Identification of sex-specific transcripts of the Anopheles gambiae doublesex gene.

ABSTRACT: The understanding of the molecular mechanisms of sex differentiation in the mosquito Anopheles gambiae could identify important candidate genes for inducing selective male sterility in transgenic lines or for sex-controlled expression of lethal genes. In many insects, doublesex (dsx) is the double-switch gene at the bottom of the somatic sex-determination cascade that determines the differentiation of sexually dimorphic traits. We report here on the identification of the dsx homologue in A. gambiae and on the characterization of its sex-specific transcripts. Agdsx consists of seven exons, distributed over an 85 kb region on chromosome 2R, which are sex-specifically spliced to produce the female and male AgdsxF and AgdsxM transcripts. AgdsxF contains a 795 bp ORF, coding for a protein of 26

SUBMITTER: Scali C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1350936 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature