Sex determination in Drosophila melanogaster

The Quarterly Review of Biology
R Slee, M Bownes

Abstract

The understanding of sex determination is a fundamental goal in the study of eukaryotic developmental genetics. The mechanisms governing the generation of sexual dimorphism have been well characterized in Drosophila because of its amenability to both genetic manipulation and the application of the techniques of modern molecular genetics. By using classical genetics to search for sex-transforming mutations and by analysing their phenotypes and how they interact, a picture has emerged involving a cascade of regulatory genes. The primary sex determining signal--the ratio of the number of X chromosomes to the number of sets of autosomes--sets this cascade into motion. Genetic evidence has suggested that the intervening genes in this pathway are active in females but not in males, whereas the final gene has active but opposing roles in the two sexes. This bifunctional locus is responsible for the repression of female differentiation genes in males and male differentiation genes in females. The cloning of the key genes of the regulatory cascade and the study of their transcription patterns have revealed that their different functional states in the two sexes do not result from control at the transcriptional level, as might have been ...Continue Reading

Citations

Apr 1, 1992·BioEssays : News and Reviews in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology·J Hodgkin
Oct 1, 1994·BioEssays : News and Reviews in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology·M Bownes
Aug 18, 2010·Genetica·Jayendra Nath ShuklaJavaregowda Nagaraju
Nov 1, 1992·Developmental Biology·F M ButterworthM Bownes
May 21, 1999·European Journal of Biochemistry·C N MacDougallM Bownes
Jan 12, 2005·Evolution & Development·Masataka G SuzukiToru Shimada
Aug 1, 1992·BioEssays : News and Reviews in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology·M Steinmann-Zwicky
Mar 7, 2006·Mechanisms of Development·Karine Narbonne-ReveauAnne-Marie Pret
Jan 1, 1993·Archives of Insect Biochemistry and Physiology·D Segal
Nov 1, 1991·Roux's Archives of Developmental Biology : the Official Organ of the EDBO·Andres Hilfiker, Rolf Nothiger
Jun 17, 1994·Science·J C Hall

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