ArticleGenetics2010
Molecular characterization of the key switch F provides a basis for understanding the rapid divergence of the sex-determining pathway in the housefly.
Article in Genetics, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 80 papers.
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80 citing papers in PubMed, 182 citations in OpenAlex.
- Environmental sex determination in the cyst nematode Globodera pallida defaults to male development.BMC biology · 2026Article
- Sex Determination in Sponges.Molecular reproduction and development · 2026Review
- The transformer gene controls sexual development in Drosophila suzukii.Insect science · 2026Article
- Molecular characterization of transformer, transformer-2, and doublesex genes in the carambola fruit fly, Bactrocera carambolae, revealing potential for genetic pest management.Insect science · 2026Article
- Synthetic biology approaches to generate temperature-sensitive alleles for the Sterile Insect Technique.Insect science · 2026Review
- Understanding the genetics of sex determination in insects and its relevance to genetic pest management.Insect molecular biology · 2025Review
- A Comparative Assessment of Self-limiting Genetic Control Strategies for Population Suppression.Molecular biology and evolution · 2025Article
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- Divergent evolution of male-determining loci on proto-Y chromosomes of the housefly.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Gene drive and genetic sex conversion in the global agricultural pest Ceratitis capitata.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Why put all your eggs in one basket? Evolutionary perspectives on the origins of monogenic reproduction.Heredity · 2023Review
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- Female Sex Determination Factors inInsects · 2023Article
- Divergent evolution of genetic sex determination mechanisms along environmental gradients.Evolution letters · 2023Article
- In Vitro Comparison of Sex-Specific Splicing Efficiencies ofJournal of developmental biology · 2023Article
- Theme and variation in the evolution of insect sex determination.Journal of experimental zoology. Part B, Molecular and developmental evolution · 2023Review
- Strong variation in frequencies of male and female determiners between neighboring housefly populations.Insect science · 2022Article
- Manipulating Insect Sex Determination Pathways for Genetic Pest Management: Opportunities and Challenges.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2022Review
- Article
20 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The housefly, Musca domestica, is an excellent model system to study the diversification of the pathway that specifies the sexual fate. A number of different mechanisms have been described in the housefly, which reflects in part the broad diversity of sex-determining strategies used in insects. In this study we present the molecular identification and characterization of F, which acts as the master switch in the housefly pathway. We provide evidence that F corresponds to the transformer ortholog in Musca (Mdtra), which, as a result of alternative processing, expresses functional products only in individuals committed to the female fate. We demonstrate that, once activated, a self-sustaining feedback loop will maintain the female-promoting functions of Mdtra. Absence of Mdtra transcripts in eggs of Arrhenogenic (Ag) mutant females suggests that maternally deployed Mdtra activity initiates this self-sustaining loop in the zygote. When an M factor is paternally transmitted to the zygote, the establishment of the loop is prevented at an early stage before cellularization and splicing of Mdtra shifts irreversibly to the male nonproductive mode. On the basis of the analysis of two mutant alleles we can explain the different sex-determining systems in the housefly largely as deviations at the level of Mdtra regulation. This plasticity in the housefly pathway may provide a suitable framework to understand the evolution of sex-determining mechanisms in other insect species. For instance, while sex determination in a close relative, the tsetse fly Glossina morsitans, differs at the level of the instructive signal, we find that its tra ortholog, Gmtra, is regulated in a mode similar to that of Mdtra.
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