Cline T W, Meyer B J
Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley 94720-3204, USA.
Annu Rev Genet. 1996;30:637-702. doi: 10.1146/annurev.genet.30.1.637.
For 600 million years, the two best-understood metazoan species, the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans and fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, have developed independent strategies for solving a biological problem faced by essentially all metazoans: how to generate two sexes in the proper proportions. The genetic program for sexual dimorphism has been a major focus of research in these two organisms almost from the moment they were chosen for study, and it may now be the best-understood general aspect of their development. In this review, we compare and contrast the strategies used for sex determination (including dosage compensation) between "the fly" and "the worm" and the way this understanding has come about. Although no overlap has been found among the molecules used by flies and worms to achieve sex determination, striking similarities have been found in the genetic strategies used by these two species to differentiate their sexes.
在长达6亿年的时间里，线虫秀丽隐杆线虫和果蝇黑腹果蝇这两种人们了解得最为透彻的后生动物，各自发展出了独立的策略，以解决基本上所有后生动物都面临的一个生物学问题：如何以适当比例产生两种性别。几乎从这两种生物被选作研究对象的那一刻起，性别二态性的遗传程序就一直是这两个生物体研究的主要焦点，而且它现在可能是其发育过程中人们了解得最透彻的总体方面。在这篇综述中，我们比较并对比了“果蝇”和“线虫”用于性别决定（包括剂量补偿）的策略，以及达成这种认识的过程。尽管在果蝇和线虫用于实现性别决定的分子之间未发现重叠，但在这两个物种用于区分性别的遗传策略中却发现了惊人的相似之处。
