The dual role of hermaphrodite in the Drosophila sex determination regulatory hierarchy

Development ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 121 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.A. Pultz ◽  
B.S. Baker
Keyword(s):  
Sex Determination ◽  
Dosage Compensation ◽  
Regulatory Protein ◽  
Female Offspring ◽  
Normal Female ◽  
Female Development ◽  
Salivary Gland Cells ◽  
Maternal Function ◽  
Different Levels

The hermaphrodite (her) locus has both maternal and zygotic functions required for normal female development in Drosophila. Maternal her function is needed for the viability of female offspring, while zygotic her function is needed for female sexual differentiation. Here we focus on understanding how her fits into the sex determination regulatory hierarchy. Maternal her function is needed early in the hierarchy: genetic interactions of her with the sisterless genes (sis-a and sis-b), with function-specific Sex-lethal (Sxl) alleles and with the constitutive allele SxlM#1 suggest that maternal her function is needed for Sxl initiation. When mothers are defective for her function, their daughters fail to activate a reporter gene for the Sxl early promoter and are deficient in Sxl protein expression. Dosage compensation is misregulated in the moribund daughters: some salivary gland cells show binding of the maleless (mle) dosage compensation regulatory protein to the X chromosome, a binding pattern normally seen only in males. Thus maternal her function is needed early in the hierarchy as a positive regulator of Sxl, and the maternal effects of her on female viability probably reflect Sxl's role in regulating dosage compensation. In contrast to her's maternal function, her's zygotic function in sex determination acts at the end of the hierarchy. This zygotic effect is not rescued by constitutive Sxl expression, nor by constitutive transformer (tra) expression. Moreover, the expression of doublesex (dsx) transcripts appears normal in her mutant females. We conclude that the maternal and zygotic functions of her are needed at two distinctly different levels of the sex determination regulatory hierarchy.

scholarly journals A conserved role of the duplicated Masculinizer gene in sex determination of the Mediterranean flour moth, Ephestia kuehniella

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sander Visser ◽  
Anna Voleníková ◽  
Petr Nguyen ◽  
Eveline C. Verhulst ◽  
František Marec
Keyword(s):  
Sex Determination ◽  
Early Embryogenesis ◽  
Ephestia Kuehniella ◽  
Z Chromosome ◽  
Female Development ◽  
Biased Sex Ratio ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Female Specific ◽  
Mediterranean Flour Moth

AbstractSex determination in the silkworm, Bombyx mori, is based on Feminizer (Fem), a W-linked Fem piRNA that triggers female development in WZ individuals, and the Z-linked Masculinizer (Masc), which initiates male development and dosage compensation in ZZ individuals. While Fem piRNA is missing in a close relative of B. mori, Masc determines sex in several representatives of distant lepidopteran lineages. We studied the molecular mechanisms of sex determination in the Mediterranean flour moth, Ephestia kuehniella (Pyralidae). We identified an E. kuehniella Masc ortholog, EkMasc, and its paralog resulting from a recent duplication, EkMascB. Both genes are located on the Z chromosome and encode a similar Masc protein that contains two conserved domains but has lost the conserved double zinc finger domain. We developed PCR-based genetic sexing and demonstrated a peak in the expression of EkMasc and EkMascB genes only in early male embryos. Simultaneous knock-down experiments of both EkMasc and EkMascB using RNAi during early embryogenesis led to a shift from male- to female-specific splicing of the E. kuehniella doublesex gene (Ekdsx), their downstream effector, in ZZ embryos and resulted in a strong female-biased sex-ratio. Our results thus confirmed the conserved role of both EkMasc and EkMascB genes in masculinization. We suggest that the C-terminal proline-rich domain, we have identified in all functionally confirmed Masc proteins, in conjunction with the masculinizing domain, is important for transcriptional regulation of sex determination in Lepidoptera. The function of the Masc double zinc finger domain is still unknown, but appears to have been lost in E. kuehniella.Author summaryThe sex-determining cascade in the silkworm, Bombyx mori, differs greatly from those of other insects. In B. mori, female development is initiated by Fem piRNA expressed from the W chromosome during early embryogenesis. Fem piRNA silences Masculinizer (Masc) thereby blocking the male pathway resulting in female development. It is currently unknown whether this cascade is conserved across Lepidoptera. In the Mediterranean flour moth, Ephestia kuehniella, we identified an ortholog of Masc and discovered its functional duplication on the Z chromosome, which has not yet been found in any other lepidopteran species. We provide two lines of evidence that both the EkMasc and EkMascB genes play an essential role in masculinization: (i) they show a peak of expression during early embryogenesis in ZZ but not in WZ embryos and (ii) their silencing by RNAi results in female-specific splicing of the E. kuehniella doublesex gene (Ekdsx) in ZZ embryos and in a female-biased sex ratio. Our results suggest a conserved role of the duplicated Masc gene in sex determination of E. kuehniella.

