SEX AND THE SINGLE CELL. I. ON THE ACTION OF MAJOR LOCI AFFECTING SEX DETERMINATION IN DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER

作者：Bruce S. Baker, Kimberly A Ridge · 发表于：Genetics · 年份：1980 · DOI：10.1093/genetics/94.2.383 · 被引用次数：362 · 研究领域：Genetic and Clinical Aspects of Sex Determination and Chromosomal Abnormalities、Circadian rhythm and melatonin、Genetics, Aging, and Longevity in Model Organisms

Sex determination in Drosophila melanogaster is under the control of the X chromosome:autosome ratio and at least four major regulatory genes: transformer (tra), transformer-2 (tra-2), doublesex (dsx) and intersex (ix). Attention is focused here on the roles of these four loci in sex determination. By examining the sexual phenotype of clones of homozygous mutant cells produced by mitotic recombination in flies heterozygous for a given recessive sex-determination mutant, we have shown that the tra, tra-2 and dsx loci determine sex in a cell-autonomous manner. The effect of removing the wild-type allele of each locus (by mitotic recombination) at a number of times during development has been used to determine when the wild-type alleles of the tra, tra-2 and dsx loci have been transcribed sufficiently to support normal sexual development. The wild-type alleles of all three loci are needed into the early pupal period for normal sex determination in the cells that produce the sexually dimorphic (in pigmentation) cuticle of the fifth and sixth dorsal abdominal segments. tra(+) and tra-2(+) cease being needed shortly before the termination of cell division in the abdomen, whereas dsx(+) is required at least until the end of division. By contrast, in the foreleg, the wild-type alleles of tra(+) and tra-2(+) have functioned sufficiently for normal sexual differentiation to occur by about 24 to 48 hours before pupariation, but dsx(+) is required in the foreleg at least until pupariatio...