Williams Thomas M, Carroll Sean B
Department of Biology, University of Dayton, 300 College Park, Dayton, Ohio 45469, USA.
Nat Rev Genet. 2009 Nov;10(11):797-804. doi: 10.1038/nrg2687.
Sexual dimorphism is common throughout the animal kingdom. However, a molecular understanding of how sex-specific traits develop and evolve has been elusive. Recently, substantial progress has been made in elucidating how diverse sex-determination systems are integrated into developmental gene networks. One common theme from these studies is that sex-limited traits and gene expression are produced by the combined action of transcriptional effectors of sex-determination pathways and other transcription factors on target gene cis-regulatory elements. Sex-specific traits evolve by the gain, loss or modification of linkages in the genetic networks regulated by sex-determination transcription factors.
性别二态性在整个动物界都很常见。然而，对于性别特异性特征如何发育和进化的分子理解一直难以捉摸。最近，在阐明不同的性别决定系统如何整合到发育基因网络方面取得了重大进展。这些研究的一个共同主题是，性别受限的特征和基因表达是由性别决定途径的转录效应子和其他转录因子对靶基因顺式调控元件的联合作用产生的。性别特异性特征通过性别决定转录因子调控的遗传网络中连接的获得、丧失或修饰而进化。