Genetic evidence that the sans fille locus is involved in Drosophila sex determination.

Genetics ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 120 (1) ◽  
pp. 159-171
Author(s):  
B Oliver ◽  
N Perrimon ◽  
A P Mahowald
Keyword(s):  
Sex Determination ◽  
Dosage Compensation ◽  
Germ Line ◽  
Ovarian Tumors ◽  
Lethal Gene ◽  
Nurse Cells ◽  
Loss Of Function ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Sex Lethal

Abstract Females homozygous for sans fille1621 (= fs(1)1621) have an abnormal germ line. Instead of producing eggs, the germ-line cells proliferate forming ovarian tumors or excessive numbers of nurse cells. The Sex-lethal gene product(s) regulate the branch point of the dosage compensation and sex determination pathways in the soma. The role of Sex-lethal in the germ line is not clear but the germ line of females homozygous for female sterile Sex-lethal alleles or germ-line clones of loss-of-function alleles are characterized by ovarian tumors. Females heterozygous for sans fille1621 or Sex-lethal are phenotypically wild type with respect to viability and fertility but females trans-heterozygous for sans fille1621 and Sex-lethal show ovarian tumors, somatic sexual transformations, and greatly reduced viability.

scholarly journals Triploid plover female provides support for a role of the W chromosome in avian sex determination

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 787-789 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clemens Küpper ◽  
Jakob Augustin ◽  
Scott Edwards ◽  
Tamás Székely ◽  
András Kosztolányi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sex Determination ◽  
Sex Chromosome ◽  
W Chromosome ◽  
Female Development ◽  
Linked Gene ◽  
Charadrius Alexandrinus ◽  
Male Development ◽  
Polymorphic Microsatellite ◽  
Kentish Plover

Two models, Z Dosage and Dominant W , have been proposed to explain sex determination in birds, in which males are characterized by the presence of two Z chromosomes, and females are hemizygous with a Z and a W chromosome. According to the Z Dosage model, high dosage of a Z-linked gene triggers male development, whereas the Dominant W model postulates that a still unknown W-linked gene triggers female development. Using 33 polymorphic microsatellite markers, we describe a female triploid Kentish plover Charadrius alexandrinus identified by characteristic triallelic genotypes at 14 autosomal markers that produced viable diploid offspring. Chromatogram analysis showed that the sex chromosome composition of this female was ZZW. Together with two previously described ZZW female birds, our results suggest a prominent role for a female determining gene on the W chromosome. These results imply that avian sex determination is more dynamic and complex than currently envisioned.

scholarly journals A FEMALE-SPECIFIC LETHAL LESION IN AN X-LINKED POSITIVE REGULATOR OF THE DROSOPHILA SEX DETERMINATION GENE, SEX-LETHAL

Genetics ◽  
1986 ◽  
Vol 113 (3) ◽  
pp. 641-663
Author(s):  
Thomas W Cline
Keyword(s):  
Sex Determination ◽  
Dosage Compensation ◽  
Loss Of Function ◽  
Female Development ◽  
Lethal Effects ◽  
Larval Stages ◽  
Positive Regulator ◽  
Sexual Phenotype ◽  
Activity State ◽  
Female Specific

