolutionary developmental biology. In addition, it provides the understanding necessary to manipulate insects in order to develop new synthetic genetics-based tools for the control of pest insects. Considerable progress has been made in this, especially in improvements to the sterile insect technique (SIT). Large scale sex separation is considered highly desirable or essential for most SIT targets. This separation can be provided by genetic methods based on sex-specific gene expression. Investigation of sex determination by many groups has provided molecular components and methods for this. Though the primary sex determination signal varies considerably, key regulatory genes and mechanisms remain surprisingly similar. In most cases studied so far, a primary signal is transmitted to a basal gene at the bottom of the hierarchy (dsx) through an alternative splicing cascade; dsx is itself differentially spliced in males and females. A sex-specific alternative splicing system therefore offers an attractive route to achieve female-specific expression. Experience has shown that alternative splicing modules can be developed with cross-species function; modularity and standardisation and re-use of parts are key principles of synthetic biology. Both female-killing and sex reversal (XX females to phenotypic males) can in principle also be used as efficient alternatives to sterilisation in SIT-like methods. Sexual maturity is yet another area where understanding of sexual development may be applied to insect control programmes. Further detailed understanding of this crucial aspect of insect biology will undoubtedly continue to underpin innovative practical applications.

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The transformer gene of Ceratitis capitata: a paradigm for a conserved epigenetic master regulator of sex determination in insects

2010

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The transformer gene in Ceratitis capitata (Cctra(ep)) is the founding member of a family of related SR genes that appear to act as the master epigenetic switch in sex determination in insects. A functional protein seems to be produced only in individuals with a female XX karyotype where it is required to maintain the productive mode of expression through a positive feedback loop and to direct female development by instructing the downstream target genes accordingly. When zygotic activation of this loop is prevented, male development follows. Recently, tra(ep) orthologues were isolated in more distantly related dipteran species including Musca domestica, Glossina morsitans and Lucilia cuprina and in the Hymenopterans Apis mellifera and Nasonia vitripennis. All of these tra(ep) orthologues seem to act as binary switches that govern all aspects of sexual development. Transient silencing leads to complete masculinization of individuals with a female karyotype. Reciprocally, in some systems it has been shown that transient expression of the functional TRA product is sufficient to transactivate the endogenous gene and implement female development in individuals with a male karyotype. Hence, a mechanism based on tra(ep) epigenetic autoregulation seems to represent a common and presumably ancestral single principle of sex determination in Insecta. The results of these studies will not only be important for understanding divergent evolution of basic developmental processes but also for designing new strategies to improve genetic sexing in different insect species of economical or medical importance.

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About females and males: continuity and discontinuity in flies

Cited by 23 publications

References 27 publications

Sex Determination in Insects: Variations on a Common Theme

Sex Determination in Insects: Variations on a Common Theme

Practical Applications of Insects' Sexual Development for Pest Control

The transformer gene of Ceratitis capitata: a paradigm for a conserved epigenetic master regulator of sex determination in insects

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