Function and evolution of sex determination mechanisms, genes and pathways in insects

Gempe, Tanja; Beye, Martin

doi:10.1002/bies.201000043

Cited by 191 publications

(179 citation statements)

References 100 publications

(175 reference statements)

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“…What is then the molecular mechanism that controls the sexual development in S. cynthia ssp.? It is now generally accepted that the doublesex (dsx) acts as a double switch gene at the bottom of sex-determining pathway in insects (Suzuki, 2010;Gempe and Beye, 2011), and we can assume that the dsx gene plays this role also in S. cynthia ssp. However, upstream components of the sex-determining pathway in S. cynthia ssp.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The fate of W chromosomes in hybrids between wild silkmoths, Samia cynthia ssp.: no role in sex determination and reproduction

2016

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Moths and butterflies (Lepidoptera) have sex chromosome systems with female heterogamety (WZ/ZZ or derived variants). The maternally inherited W chromosome is known to determine female sex in the silkworm, Bombyx mori. However, little is known about the role of W chromosome in other lepidopteran species. Here we describe two forms of the W chromosome, W and neo-W, that are transmitted to both sexes in offspring of hybrids from reciprocal crosses between subspecies of wild silkmoths, Samia cynthia. We performed crosses between S. c. pryeri (2n = 28, WZ/ZZ) and S. c. walkeri (2n = 26, neo-Wneo-Z/neo-Zneo-Z) and examined fitness and sex chromosome constitution in their hybrids. The F 1 hybrids of both reciprocal crosses had reduced fertility. Fluorescence in situ hybridization revealed not only the expected sex chromosome constitutions in the backcross and F 2 hybrids of both sexes but also females without the W (or neo-W) chromosome and males carrying the W (or neo-W) chromosome. Furthermore, crosses between the F 2 hybrids revealed no association between the presence or absence of W (or neo-W) chromosome and variations in the hatchability of their eggs. Our results clearly suggest that the W (or neo-W) chromosome of S. cynthia ssp. plays no role in sex determination and reproduction, and thus does not contribute to the formation of reproductive barriers between different subspecies.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The fate of W chromosomes in hybrids between wild silkmoths, Samia cynthia ssp.: no role in sex determination and reproduction

2016

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“…Increasing evidences have indicated that most of the known sex determination genes discovered so far in vertebrates are derived from the duplicated homologs of Dmrt1 gene (Chong et al, 2013;Gamble and Zarkower, 2012;Gempe and Beye, 2011;Graves, 2013;Herpin and Schartl, 2011;Kikuchi and Hamaguchi, 2013;Matson and Zarkower, 2012;Siegal and Baker, 2005;Zhou and Gui, 2010). For gibel carp, as a unisexual lineage that is able to utilize gynogenesis as a unisexual reproduction mode, how male individuals arise and how male determination genes evolve will be the merit for further investigation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although upstream sex-determination signals are diverse and changeable among species, the genes involved in the pathway are relatively conserved, which commonly contain the DNA binding motif (DM) domain (Gempe and Beye, 2011;Matson and Zarkower, 2012;Siegal and Baker, 2005;Zarkower, 2013). Especially, the Dmrt1 (dsx and mab-3 related transcription factor 1) gene had been revealed to play important roles in sex differentiation and testis development of vertebrates (Herpin and Schartl, 2011;Matson and Zarkower, 2012;Xia et al, 2007;Zarkower, 2013), and many sexdetermination or sex chromosome-linked genes had been demonstrated to be the duplicated homologs of Dmrt1 gene.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Expression characterization of testicular DMRT1 in both Sertoli cells and spermatogenic cells of polyploid gibel carp

Zhang

et al. 2014

Gene

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“…Both proteins share the N-terminal domain, which contains a DNA-binding domain (DM domain). However, they differ in their C-terminal domains, which endow specific functions to these proteins (Burtis and Baker 1989;Hoshijima et al 1991).The search for genes orthologous to the sex-determination genes of D. melanogaster has been undertaken in other insects (reviewed in Sánchez 2008;Gempe and Beye 2010;Verhulst et al 2010). This was a first task of our Sciara project.…”

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confidence: 99%

An Unusual Role fordoublesexin Sex Determination in the DipteranSciara

et al. 2015

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The gene doublesex, which is placed at the bottom of the sex-determination gene cascade, plays the ultimate discriminatory role for sex determination in insects. In all insects where this gene has been characterized, the dsx premessenger RNA (premRNA) follows a sex-specific splicing pattern, producing male-and female-specific mRNAs encoding the male-DSXM and female-DSXF proteins, which determine male and female development, respectively. This article reports the isolation and characterization of the gene doublesex of dipteran Sciara insects. The Sciara doublesex gene is constitutively transcribed during development and adult life of males and females. Sciara had no sex-specific doublesex mRNAs but the same transcripts, produced by alternative splicing of its primary transcript, were present in both sexes, although their relative abundance is sex specific. However, only the female DSXF protein, but not the male DSXM protein, was produced at similar amounts in both sexes. An analysis of the expression of female and male Sciara DSX proteins in Drosophila showed that these proteins conserved female and male function, respectively, on the control of Drosophila yolk-protein genes. The molecular evolution of gene doublesex of all insects where this gene has been characterized revealed that Sciara doublesex displays a considerable degree of divergence in its molecular organization and its splicing pattern with respect to the rest of dipterans as suggested by its basal position within the doublesex phylogeny. It is suggested that the doublesex gene is involved in Sciara sex determination although it appears not to play the discriminatory role performed in other insects.KEYWORDS sex determination; molecular evolution; Sciara; gene doublesex; genetics of sex M ALES and females are different at the morphological, physiological, and behavioral levels. This sexual dimorphism results from the integration of two processes: sex determination and sexual differentiation. Sex determination refers to the developmental program that commits the embryo to either the male or the female pathway. The genes underlying this phenomenon are the sex-determination genes. Sexual differentiation refers to the expression of the sex cytodifferentiation genes (which are controlled by the sex-determination genes), the expression of which gives rise to the formation of the sexually dimorphic structures that characterize the male and female adults.The animal kingdom possesses a wealth of mechanisms by which sex is decided (Bull 1983;Beukeboom and Perrin 2014). These mechanisms can be classified into three main categories, depending on the origin of the primary sexdetermination signal, which can be zygotic, maternal, or environmental. These three primary signals occur and are concatenated in the dipteran Sciara (for details see Sánchez 2010). Briefly, in Sciara, sex determination follows the XX/X0 mechanism: XX zygotes will develop as females and X0 zygotes will develop as males. Yet, the final chromosome constitution of the zygote, which start...

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Function and evolution of sex determination mechanisms, genes and pathways in insects

Cited by 191 publications

References 100 publications

The fate of W chromosomes in hybrids between wild silkmoths, Samia cynthia ssp.: no role in sex determination and reproduction

The fate of W chromosomes in hybrids between wild silkmoths, Samia cynthia ssp.: no role in sex determination and reproduction

Expression characterization of testicular DMRT1 in both Sertoli cells and spermatogenic cells of polyploid gibel carp

An Unusual Role fordoublesexin Sex Determination in the DipteranSciara

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