Masculinization of XX Drosophila transgenic flies expressing the Ceratitis capitata DoublesexM isoform

Saccone, Giuseppe; Salvemini, Marco; Pane, Andrea; Polito, Lino C.

doi:10.1387/ijdb.082657gs

Cited by 41 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…In addition, recent studies suggest that changes in temporal and spatial expression of dsx by gene regulatory networks providing positional information may contribute to this diversity [Rideout et al, 2010;Robinett et al, 2010]. A prominent role of dsx in properly implementing the selected sexual developmental program has not only been validated in D. melanogaster [Baker and Wolfner, 1988], but also in other dipterans, M. domestica [Hediger et al, 2004] and C. capitata [Saccone et al, 2008], in the lepidopteran B. mori [Suzuki et al, 2003[Suzuki et al, , 2005 as well as in the coleopterans T. castaneum [Shukla and Palli, 2012a] and horned beetles [Kijimoto et al, 2012]. Hence, dsx is thought to play a widely conserved role in integrating information about sexual identity in the general developmental program [Vincent et al, 2001].…”

Section: Downstream Events In Sexually Dimorphic Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex Determination in Insects: Variations on a Common Theme

Bopp

Saccone

Beye

2013

Sex Dev

134

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: Downstream Events In Sexually Dimorphic Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex Determination in Insects: Variations on a Common Theme

Bopp

Saccone

Beye

2013

Sex Dev

134

144

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“…While Ceratitis Sxl is not regulated in a sex-specific manner, the tra and dsx homologues (Cctra and Ccdsx) produce sex-specific mRNA by alternative splicing, as in Drosophila , Saccone et al, 1998. Sequence analysis of the C. capitata dsx gene found the sequence conservation of two Drosophila regulatory elements: 1) a weak polypyrimidine tract at the 3' acceptor splice site before the female-specific exon and 2) four conserved putative TRA/TRA-2 binding sites in the female-specific 3' untranslated region of Ccdsx (Saccone et al, 2008). These motifs support the notion that Ceratitis dsx female-specific splicing appears to be regulated by a conserved alternative splicing mechanism in which the male-specific mode is the default state, while the female-specific mode requires the positive action of the TRA/TRA-2 homologous splicing complex .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ceratitis capitata transformer-2 gene is required to establish and maintain the autoregulation of Cctra, the master gene for female sex determination

Salvemini¹,

Robertson²,

Aronson³

et al. 2009

Int. J. Dev. Biol.

Self Cite

138

237

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In Drosophila melanogaster, transformer-2 (TRA-2) which is a non-sex-specific auxiliary splicing factor, is required to promote female sexual differentiation by interaction with the female-specific TRA. The two proteins positively regulate the splicing of both doublesex (dsx) and fruitless (fru) pre-mRNAs, which in turn regulate phenotypic and behavioural sexual dimorphism. In the Mediterranean fruitfly Ceratitis capitata, the female-specific CcTRA is similarly required not only for Ccdsx splicing, but also to exert a novel autoregulatory function that consists of promoting female-specific splicing of Cctra pre-mRNA. This study reports the isolation and functional analysis of the C. capitata homologue of the Drosophila transformer-2 gene (Cctra-2). Transient RNAi against Cctra-2 during embryonic development causes the full sex reversal of XX flies in adult fertile pseudo-males, as well as changes in the splicing pattern of Cctra, Ccdsx and Ccfruitless (Ccfru). We propose that: 1) Cctra-2, as in Drosophila, is necessary for promoting Ccdsx and putative Ccfru pre-mRNA female-specific splicing and that 2) unlike in Drosophila, Cctra-2 appears to be necessary for establishing female sex determination in early XX embryos and for maintaining the positive feedback regulation of Cctra during development.

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“…Nevertheless, recent studies indicate that some of the downstream sex determination genes are functionally similar in diverse species. Among these, the doublesex gene is one of the most conserved sex-determining genes and has been reported to regulate sexual development in many metazoan phyla, from worm to human (as revised in Sanchez 2008;Saccone et al 2008). dsx functions in both sexes; its primary transcript undergoes sex-specific alternative splicing, producing either a malespecific isoform, DSXM, or a female-specific isoform, DSXF, that exhibit similar DNA-binding properties although have opposite biological functions (Baker and Ridge 1980;Coschigano and Wensink 1993).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cloning and functional characterization of the intersex homologous gene in the pest lepidopteron Maruca vitrata

Cavaliere

Cara²,

Polito³

et al. 2009

Int. J. Dev. Biol.

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The intersex (ix) gene works in concert with doublesex (dsx) at the bottom of the sexdetermination hierarchy to control somatic sexual differentiation in Drosophila melanogaster females. Here we report the isolation and characterization of the Drosophila intersex (ix) homologue in the pest lepidopteron Maruca vitrata (Mvix). The Mvix gene exhibits major complexity with respect to the Drosophila homolog. It is expressed in males and females and its pre-mRNA is subject to differential splicing events which affect both the protein coding and the non-coding regions. Moreover, Northern blot experiments revealed the presence of a femalespecific transcript in pupae RNA, which appears to be the first described sex specific transcript of ix homologs characterized to date. The expression of Mvix cDNA in D.melanogaster transgenic flies indicates that the MvIX product, which shares a relatively high degree of homology with the D.melanogaster IX protein, is able to partially rescues the Drosophila mutant phenotype.

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Masculinization of XX Drosophila transgenic flies expressing the Ceratitis capitata DoublesexM isoform

Cited by 41 publications

References 33 publications

Sex Determination in Insects: Variations on a Common Theme

Sex Determination in Insects: Variations on a Common Theme

Ceratitis capitata transformer-2 gene is required to establish and maintain the autoregulation of Cctra, the master gene for female sex determination

Cloning and functional characterization of the intersex homologous gene in the pest lepidopteron Maruca vitrata

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