鸟类性别决定机制及性别鉴定的研究进展

鸟类的性别决定是一个多基因参与的级联调控过程。这一过程受Z染色体连锁的DMRT1基因, W染色体连锁的PKC1W和其它多种因子共同调控。本文综述了性别决定基因及其功能、性别鉴定方法等方面的研究进展。Abstract： Avian sex determination is a multiple gene regulation cascade. Genes such as the Z chromosome-linked DMRT1 gene, W chromosome-linked PKCIW gene and other factors have been demonstrated to be involved in this process. In this paper, we review the recent progress in this field. The investigation of functions of sex determinate genes and methods of sexing birds are discussed here.     

An epigenetic regulatory switch controlling temperature-dependent sex determination in vertebrates

正Most vertebrates present two sexes,and females and males are determined via two diverse strategies including genotypic sex determination(GSD)and environmental sex determination(ESD)(Mei and Gui,2015;Ma et al.,2016).The most common form of ESD is temperature-dependent sex determination(TSD).Although several master sex-determining genes and their molecular pathways have been elucidated in vertebrates with GSD,the molecular mechanism underlying TSD remains unclear(Bachtrog et al.,2014;     

双链RNA干涉技术(RNAi)在不同生物中应用的研究进展

双链RNA(double～stranded RNA dsRNA )干涉技术可通过降解靶基因的mRNA进行基因干涉,是研究多种生物基因功能的有效手段,目前已在拟南芥、秀丽新小杆线虫、黑腹果蝇、斑马鱼和小鼠等生物中应用,本文拟就其应用特点进行综述。 Abstract:Double stranded RNA could degrade mRNA of target gene.It is a useful way for studying gene function.It is used widely in different creatures,such as Arabidopsis thaliana,Caenorhabditis elegans,Drosophila melanogaster,Zebrafish,Mouse.This review is mainly related to the application of dsRNA in recent years     

性别决定基因的研究进展

SRY基因在哺乳动物性别分化中起着关键作用,目前研究认为SRY仅是性别决 定过程的基因之一,其他基因如SOX基因家族、MIS、SF-1、DAX1、DSS等基因都参与了性腺分化与发育。性别决定研究取得很大进展并建立了一些假说,但仍有一些问题有待于进一步研究。 Abstract:In mammals the male sex determination switch is controlled by a single gene on the Y chromosome SRY.Apart from SRY,other genes,such as SOX gene family、MIS、SF-1、DAX1、DSS also take part in sex determination.Scientists have made great progress in research on sex determination and proposed some hypotheses.,but there are still many questions to be solved.     

A systematic phenotypic screen of F-box genes through a tissue-specific RNAi-based approach in Drosophila

F-box proteins are components of the SCF(SkpA-Cullin 1-F-box) E3 ligase complexes,acting as the specificity-determinants in targeting substrate proteins for ubiquitination and degradation.In humans,at least 22 out of 75 F-box proteins have experimentally documented substrates,whereas in Drosophila 12 F-box proteins have been characterized with known substrates.To systematically investigate the genetic and molecular functions of F-box proteins in Drosophila,we performed a survey of the literature and databases.We identified 45 Drosophila genes that encode proteins containing at least one F-box domain.We collected publically available RNAi lines against these genes and used them in a tissue-specific RNAi-based phenotypic screen.Here,we present our systematic phenotypic dataset from the eye,the wing and the notum.This dataset is the first of its kind and represents a useful resource for future studies of the molecular and genetic functions of F-box genes in Drosophila.Our results show that,as expected,F-box genes in Drosophila have regulatory roles in a diverse array of processes including cell proliferation,cell growth,signal transduction,and cellular and animal survival.     

