Function and evolution of sex determination mechanisms, genes and pathways in insects

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Abstract

Animals have evolved a bewildering diversity of mechanisms to determine the two sexes. Studies of sex determination genes – their history and function – in non-model insects and Drosophila have allowed us to begin to understand the generation of sex determination diversity. One common theme from these studies is that evolved mechanisms produce activities in either males or females to control a shared gene switch that regulates sexual development. Only a few small-scale changes in existing and duplicated genes are sufficient to generate large differences in sex determination systems. This review summarises recent findings in insects, surveys evidence of how and why sex determination mechanisms can change rapidly and suggests fruitful areas of future research.

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Most cited references 94

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Sex determination involves synergistic action of SRY and SF1 on a specific Sox9 enhancer.

Ryohei Sekido, Robin Lovell-Badge (2008)

The mammalian Y chromosome acts as a dominant male determinant as a result of the action of a single gene, Sry, whose role in sex determination is to initiate testis rather than ovary development from early bipotential gonads. It does so by triggering the differentiation of Sertoli cells from supporting cell precursors, which would otherwise give follicle cells. The related autosomal gene Sox9 is also known from loss-of-function mutations in mice and humans to be essential for Sertoli cell differentiation; moreover, its abnormal expression in an XX gonad can lead to male development in the absence of Sry. These genetic data, together with the finding that Sox9 is upregulated in Sertoli cell precursors just after SRY expression begins, has led to the proposal that Sox9 could be directly regulated by SRY. However, the mechanism by which SRY action might affect Sox9 expression was not understood. Here we show that SRY binds to multiple elements within a Sox9 gonad-specific enhancer in mice, and that it does so along with steroidogenic factor 1 (SF1, encoded by the gene Nr5a1 (Sf1)), an orphan nuclear receptor. Mutation, co-transfection and sex-reversal studies all point to a feedforward, self-reinforcing pathway in which SF1 and SRY cooperatively upregulate Sox9 and then, together with SF1, SOX9 also binds to the enhancer to help maintain its own expression after that of SRY has ceased. Our results open up the field, permitting further characterization of the molecular mechanisms regulating sex determination and how they have evolved, as well as how they fail in cases of sex reversal.

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Extraordinary sex ratios. A sex-ratio theory for sex linkage and inbreeding has new implications in cytogenetics and entomology.

W Hamilton (1967)

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Sex chromosome specialization and degeneration in mammals.

Jennifer A Marshall Graves (2006)

Sex chromosomes--particularly the human Y--have been a source of fascination for decades because of their unique transmission patterns and their peculiar cytology. The outpouring of genomic data confirms that their atypical structure and gene composition break the rules of genome organization, function, and evolution. The X has been shaped by dosage differences to have a biased gene content and to be subject to inactivation in females. The Y chromosome seems to be a product of a perverse evolutionary process that does not select the fittest Y, which may cause its degradation and ultimate extinction.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Bioessays

Journal ID (publisher-id): bies

Title: Bioessays

Publisher: WILEY-VCH Verlag

ISSN (Print): 0265-9247

ISSN (Electronic): 1521-1878

Publication date (Print): January 2011

Volume: 33

Issue: 1

Pages: 52-60

Affiliations

simpleDepartment of Genetics, Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf, Universitaetsstrasse 1, 40225 Duesseldorf, Germany

Author notes

* Corresponding author: Martin Beye E-mail: martin.beye@ 123456uni-duesseldorf.de

Article

DOI: 10.1002/bies.201000043

PMC ID: 3040292

PubMed ID: 21110346

SO-VID: ffbaf565-5967-4e02-9844-6789b436e376

License:

Re-use of this article is permitted in accordance with the Creative Commons Deed, Attribution 2.5, which does not permit commercial exploitation.

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