Horabin J I, Bopp D, Waterbury J, Schedl P
Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, New Jersey 08544, USA.
Genetics. 1995 Dec;141(4):1521-35. doi: 10.1093/genetics/141.4.1521.
Unlike sex determination in the soma, which is an autonomous process, sex determination in the germline of Drosophila has both inductive and autonomous components. In this paper, we examined how sexual identity is selected and maintained in the Drosophila germline. We show that female-specific expression of genes in the germline is dependent on a somatic signaling pathway. This signaling pathway requires the sex-non-specific transformer 2 gene but, surprisingly, does not appear to require the sex-specific genes, transformer and doublesex. Moreover, in contrast to the soma where pathway initiation and maintenance are independent processes, the somatic signaling pathway appears to function continuously from embryogenesis to the larval stages to select and sustain female germline identity. We also show that the primary target for the somatic signaling pathway in germ cells can not be the Sex-lethal gene.
与体细胞中的性别决定不同，体细胞中的性别决定是一个自主过程，而果蝇生殖系中的性别决定既有诱导成分又有自主成分。在本文中，我们研究了果蝇生殖系中性别身份是如何被选择和维持的。我们发现生殖系中基因的雌性特异性表达依赖于一条体细胞信号通路。这条信号通路需要性别非特异性的transformer 2基因，但令人惊讶的是，似乎并不需要性别特异性基因transformer和doublesex。此外，与体细胞中信号通路的起始和维持是独立过程不同，体细胞信号通路似乎从胚胎发生到幼虫阶段持续发挥作用，以选择和维持雌性生殖系身份。我们还表明，生殖细胞中体细胞信号通路的主要靶点不可能是性别致死基因。
