Sex determination in Drosophila: The view from the top

Salz, Helen K.; Erickson, James

doi:10.4161/fly.4.1.11277

Cited by 248 publications

(260 citation statements)

References 107 publications

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“…The protein product from Sxl-Pe regulates the Sxl-Pm splicing to produce the SXL protein in female embryos. The Sxl-Pm transcript found in males includes an extra exon, which renders the transcript nonfunctional (Salz and Erickson 2010). Similarly, we found that swi2L expresses in both yeast cell types, but the swi2S expresses only in M cells and at a level higher than that of swi2L.…”

Section: A Model For Swi2l and Swi2s Factors Controlling Directionalitymentioning

confidence: 48%

Going in the Right Direction: Mating-Type Switching ofSchizosaccharomyces pombeIs Controlled by Judicious Expression of Two Differentswi2Transcripts

Bonaduce

Klar

2012

Genetics

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Schizosaccharomyces pombe, the fission yeast, cells alternate between P-and M-mating type, controlled by the alternate alleles of the mating-type locus (mat1). The mat1 switching occurs by replacing mat1 with a copy derived from a silenced "donor locus," mat2P or mat3M. The mechanism of donor choice ensuring that switching occurs primarily and productively to the opposite type, called directionality, is largely unknown. Here we identified the mat1-Mc gene, a mammalian sex-determination gene (SRY) homolog, as the primary gene that dictates directionality in M cells. A previously unrecognized, shorter swi2 mRNA, a truncated form of the swi2, was identified, and its expression requires the mat1-Mc function. We also found that the abp1 gene (human CENPB homolog) controls directionality through swi2 regulation. In addition, we implicated a cis-acting DNA sequence in mat2 utilization. Overall, we showed that switching directionality is controlled by judicious expression of two swi2 transcripts through a cell-type-regulated dual promoter. In this respect, this regulation mechanism resembles that of the Drosophila sex-determination Slx gene.

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Section: A Model For Swi2l and Swi2s Factors Controlling Directionalitymentioning

confidence: 48%

Going in the Right Direction: Mating-Type Switching ofSchizosaccharomyces pombeIs Controlled by Judicious Expression of Two Differentswi2Transcripts

Bonaduce

Klar

2012

Genetics

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“…Accordingly, studies focusing on Drosophila and primates have described AS events that are differentially regulated between the sexes in both somatic and gonadal tissues (MCINTYRE et al 2006;TELONIS-SCOTT et al 2009;BLEKHMAN et al 2010;GAN et al 2010;CHANG et al 2011;HARTMANN et al 2011;STURGILL et al 2013;TRABZUNI et al 2013). In Drosophila, the mechanism of sex-determination hinges on the post-transcriptional regulation of the sex-lethal (Sxl) gene (BELL et al 1988;SALZ AND ERICKSON 2010); Sxl encodes 21 protein isoforms, with all male-specific isoforms containing a translation-terminating exon. Proper splicing of Sxl is necessary to orchestrate the expression of genes that control sex-specific development and behavior (SALZ AND ERICKSON 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Drosophila, the mechanism of sex-determination hinges on the post-transcriptional regulation of the sex-lethal (Sxl) gene (BELL et al 1988;SALZ AND ERICKSON 2010); Sxl encodes 21 protein isoforms, with all male-specific isoforms containing a translation-terminating exon. Proper splicing of Sxl is necessary to orchestrate the expression of genes that control sex-specific development and behavior (SALZ AND ERICKSON 2010). Similarly, doublesex (dsx) and transformer (tra), two members of the core pathway of sex determination, also encode male-or female-specific isoforms (CHRISTIANSEN et al 2002;POMIANKOWSKI et al 2004;VENABLES et al 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Y Chromosome Modulates Splicing and Sex-Biased Intron Retention Rates in Drosophila

Wang¹,

Branco²,

Lemos³

2018

Genetics

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The Drosophila Y chromosome is a 40MB segment of mostly repetitive DNA; it harbors a handful of protein coding genes and a disproportionate amount of satellite repeats, transposable elements, and multicopy DNA arrays. Intron retention (IR) is a type of alternative splicing (AS) event by which one or more introns remain within the mature transcript. IR recently emerged as a deliberate cellular mechanism to modulate gene expression levels and has been implicated in multiple biological processes. However, the extent of sex differences in IR and the contribution of the Y chromosome to the modulation of alternative splicing and intron retention rates has not been addressed. Here we showed pervasive intron retention (IR) in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster with thousands of novel IR events, hundreds of which displayed extensive sex-bias.

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“…In the female germ-line Sxl regulates sex identity by a different mechanism, as tra, tra2, msl-2 have no roles in the germ line (2). In the ovary, germ-line stem cells (GSCs) located at the anterior tip of the germarium divide to produce another GSC and a cystoblast (CB) that is committed to differentiate.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Once activated, Sxl maintains its own expression by regulating the alternative splicing of its pre-mRNA. Sxl controls female fate by controlling somatic and germ-line sex identity as well as dosage compensation (2). In female somatic cells, Sxl controls the alternative splicing of transformer (tra), which together with transformer2 (tra2) controls the alternative splicing of doublesex (dsx) and fruitless (fru).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

spenito is required for sex determination in Drosophila melanogaster

Dong

Perrimon

2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Sex-lethal (Sxl) encodes the master regulator of the sex determination pathway in Drosophila and acts by controlling sex identity in both soma and germ line. In females Sxl maintains its own expression by controlling the alternative splicing of its own mRNA. Here, we identify a novel sex determination gene, spenito (nito) that encodes a SPEN family protein. Loss of nito activity results in stem cell tumors in the female germ line as well as female-to-male somatic transformations. We show that Nito is a ubiquitous nuclear protein that controls the alternative splicing of the Sxl mRNA by interacting with Sxl protein and pre-mRNA, suggesting that it is directly involved in Sxl auto-regulation. Given that SPEN family proteins are frequently mutated in cancers, our results suggest that these factors might be implicated in tumorigenesis through splicing regulation.germ-line stem cell | sex determination | alternative splicing S ex determination in Drosophila is under the control of the master regulatory gene Sex-lethal (Sxl) (1). Sxl acts downstream of the X-chromosome counting mechanism and encodes a female-specific RNA binding protein. Once activated, Sxl maintains its own expression by regulating the alternative splicing of its pre-mRNA. Sxl controls female fate by controlling somatic and germ-line sex identity as well as dosage compensation (2). In female somatic cells, Sxl controls the alternative splicing of transformer (tra), which together with transformer2 (tra2) controls the alternative splicing of doublesex (dsx) and fruitless (fru). dsx and fru in turn encode sex-specific transcription factors that control male versus female morphology, physiology, and behavior (3, 4). In addition, Sxl represses the male-specific dosage compensation system by regulating male-specific lethal 2 (msl-2) both at the level of alternative splicing and translational control (5

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Sex determination in Drosophila: The view from the top

Cited by 248 publications

References 107 publications

Going in the Right Direction: Mating-Type Switching ofSchizosaccharomyces pombeIs Controlled by Judicious Expression of Two Differentswi2Transcripts

Going in the Right Direction: Mating-Type Switching ofSchizosaccharomyces pombeIs Controlled by Judicious Expression of Two Differentswi2Transcripts

The Y Chromosome Modulates Splicing and Sex-Biased Intron Retention Rates in Drosophila

spenito is required for sex determination in Drosophila melanogaster

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