果蝇心脏发育起调控作用的候选基因的筛选

果蝇的早期心脏发育与脊椎动物的早期发育模式具有惊人的相似,所以果蝇成为研究脊椎动物心脏发育的模式动物,通过对其心脏发育基因的研究,可加速揭示人体心脏的发育机理。为进一步筛选并克隆出新的心脏发育基因,本实验采用经化学诱变的平衡致死系的果蝇,进行心脏特异性抗体染色,观察到10个致死系表现出心脏突变表型,并将已确定遗传学部位的6个品系缩小到更小区域。 Screening of the Genes in Controlling HeartDevelopment of Drosophila YANG Yue-jun,WU Xiu-shan,LI Min College of life sciences,Hunan Normal University,Changsha 410081,China Abstract:It is becoming increasingly evident that remarkable similaries of heart development are revealed in Drosophila and vertebrate,Therefore Drosophila can be used as a prototype to explore the vertebrate.This can in accelerate to revealing of the machanisms of human heart development.In order to screen and clone new genes that control the heart development,we have established the balanced-lethal lines by chemical mutagen and performed the heart-specific antibody.Ten of lines showed mutant phenotype,of which 6 were determined the smaller genetic sites for gene location. Key words：Drosophila; heart develop; genes     

卤虫中编码DM结构域的DNA序列的克隆和初步研究（简报）

性别决定的分子机制复杂多样,但是处于动物性别决定的基因调控网络底部的一些调控基因具有相当高的保守性。doublesex(dsx)基因和male abnomal-3(mab-3)基因分别是果蝇(Drosophila melanogaster)和线虫(Caenorhabditis elegans)性别决定调控途径末端的重要基因,对这两个基因序列的比较导致了DM结构域的发现,它是已知在性别发育过程中最为保守的DNA结合结构域。目前,已     

果蝇P转座因子的研究进展

果蝇P因子是DNA转座子,在近几十年里受到很大关注。可用于确认有关基因,克隆基因以及安置基因回到基因组。P因子的高易动性及其保持和对内部序列强烈的修饰作用也是P因子的本质特征。P因子的另一重要用途是用于产生转基因果蝇。目的基因置于质粒内P因子中可在转座酶的作用下插入前胚盘胚。携带目的基因的P因子可从质粒转座到任意染色体上。据报道,在典型实验中,插入可育果蝇的10％～20％可产生转化体后裔。但是以这种可动DNA片段作为载体尚存在转移基因的不稳定性及与内源跳跃基因的相互影响。本文介绍了果蝇P转座因子的一些研究进展。这些因子的遗传可动性也使它们适用于建造载体产生转基因生物。若如此,载体导入外源基因组的遗传稳定性问题将是一个重要课题。 Abstract：P elements in D.melanogaster are DNA transposons and received greater attention within the last few decades.P elements are used for identifying genes of interest,for cloning them,and for placing them back into the genome.The high mobility of P elements and their retention of this mobility and drastic modiffications to their internal sequences are also essential features.Another most important use of P elements is that of making transgenic flies.Desired gene is placed between P-element ends,usually within a plasmid,and injected into preblastoderm embryos in the presence of transposase.This P element then transposes from the plasmid to a random chromosomal site.Reported in a typical experiment,10％～20％ of the fertile injected flies produce transformant progeny.But the instability of the transferred gene carried on a piece of mobile DNA as a vector and its interaction with endogenous jumping genes.This paper introduced the studies advances of P transposable element in Drosophila.The genetic mobility of these elements can also make them suitable for the construction of vectors to create transgenic organisms.If so,the genetic stability of the vectors introduced to a foreign genome should be a important subject.     

