Molecular evolution of vertebrate sex-determining genes.

ABSTRACT: Y-linked Dmy (also called dmrt1bY) in the teleost fish medaka, W-linked Dm-W in the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis), and Z-linked Dmrt1 in the chicken are all sex chromosome-linked Dmrt1 homologues required for sex determination. Dmy and Dm-W both are Dmrt1 palalogues evolved through Dmrt1 duplication, while chicken Dmrt1 is a Z-linked orthologue. The eutherian sex-determining gene, Sry, evolved from an allelic gene, Sox3. Here we analyzed the exon-intron structures of the Dmrt1 homologues of several vertebrate species through information from databases and by determining the transcription initiation sites in medaka, chicken, Xenopus, and mouse. Interestingly, medaka Dmrt1 and Dmy and Xenopus Dm-W and Dmrt1 have a noncoding-type first exon, while mouse and chicken Dmrt1 do not. We nex

SUBMITTER: Mawaribuchi S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3279648 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature