ArticlePLoS biology2007
Indirect effects of ploidy suggest X chromosome dose, not the X:A ratio, signals sex in Drosophila.
Article in PLoS biology, 2007. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 123 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
123 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Brief guide to Drosophila maintenance and husbandry.Molecules and cells · 2026Guideline
- fmd/fmd2/DHX16-dsx cascade in sex determination of one Hemiptera species, Laodelphax striatellus.Insect science · 2026Article
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- Nucleotide-Resolution Mapping Reveals Specific MLE Binding Site on roX2 lncRNA.Journal of molecular biology · 2026Article
- Synthetic biology approaches to generate temperature-sensitive alleles for the Sterile Insect Technique.Insect science · 2026Review
- Differential neuronal survival defines a novel axis of sexual dimorphism in the Drosophila brain.Cell genomics · 2026Article
- Maternal inheritance of primary sex ratios in the dark-winged fungus gnat Lycoriella ingenua.Heredity · 2026Article
- Leveraging sex determination systems for genetic biocontrol of dipteran pests.Current opinion in insect science · 2026Review
- Male sterility in Drosophila mojavensis × D. arizonae hybrids is not caused by gene movements in the Y chromosome.Evolution; international journal of organic evolution · 2025Article
- Alternative splicing of squid is associated with sex-ratio allocation in the wasp Copidosomopsis nacoleiae.BMC genomics · 2025Article
- Understanding the genetics of sex determination in insects and its relevance to genetic pest management.Insect molecular biology · 2025Review
- Bourbon and Mycbp function with Otu to promote Sxl protein expression in theProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Lagging Brain Gene Expression Patterns of Drosophila melanogaster Young Adult Males Confound Comparisons Between Sexes.Molecular neurobiology · 2025Article
- Testis- and ovary-expressed polo-like kinase transcripts and gene duplications affect male fertility when expressed in the Drosophila melanogaster germline.G3 (Bethesda, Md.) · 2025Article
- High-affinity biomolecular interactions are modulated by low-affinity binders.NPJ systems biology and applications · 2024Article
- Sex matters in preclinical research.Disease models & mechanisms · 2024Article
- The Scorpionfly (Panorpa cognata) Genome Highlights Conserved and Derived Features of the Peculiar Dipteran X Chromosome.Molecular biology and evolution · 2023Article
- The Roles ofInsects · 2023Article
- Why put all your eggs in one basket? Evolutionary perspectives on the origins of monogenic reproduction.Heredity · 2023Review
63 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
In the textbook view, the ratio of X chromosomes to autosome sets, X:A, is the primary signal specifying sexual fate in Drosophila. An alternative idea is that X chromosome number signals sex through the direct actions of several X-encoded signal element (XSE) proteins. In this alternative, the influence of autosome dose on X chromosome counting is largely indirect. Haploids (1X;1A), which possess the male number of X chromosomes but the female X:A of 1.0, and triploid intersexes (XX;AAA), which possess a female dose of two X chromosomes and the ambiguous X:A ratio of 0.67, represent critical tests of these hypotheses. To directly address the effects of ploidy in primary sex determination, we compared the responses of the signal target, the female-specific SxlPe promoter of the switch gene Sex-lethal, in haploid, diploid, and triploid embryos. We found that haploids activate SxlPe because an extra precellular nuclear division elevates total X chromosome numbers and XSE levels beyond those in diploid males. Conversely, triploid embryos cellularize one cycle earlier than diploids, causing premature cessation of SxlPe expression. This prevents XX;AAA embryos from fully engaging the autoregulatory mechanism that maintains subsequent Sxl expression, causing them to develop as sexual mosaics. We conclude that the X:A ratio predicts sexual fate, but does not actively specify it. Instead, the instructive X chromosome signal is more appropriately seen as collective XSE dose in the early embryo. Our findings reiterate that correlations between X:A ratios and cell fates in other organisms need not implicate the value of the ratio as an active signal.
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