ABSTRACT Characterization of a partial-loss-of-function, female-specific lethal mutation has identified an X-linked genetic element (1-34.3; 10B4) that functions as a positive regulator of Sxl, a central gene controlling sex determination in Drosophila melanogaster. The name, sisterless-a, was chosen both to suggest functional similarities that exist between this gene and another positive regulator of Sxl, the maternally acting gene daughterless (da), and also to highlight an important difference; namely, that in contrast to da, it is the zygotic rather than maternal functioning of sis-a that is involved in its interaction with Sxl. As with da, the female-specific lethal phenotype of sis-a is suppressed both by SxlM  #1, a gain-of-function mutant allele of the target gene, and, to a lesser extent, by a duplication of Sxl  +. Mutations at sis-a, da and Sxl display female-specific dominant synergism, each enhancing the others' lethal effects. The allele specificity with respect to Sxl of these dominant interactions indicates that sis-a and da affect the same aspect of Sxl regulation. As with previous studies of da and Sxl, the masculinizing effects of loss of sis-a function are generally obscured by lethal effects, presumably related to upsets in dosage compensation. The masculinizing effects can be dissociated from lethal effects by analysis of triploid intersexes (XX AAA) or by analysis of diploid females who are also mutant for autosomal genes known to be required for the transcriptional hyperactivation associated with dosage compensation in males. Analysis of foreleg development shows that intersexuality generated by sis-a is of the mosaic type: At the level of individual cells, only male or female development is observed, never an intermediate sexual phenotype characteristic of true intersexes. Sexual development of diplo-X germline and somatic clones of sis-a tissue generated by mitotic recombination during larval stages is normal, as is the sexual phenotype of homozygous sis-a escapers. Considered in their totality, these results indicate that sis-a functions early in development to help establish the activity state of Sxl and thereby initiate the sexual pathway commitment, rather than functioning later in the processes by which Sxl maintains and expresses the sex determination decision.

scholarly journals Feedback control of sex determination by dosage compensation revealed through Caenorhabditis elegans sdc-3 mutations.

Genetics ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 133 (4) ◽  
pp. 875-896 ◽  
Author(s):  
L DeLong ◽  
J D Plenefisch ◽  
R D Klein ◽  
B J Meyer
Keyword(s):  
Caenorhabditis Elegans ◽  
Feedback Control ◽  
Sex Determination ◽  
Sexual Identity ◽  
Dosage Compensation ◽  
Feedback Mechanism ◽  
Null Alleles ◽  
Null Phenotype ◽  
New Gene

Abstract In Caenorhabditis elegans, sex determination and dosage compensation are coordinately controlled through a group of genes that respond to the primary sex determination signal. Here we describe a new gene, sdc-3, that also controls these processes. In contrast to previously described genes, the sex determination and dosage compensation activities of sdc-3 are separately mutable, indicating that they function independently. Paradoxically, the sdc-3 null phenotype fails to reveal the role of sdc-3 in sex determination: sdc-3 null mutations that lack both activities disrupt dosage compensation but cause no overt sexual transformation. We demonstrate that the dosage compensation defect of sdc-3 null alleles suppresses their sex determination defect. This self-suppression phenomenon provides a striking example of how a disruption in dosage compensation can affect sexual fate. We propose that the suppression occurs via a feedback mechanism that acts at an early regulatory step in the sex determination pathway to promote proper sexual identity.

Value-driven issues throughout the development of sociological theory

2020 ◽  
pp. 147-160
Author(s):  
Gulbarshyn Chepurko ◽  
Valerii Pylypenko
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Social System ◽  
Sociological Theory ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Social Sphere ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Different Levels

