Wawersik Matthew, Milutinovich Allison, Casper Abbie L, Matunis Erika, Williams Brian, Van Doren Mark
Biology Department, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA.
Nature. 2005 Jul 28;436(7050):563-7. doi: 10.1038/nature03849.
Germ cells must develop along distinct male or female paths to produce the sperm or eggs required for sexual reproduction. In both mouse and Drosophila, the sexual identity of germ cells is influenced by the sex of the surrounding somatic tissue (for example, refs 1, 2, reviewed in refs 3, 4); however, little is known about how the soma controls germline sex determination. Here we show that the janus kinase/signal transducer and activator of transcription (JAK/STAT) pathway provides a sex-specific signal from the soma to the germ line in Drosophila embryonic gonads. The somatic gonad expresses a JAK/STAT ligand, unpaired (upd), in a male-specific manner, and activates the JAK/STAT pathway in male germ cells at the time of gonad formation. Furthermore, the JAK/STAT pathway is necessary for male-specific germ cell behaviour during early gonad development, and is sufficient to activate aspects of male germ cell behaviour in female germ cells. Our findings provide direct evidence that the JAK/STAT pathway mediates a key signal from the somatic gonad that regulates male germline sexual development.
生殖细胞必须沿着不同的雄性或雌性路径发育，以产生有性生殖所需的精子或卵子。在小鼠和果蝇中，生殖细胞的性别身份受周围体细胞组织性别的影响（例如，参考文献1、2，综述见参考文献3、4）；然而，关于体细胞如何控制生殖系性别决定知之甚少。在这里，我们表明，janus激酶/信号转导子及转录激活子（JAK/STAT）信号通路在果蝇胚胎性腺中从体细胞向生殖系提供了一个性别特异性信号。体细胞性腺以雄性特异性方式表达一种JAK/STAT配体——未配对蛋白（upd），并在性腺形成时激活雄性生殖细胞中的JAK/STAT信号通路。此外，JAK/STAT信号通路在性腺早期发育过程中对雄性特异性生殖细胞行为是必需的，并且足以在雌性生殖细胞中激活雄性生殖细胞行为的某些方面。我们的研究结果提供了直接证据，证明JAK/STAT信号通路介导了来自体细胞性腺的一个关键信号，该信号调节雄性生殖系的性发育。
