Heterozygosity at a conserved candidate sex determination locus is associated with female development in the clonal raider ant (<i>Ooceraea biroi</i>).

ABSTRACT: Sex determination is a developmental switch that triggers sex-specific developmental programs. This switch is "flipped" by the expression of genes that promote male- or female-specific development. Many lineages have evolved sex chromosomes that act as primary signals for sex determination. However, haplodiploidy (males are haploid and females are diploid), which occurs in ca. 12% of animal species, is incompatible with sex chromosomes. Haplodiploid taxa must, therefore, rely on other strategies for sex determination. One mechanism, "complementary sex determination" (CSD), uses heterozygosity as a proxy for diploidy. In CSD, heterozygosity at a sex determination locus triggers female development, while hemizygosity or homozygosity permits male development. CSD loci have been mapped in hone

SUBMITTER: Lacy KD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11838215 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature