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Sex determination without sex chromosomes
- Source :
- Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci
- Publication Year :
- 2021
-
Abstract
- With or without sex chromosomes, sex determination is a synthesis of many molecular events that drives a community of cells towards a coordinated tissue fate. In this review, we will consider how a sex determination pathway can be engaged and stabilized without an inherited genetic determinant. In many reptilian species, no sex chromosomes have been identified, yet a conserved network of gene expression is initiated. Recent studies propose that epigenetic regulation mediates the effects of temperature on these genes through dynamic post-transcriptional, post-translational and metabolic pathways. It is likely that there is no singular regulator of sex determination, but rather an accumulation of molecular events that shift the scales towards one fate over another until a threshold is reached sufficient to maintain and stabilize one pathway and repress the alternative pathway. Investigations into the mechanism underlying sex determination without sex chromosomes should focus on cellular processes that are frequently activated by multiple stimuli or can synthesize multiple inputs and drive a coordinated response. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Challenging the paradigm in sex chromosome evolution: empirical and theoretical insights with a focus on vertebrates (Part I)’.
- Subjects :
- 0301 basic medicine
Genetics
Sex Chromosomes
Temperature-dependent sex determination
Environmental sex determination
Articles
Biology
Sex Determination Processes
General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
Epigenesis, Genetic
Evolution, Molecular
03 medical and health sciences
030104 developmental biology
0302 clinical medicine
Vertebrates
Animals
Epigenetics
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences
030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 14712970
- Volume :
- 376
- Issue :
- 1832
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....f3ce85d4747e54d0fcd54f9c1303bedf