Project description:Although sex determination is a fundamental process in vertebrate development, it is very plastic. Diverse genes became major sex determinants in teleost fishes. Deciphering how individual sex-determining genes orchestrate sex determination can reveal new actors in sexual development. Here, we demonstrate that the Y-chromosomal copy of the TGF-β family member gdf6 (gdf6Y) in Nothobranchius furzeri, an emerging model organism in aging research, gained the function of the male sex determinant through allelic diversification while retaining the skeletal developmental function shared with the X-chromosomal gdf6 allele (gdf6X). Concerning sex determination, gdf6Y is expressed by somatic supporting cells of the developing testes. There it induces the male sex in a germ cell-independent manner in contrast to sex determination in zebrafish and the medaka. Looking for downstream effectors of Gdf6Y, we identified besides TGF-β signaling modulators, especially the inhibitor of DNA binding genes id1/2/3, the mRNA decay activator zfp36l2 as a new GDF6 signaling target.
Project description:Although sex determination is a fundamental process in vertebrate development, it is very plastic. Diverse genes became major sex determinants in teleost fishes. Deciphering how individual sex-determining genes orchestrate sex determination can reveal new actors in sexual development. Here, we demonstrate that the Y-chromosomal copy of the TGF-β family member gdf6 (gdf6Y) in Nothobranchius furzeri, an emerging model organism in aging research, gained the function of the male sex determinant through allelic diversification while retaining the skeletal developmental function shared with the X-chromosomal gdf6 allele (gdf6X). Concerning sex determination, gdf6Y is expressed by somatic supporting cells of the developing testes. There it induces the male sex in a germ cell-independent manner in contrast to sex determination in zebrafish and the medaka. Looking for downstream effectors of Gdf6Y, we identified besides TGF-β signaling modulators, especially the inhibitor of DNA binding genes id1/2/3, the mRNA decay activator zfp36l2 as a new GDF6 signaling target.
Project description:Sex chromosomes evolved from autosomes many times across the eukaryote phylogeny. Several models have been proposed to explain this transition, some involving male and female sterility mutations linked in a region of suppressed recombination between X and Y (or Z/W, U/V) chromosomes. Comparative and experimental analysis of a reference genome assembly for a double haploid YY male garden asparagus (Asparagus officinalis L.) individual implicates separate but linked genes as responsible for sex determination. Dioecy has evolved recently within Asparagus and sex chromosomes are cytogenetically identical with the Y, harboring a megabase segment that is missing from the X. We show that deletion of this entire region results in a male-to-female conversion, whereas loss of a single suppressor of female development drives male-to-hermaphrodite conversion. A single copy anther-specific gene with a male sterile Arabidopsis knockout phenotype is also in the Y-specific region, supporting a two-gene model for sex chromosome evolution. Additionally, we test for the presence of Y-specific small RNA loci in several XX, XY, and YY genotypes that may be acting as sex determination loci.
Project description:The Salicaceae family is of growing interest in the study of dioecy in plants because the sex determination region (SDR) has been shown to be highly dynamic, with differing locations and heterogametic systems across taxa. Previous studies investigating the mechanisms regulating sex in the genus Salix have been limited to genome resequencing and differential expression, which are mostly descriptive in nature, and functional validation of candidate sex determination genes has not been conducted. Here we use functional analysis to test a suite of previously identified candidate genes involved in sex determination and sex dimorphism in the bioenergy shrub willow Salix purpurea. Six candidate master regulator genes for sex determination were overexpressed in Arabidopsis, followed by floral proteome analysis. Eleven transcription factors with predicted roles in mediating sex dimorphism downstream of the SDR were tested using DAP-Seq in both male and female S. purpurea DNA. The results of this study provide further evidence to support models for the roles of ARR17 and GATA15 as master regulator genes of sex determination in S. purpurea, contributing to a regulatory system that is notably different from that of the related genus Populus. Two transcription factors, an AP2/ERF family gene and a homeodomain-like transcription factor, have evidence supporting roles in downstream regulation of sex dimorphism.
