Chandra H S
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1985 Feb;82(4):1165-9. doi: 10.1073/pnas.82.4.1165.
Certain recent models of sex determination in mammals, Drosophila melanogaster, Caenorhabditis elegans, and snakes are examined in the light of the hypothesis that the relevant genetic regulatory mechanisms are similar and interrelated. The proposed key element in each of these instances is a noncoding DNA sequence, which serves as a high-affinity binding site for a repressor-like molecule regulating the activity of a major "sex-determining" gene. On this basis it is argued that, in several eukaryotes, (i) certain DNA sequences that are sex-determining are noncoding, in the sense that they are not the structural genes of a sex-determining protein; (ii) in some species these noncoding sequences are present in one sex and absent in the other, while in others their copy number or accessibility to regulatory molecules is significantly unequal between the two sexes; and (iii) this inequality determines whether the embryo develops into a male or a female.
根据相关基因调控机制相似且相互关联这一假说，对哺乳动物、黑腹果蝇、秀丽隐杆线虫和蛇类中近期某些性别决定模型进行了研究。在这些实例中，所提出的关键要素是一种非编码DNA序列，它作为一种类似阻遏物分子的高亲和力结合位点，调节主要“性别决定”基因的活性。在此基础上，可以认为，在几种真核生物中，（i）某些决定性别的DNA序列是非编码的，也就是说它们不是决定性别蛋白质的结构基因；（ii）在某些物种中，这些非编码序列存在于一种性别中而在另一种性别中不存在，而在其他物种中，它们的拷贝数或对调控分子的可及性在两性之间明显不等；（iii）这种不平等决定了胚胎发育成雄性还是雌性。
