Amrein H, Gorman M, Nöthiger R
Zoological Institute, University of Zürich, Switzerland.
Cell. 1988 Dec 23;55(6):1025-35. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(88)90247-4.
The gene transformer-2 (tra-2) of Drosophila is necessary not only for female sexual differentiation but also for normal spermatogenesis in males. We have cloned and characterized the tra-2 gene. Its putative protein has a domain that is homologous to RNA binding proteins. This suggests that the tra-2 protein might achieve the female-specific splicing of the transcript of dsx, a sex-determining gene whose mode of expression depends on tra-2. The protein coding region of the tra-2 transcript is identical in males and females. In both sexes, a low level of transcript is present in the soma and a high level in the germ line. This indicates that tra-2 is regulated in a way different from other sex-determining genes.
果蝇的性别转换基因-2（tra-2）不仅对雌性性别分化是必需的，对雄性正常精子发生也是必需的。我们已经克隆并鉴定了tra-2基因。其推测的蛋白质具有一个与RNA结合蛋白同源的结构域。这表明tra-2蛋白可能实现了双性基因（dsx）转录本的雌性特异性剪接，dsx是一种性别决定基因，其表达模式依赖于tra-2。tra-2转录本的蛋白质编码区在雄性和雌性中是相同的。在两性中，体细胞中存在低水平的转录本，而生殖系中存在高水平的转录本。这表明tra-2的调控方式与其他性别决定基因不同。