Project description:Transcriptomic changes following recent natural hybridization and allopolyploidy in the salt marsh species Spartina x townsendii and Spartina anglica (Poaceae) Allopolyploidy results from two events: the merger of divergent genomes and genome duplication. Both events have important functional consequences for the evolution and adaption of newly formed allopolyploid species. In spite of significant progress made the last years, a few studies have decoupled the effects of hybridization from genome duplication in the observed patterns of expression changes accompanying allopolyploidy in natural conditions. We used Agilent Rice oligo-microarrays to explore gene expression changes following allopolyploidy in Spartina that includes a classical example of recent allopolyploid speciation, S. anglica formed during the 19th century following genome duplication of the hybrid S. x townsendii. Our data indicate important, thought different effects of hybridization and genome duplication in the expression patterns of the hybrid and allopolyploid. Deviation from parental additivity was most important following hybridization and was accompanied by maternal expression dominance, although transgressively expressed genes were also encountered. Maternal dominance is attenuated following genome duplication in S. anglica while this species exhibits an increased number of transgressively over expressed genes. These results reflect the decoupled effects of the “genomic shock” following hybridization and genome redundancy, on the genetic, epigenetic and regulatory mechanisms characterizing transcriptomic evolution in allopolyploids. We used Agilent Rice oligo-microarrays to explore gene expression changes among Spartina species, following interspesific hybridization and genome duplication (allopolyploidy). The analysed species included the parents S. maritima & S.alterniflora, the hybrid F1 S x. towensendii and the allopolyploid S.anglica. A total of 20 slides (five replicates per species) were hybridized on a 44 K Rice Agilent array using a one color desgin.
Project description:Developmental gene expression is defined through cross-talk between the function of transcription factors and epigenetic status including histone modification. Although several known transcription factors play crucial roles in mammalian sex determination, how chromatin regulation contributes to this process is unknown. We observed male-to-female sex reversal in mice lacking the H3K9 demethylase Jmjd1a, and found that Jmjd1a directly regulates expression of the mammalian Y chromosome sex-determining gene Sry, by regulating H3K9me2 marks. These studies reveal a pivotal role for epigenetic regulation in mammalian sex determination, and provide new impetus for identifying additional causes of disorders of sex determination by environmental factors.
2013-08-03 | GSE49513 | GEO
Project description:Cryptobranchid sex determination
Project description:Transcriptomic changes following recent natural hybridization and allopolyploidy in the salt marsh species Spartina x townsendii and Spartina anglica (Poaceae) Allopolyploidy results from two events: the merger of divergent genomes and genome duplication. Both events have important functional consequences for the evolution and adaption of newly formed allopolyploid species. In spite of significant progress made the last years, a few studies have decoupled the effects of hybridization from genome duplication in the observed patterns of expression changes accompanying allopolyploidy in natural conditions. We used Agilent Rice oligo-microarrays to explore gene expression changes following allopolyploidy in Spartina that includes a classical example of recent allopolyploid speciation, S. anglica formed during the 19th century following genome duplication of the hybrid S. x townsendii. Our data indicate important, thought different effects of hybridization and genome duplication in the expression patterns of the hybrid and allopolyploid. Deviation from parental additivity was most important following hybridization and was accompanied by maternal expression dominance, although transgressively expressed genes were also encountered. Maternal dominance is attenuated following genome duplication in S. anglica while this species exhibits an increased number of transgressively over expressed genes. These results reflect the decoupled effects of the “genomic shock” following hybridization and genome redundancy, on the genetic, epigenetic and regulatory mechanisms characterizing transcriptomic evolution in allopolyploids.
Project description:Environmental sex determination (ESD) occurs in divergent, phylogenetically unrelated taxa, and in some species co-occurs with genetic sex determination (GSD) mechanisms. Although epigenetic regulation in response to environmental effects has long been proposed to be associated with ESD, a systemic analysis on epigenetic regulation of ESD is still lacking. Using half-smooth tongue sole (Cynoglossus semilaevis) as a model – a marine fish which has both ZW chromosomal GSD and temperature-dependent ESD – we investigated the role of DNA methylation in transition from GSD to ESD by comparing gonadal DNA methylomes of parental females, parental pseudo-males, F1 females, F1 pseudo-males and normal males.