Genetic control of sex determination in the germ line of Caenorhabditis elegans |
| |
| Authors: | J Kimble |
| |
| Institution: | Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Graduate School, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Wisconsin, Madison 53706. |
| |
| Abstract: | The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans normally exists as one of two sexes: self-fertilizing hermaphrodite or male. Development as hermaphrodite or male requires the differentiation of each tissue in a sex-specific way. In this review, I discuss the genetic control of sex determination in a single tissue of C. elegans: the germ line. Sex determination in the germ line depends on the action of two types of genes:--those that act globally in all tissues to direct male or female development and those that act only in the germ line to specify either spermatogenesis or oogenesis. First, I consider a tissue-specific sex-determining gene, fog-1, which promotes spermatogenesis in the germ line. Second, I consider the regulation of the hermaphrodite pattern of germ-line gametogenesis where first sperm and then oocytes are produced. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
|
|