Down－regulated expression of atypical PKC－binding domain deleted asip isoforms in human hepatocellular carcinomas

INTRODUCTIONCell polarity is the reflection of complex mechanisms that establish and maintain the functionally specialized regions in the plasma membrane and cytoplasm, and is fundamentally important for differentiation, proliferation, morphogenesis and other functions of simple and complicated organisms[1].Molecular mechanisms of cell polarity during animal development have been analyzed mainly in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans and the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster[2]. In early …     

Germline silencing of UASt depends on the piRNA pathway

正The success of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster as a model organism is heavily attributed to the expansive range and multitude of genetic and molecular tools available to modify gene expression at will.The Gal4/UAS binary system is one of the most important and widely used genetic tools in Drosophila designed for targeted gene expression(Brand and Perrimon,1993),which allows ectopic expression of any gene(or transgene)in specific tissues,independent of their native regulators.     

Genetic sex determination mechanisms and evolution.

Different animal groups exhibit a surprisingly diversity of sex determination systems. Moreover, even systems that are superficially similar may utilize different underlying mechanisms. This diversity is illustrated by a comparison of sex determination in three well-studied model organisms: the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster, the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, and the mouse. All three animals exhibit male heterogamety, extensive sexual dimorphism and sex chromosome dosage compensation, yet the molecular and cellular processes involved are now known to be quite unrelated. The similarities must have arisen by convergent evolution. Studies of sex determination demonstrate that evolution can produce a variety of solutions to the same basic problems in development.     

Genomic organization and expression of the doublesex-related gene cluster in vertebrates and detection of putative regulatory regions for DMRT1.

Genes related to the Drosophila melanogaster doublesex and Caenorhabditis elegans mab-3 genes are conserved in human. They are identified by a DNA-binding homology motif, the DM domain, and constitute a gene family (DMRTs). Unlike the invertebrate genes, whose role in the sex-determination process is essentially understood, the function of the different vertebrate DMRT genes is not as clear. Evidence has accumulated for the involvement of DMRT1 in male sex determination and differentiation. DMRT2 (known as terra in zebrafish) seems to be a critical factor for somitogenesis. To contribute to a better understanding of the function of this important gene family, we have analyzed DMRT1, DMRT2, and DMRT3 from the genome model organism Fugu rubripes and the medakafish, a complementary model organism for genetics and functional studies. We found conservation of synteny of human chromosome 9 in F. rubripes and an identical gene cluster organization of the DMRTs in both fish. Although expression analysis and gene linkage mapping in medaka exclude a function for any of the three genes in the primary step of male sex determination, comparison of F. rubripes and human sequences uncovered three putative regulatory regions that might have a role in more downstream events of sex determination and human XY sex reversal.     

DMRT1/Dmrt1, the sex determining or sex differentiating gene in Vertebrata

Although the phenomenon of sexual dimorphism is widespread in vertebrates, the molecular mechanism of sex-determination is not the same across animal phyla, in contrast to other areas of developmental biology. Recent extensive studies, however, have given proof of evolutionarily conserved function in genes which share a novel DNA binding DM domain, primarily identified in two invertebrate sex regulatory genes: doublesex of Drosophila melanogaster and mab-3 of Caenorhabditis elegans. Their mammalian autosomal homologue, DMRT1, first isolated in humans, was further discovered in genomes of various vertebrate species and appears to be involved in similar aspects of sexual development. Its precise role is still speculated, thus identification of sex reversal mutations, functional studies as well as determination of the sex-specific expression profile during embryogenesis are still being undertaken. Is this a sex determining rather than a sex differentiating gene? Is it involved in a dosage-sensitive mechanism? On what level does it function in the hierarchy of the sexual regulatory gene cascade? Recent results are discussed in this paper.     

X chromosome dosage compensation and its relationship to sex determination in C. elegans

A genetic regulatory hierarchy controls all aspects of Caenorhabditis elegans sex determination and X chromosome dosage compensation in response to the primary sex-determining signal, the X/A ratio. Initially, these two processes are coordinately regulated by a group of genes that transmit this primary signal to downstream genes that preferentially control either sex determination or dosage compensation. The relationship between these two processes is complex: not only are they coordinately controlled, a feedback mechanism operates to allow a disruption in dosage compensation to affect sexual fate. We describe our genetic and molecular understanding of the regulatory hierarchy, the feedback control and the dosage compensation process itself.     

Molecular cloning and sexually dimorphic expression of DM-domain genes in Daphnia magna

Daphnia magna is known to switch between sexual and asexual reproduction depending on the environment. It reproduces asexually when in an optimal environment for food, photoperiod, and population density. Once the environment declines, it changes reproductive strategy from asexual to sexual reproduction. However, the molecular bases of environmental sex determination are largely unknown. To understand the molecular mechanisms of environmental sex determination in Daphnia, it is essential to isolate the genes related to sex determination. As DM-domain genes are well known as sex-related genes, we aimed to identify DM-domain genes from Daphnia. Based on degenerate PCR of conserved DM domains using Daphnia cDNA, we identified three DM-domain genes that corresponded to DMRT11E, DMRT93B, and DMRT99B of Drosophila melanogaster. Quantitative gene expression analysis in gonads revealed that DMRT93B was expressed only in the testis. This finding contributes to an improved understanding of the switching mechanism from an asexual to a sexual life cycle depending on the environment.     

Cadherin superfamily proteins in Caenorhabditis elegans and Drosophila melanogaster

The ability to form selective cell-cell adhesions is an essential property of metazoan cells. Members of the cadherin superfamily are important regulators of this process in both vertebrates and invertebrates. With the advent of genome sequencing projects, determination of the full repertoire of cadherins available to an organism is possible and here we present the identification and analysis of the cadherin repertoires in the genomes of Caenorhabditis elegans and Drosophila melanogaster. Hidden Markov models of cadherin domains were matched to the protein sequences obtained from the translation of the predicted gene sequences. Matches were made to 21 C. elegans and 18 D. melanogaster sequences. Experimental and theoretical work on C. elegans sequences, and data from ESTs, show that three pairs of genes, and two triplets, should be merged to form five single genes. It also produced sequence changes at one or both of the 5' and 3' termini of half the sequences. In D. melanogaster it is probable that two of the cadherin genes should also be merged together and that three cadherin genes should be merged with other neighbouring genes.Of the 15 cadherin proteins found in C. elegans, 13 have the features of cell surface proteins, signal sequences and transmembrane helices; the other two have only signal sequences. Of the 17 in D. melanogaster, 11 at present have both features and another five have transmembrane helices. The evidence currently available suggests about one-third of the cadherins in the two organisms can be grouped into subfamilies in which all, or parts of, the molecules are conserved. Each organism also has a approximately 980 residue protein (CDH-11 and CG11059) with two cadherin domains and whose sequences match well over their entire length two proteins from human brain. Two proteins in C. elegans, HMR-1A and HMR-1B, and three in D. melanogaster, CadN, Shg and CG7527, have cytoplasmic domains homologous to those of the classical cadherin genes of chordates but their extracellular regions have different domain structures. Other common subclasses include the seven-helix membrane cadherins, Fat-like protocadherins and the Ret-like cadherins. At present, the remaining cadherins have no obvious similarities in their extracellular domain architecture or homologies to their cytoplasmic domains and may, therefore, represent species-specific or phylum-specific molecules.     

黑腹果蝇的性别控制

性别的形成包括两个过程,即性别决定和性别分化。果蝇的性别控制研究包括性别决定、性别分化、性别鉴定、性别诱导和性别控制5个方面。性别决定是在两种不同发育途径之间的选择,它提供了一个研究基因调控的模式系统。果蝇的性别决定问题已经研究得相当详细［1］。性别分化是使胚胎向着雌性或雄性发育的过程,决定了性别表型。果蝇的性别分化也取得了不少研究成果。近年来,许多重要的性别调控基因已被克隆和鉴定。随着果蝇基因组全序列测定的完成,果蝇的性别控制研究将会更为深入而完善。本文对与黑腹果蝇性别决定和性别分化相关的一些问题进行综述。