The paper examines and compares how the major sociological theories treat axiological issues. Value-driven topics are analysed in view of their relevance to society in times of crisis, when both societal life and the very structure of society undergo dramatic change. Nowadays, social scientists around the world are also witnessing such a change due to the emergence of alternative schools of sociological thought (non-classical, interpretive, postmodern, etc.) and, subsequently, the necessity to revise the paradigms that have been existed in sociology so far. Since the above-mentioned approaches are often used to address value-related issues, building a solid theoretical framework for these studies takes on considerable significance. Furthermore, the paradigm revision has been prompted by technological advances changing all areas of people’s lives, especially social interactions. The global human community, integral in nature, is being formed, and production of human values now matters more than production of things; hence the “expansion” of value-focused perspectives in contemporary sociology. The authors give special attention to collectivities which are higher-order units of the social system. These units are described as well-organised action systems where each individual performs his/her specific role. Just as the role of an individual is distinct from that of the collectivity (because the individual and the collectivity are different as units), so too a distinction is drawn between the value and the norm — because they represent different levels of social relationships. Values are the main connecting element between the society’s cultural system and the social sphere while norms, for the most part, belong to the social system. Values serve primarily to maintain the pattern according to which the society is functioning at a given time; norms are essential to social integration. Apart from being the means of regulating social processes and relationships, norms embody the “principles” that can be applied beyond a particular social system. The authors underline that it is important for Ukrainian sociology to keep abreast of the latest developments in the field of axiology and make good use of those ideas because this is a prerequisite for its successful integration into the global sociological community.

РЕГІОНАЛЬНИЙ МИТЕЦЬ В ІНОКУЛЬТУРНОМУ СЕРЕДОВИЩІ: ПРОБЛЕМА ФУНКЦІОНУВАННЯ

2020 ◽  
pp. 152-158
Author(s):  
Admink Admink ◽  
Сергій Виткалов ◽  
Валентина Вігула
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Government Reform ◽  
Different Levels

Розглядається організаційно-культурна діяльність одного з помітних у регіональному просторі Західного Полісся фотомитця – Олександра Купчинського, а саме виставковий її вектор, втілений в презентації артефактів світового фотомистецтва; видавничий, розглянутий у  контексті  друку  різноманітних  фотоальбомів  із  творів експонентів, організація творчих зустрічей художньої інтелігенції міста з питань обговорення актуальних питань культурного розвитку, заснування фотоклубу тощо. Доводиться, що втрата зв’язку з Батьківщиною, у якій би формі це не відбувалося, не дозволяє митцю творчо самореалізуватися повною мірою. The importance and problematic range of local government reform in the regions of the country and ways of its solution in the field of culture are analyzed. The most effective steps are proposed for management structures at different levels to change attitudes of both the management and the local population regarding different cultural practices. Emphasis is placed on the role of sectoral methodological services in the implementation of this reform. The experience of other countries in activating the local population in this process is emphasized. An attempt has been made to offer effective, in the authors' opinion, solutions to the reform. Emphasis is placed on the educational factor.

The Synod of Pistoia and Vatican II

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaun Blanchard
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Vatican Ii ◽  
High Water ◽  
Church Reform ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
Bible Reading ◽  
Different Levels ◽  
Continuity And Discontinuity

This book sheds further light on the nature of church reform and the roots of the Second Vatican Council (1962–65) through a study of eighteenth-century Catholic reformers who anticipated the Council. The most striking of these examples is the Synod of Pistoia (1786), the high-water mark of late Jansenism. Most of the reforms of the Synod were harshly condemned by Pope Pius VI in the bull Auctorem fidei (1794), and late Jansenism was totally discredited in the ultramontane nineteenth-century Church. Nevertheless, much of the Pistoian agenda—such as an exaltation of the role of bishops, an emphasis on infallibility as a gift to the entire Church, religious liberty, a simpler and more comprehensible liturgy that incorporates the vernacular, and the encouragement of lay Bible reading and Christocentric devotions—was officially promulgated at Vatican II. The career of Bishop Scipione de’ Ricci (1741–1810) and the famous Synod he convened are investigated in detail. The international reception (and rejection) of the Synod sheds light on why these reforms failed, and the criteria of Yves Congar are used to judge the Pistoian Synod as “true or false reform.” This book proves that the Synod was a “ghost” present at Vatican II. The council fathers struggled with, and ultimately enacted, many of the same ideas. This study complexifies the story of the roots of the Council and Pope Benedict XVI’s “hermeneutic of reform,” which seeks to interpret Vatican II as in “continuity and discontinuity on different levels” with past teaching and practice.

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