CGC Bibliography Paper 4755

It ain't over till it's ova: germline sex determination in C. elegans.

Kuwabara PE, Perry MD

Medline:

21354267

Citation:

BioEssays 23: 596-604 2001

Type:

REVIEW

Genes:

cpb-1 fbf-1 fbf-2 fem-1 fem-2 fem-3 fog-1 fog-2 fog-3 fox-1 gld-1 her-1 laf-1 mag-1 mog-1 mog-2 mog-3 mog-4 mog-5 mog-6 nos-1 nos-2 sdc-1 sdc-2 sdc-3 sex-1 tra-1 tra-2 tra-3 xol-1

Abstract:

Sex determination in most organisms involves a simple binary fate choice between male or female development; the outcome of this decision has profound effects on organismal biology, biochemistry and behaviour. In the nematode C. elegans, there is also a binary choice, either male or hermaphrodite. In C. elegans, distinct genetic pathways control somatic and germline sexual cell tate. Both pathways share a common set of globally acting regulatory genes; however, germline-specific regulatory genes also participate in the decision to make male or female gametes. The determination of sexual fate in the germline of the facultative hermaphrodite poses a special problem, because first sperm then oocytes are produced. It has emerged that additional layers of post-transcriptional regulation have been imposed to modulate the activities of the global sex-determining genes, tra-2 and fem-3; the balance between these activities is crucial in controlling sexual cell fate in the hermaphrodite germline.