DeFalco Tony J, Verney Geraldine, Jenkins Allison B, McCaffery J Michael, Russell Steven, Van Doren Mark
Department of Biology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.
Dev Cell. 2003 Aug;5(2):205-16. doi: 10.1016/s1534-5807(03)00204-1.
Sexually dimorphic development of the gonad is essential for germ cell development and sexual reproduction. We have found that the Drosophila embryonic gonad is already sexually dimorphic at the time of initial gonad formation. Male-specific somatic gonadal precursors (msSGPs) contribute only to the testis and express a Drosophila homolog of Sox9 (Sox100B), a gene essential for testis formation in humans. The msSGPs are specified in both males and females, but are only recruited into the developing testis. In females, these cells are eliminated via programmed cell death dependent on the sex determination regulatory gene doublesex. Our work furthers the hypotheses that a conserved pathway controls gonad sexual dimorphism in diverse species and that sex-specific cell recruitment and programmed cell death are common mechanisms for creating sexual dimorphism.
性腺的性别二态性发育对于生殖细胞发育和有性生殖至关重要。我们发现，果蝇胚胎性腺在最初性腺形成时就已经具有性别二态性。雄性特异性体细胞性腺前体（msSGPs）仅对睾丸有贡献，并表达人类睾丸形成所必需的基因Sox9的果蝇同源物（Sox100B）。msSGPs在雄性和雌性中都有指定，但仅被招募到发育中的睾丸中。在雌性中，这些细胞通过依赖于性别决定调节基因doublesex的程序性细胞死亡被消除。我们的工作进一步支持了这样的假设，即一条保守的途径控制着不同物种中性腺的性别二态性，并且性别特异性细胞招募和程序性细胞死亡是产生性别二态性的常见机制。
