Abstract
The red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum, follows an XX (female) and XY (male) sex determination system. Maternal supply of the protein Transformer (Tra) is required for XX insects to follow the female pathway. The nature and source of the signal that regulates male sex determination in XY beetles are not known. Parental RNAiaided knockdown in expression of tra masculinizes genetic females (XX) that are fertile. The virgin females mated with these masculinized genetic females produced all female progeny. We present the genetic evidence to show that the factor responsible for male sex determination is present on the Y chromosome. These data also suggest that the Y chromosome in T. castaneum is not required for male fertility.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1653-1655 |
| Number of pages | 3 |
| Journal | Journal of Experimental Biology |
| Volume | 217 |
| Issue number | 10 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - May 15 2014 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2014. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.
Funding
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| National Institutes of Health (NIH) | GM070559-10 |
| National Institute of General Medical Sciences COBRE | R01GM070559 |
Keywords
- Alternative splicing
- Doublesex
- RNAi
- Transformer
- Tribolium
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
- Physiology
- Aquatic Science
- Animal Science and Zoology
- Molecular Biology
- Insect Science