Identification of BiP as a temperature sensor mediating temperature-induced germline sex reversal in C. elegans.

ABSTRACT: Sex determination in animals is not only determined by karyotype but can also be modulated by environmental cues like temperature via unclear transduction mechanisms. Moreover, in contrast to earlier views that sex may exclusively be determined by either karyotype or temperature, recent observations suggest that these factors rather co-regulate sex, posing another mechanistic mystery. Here, we discovered that certain wild-isolated and mutant C. elegans strains displayed genotypic germline sex determination (GGSD), but with a temperature-override mechanism. Further, we found that BiP, an ER chaperone, transduces temperature information into a germline sex-governing signal, thereby enabling the coexistence of GGSD and temperature-dependent germline sex determination (TGSD). At the molecular

SUBMITTER: Shi J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11405683 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature