Department of Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA.
HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, Huntsville, AL 35806, USA.
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2022 May 9;377(1850):20210215. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0215. Epub 2022 Mar 21.
The early 1900s delivered many foundational discoveries in genetics, including re-discovery of Mendel's research and the chromosomal theory of inheritance. Following these insights, many focused their research on whether the development of separate sexes had a chromosomal basis or if instead it was caused by environmental factors. It is Dr Nettie M. Stevens' (1905) that provided the unequivocal evidence that the inheritance of the Y chromosome initiated male development in mealworms. This result established that sex is indeed a Mendelian trait with a genetic basis and that the sex chromosomes play a critical role. In Part II of (1906), an XY pair was identified in dozens of additional species, further validating the function of sex chromosomes. Since this formative work, a wealth of studies in animals and plants have examined the genetic basis of sex. The goal of this review is to shine a light again on Stevens' and the lasting impact of this work. We additionally focus on key findings in plant systems over the last century and open questions that are best answered, as in Stevens' work, by synthesizing across many systems. This article is part of the theme issue 'Sex determination and sex chromosome evolution in land plants'.
20 世纪初，遗传学领域取得了许多基础性发现，其中包括对孟德尔研究的重新发现和染色体遗传理论。在此基础上，许多人开始研究决定男女两性发育的因素究竟是染色体基础还是环境因素。直到 1905 年，Nettie M. Stevens 博士才提供了确凿的证据，证明 Y 染色体的遗传决定了黄粉虫的雄性发育。这一结果确立了性别确实是一种孟德尔特征，具有遗传基础，性染色体起着关键作用。在 1906 年的第二部分中，在数十种其他物种中鉴定出了一对 XY 染色体，进一步验证了性染色体的功能。自这项开创性工作以来，大量的动物和植物研究已经探讨了性别的遗传基础。本文的目的是再次强调 Stevens 的工作及其持久影响。我们还重点关注了过去一个世纪植物系统中的关键发现，以及在 Stevens 的工作中，通过综合多个系统可以最好地回答的开放性问题。本文是主题为“陆地植物的性别决定和性染色体进化”的特刊的一部分。
